Ireland #10

Ireland #10
I forgot some interesting info on the cemetery. There is a high stone wall around it with many watch towers. This was to prevent grave robbers. It was the custom of the day to rob graves and sell the bodies to doctors. They got good money for them. So what they would do is sneak in at night. There was a team of 3 -- two men and a boy. They would dig just behind the headstone, sending the little boy down to chop out the end of the casket. He then would tie a rope around the neck of the corpse and the two men would drag it out. Didn't take long -- much quicker than digging the whole grave up.
Today we toured Kilmainham Goal. It tied in nicely with the stories from yesterday about the jailed political enemies, executed ones, etc. Quite the place. The tour took an hour and included the earlier, cold, damp cells and the newer warmer ones. It was built in the late 1700's and has played a role in virtually every act of Ireland's painful path to independence. It closed in 1924.
Saturday Sept 21
Today was a great day --- thanks to Samara for insisting we needed to see Northern Ireland. We left town at 6:30 and got back just after 8 pm so a long, long day. But it felt OK probably because I snoozed a few times. It is 100 km to Belfast so time for that before things got interesting. We drive by Belfast then took the seaside route up the east coast (Antrim). Very beautiful with little villages which were connected by this road in 1834. Prior to this, access was from the interior. This route was very popular with the Victorian population -- did it in horse and buggy. The geology of the area is interesting. It's basically limestone (quite white as it has a lot of chalk in it) covered by black or brown basalt from volcanoes 60 million years ago. So, everywhere there were rocks, cliffs, etc of the two colors. The Giant's Causeway (which was the point of the trip) was formed by a lava flow which cooled slowly in water. So it cooled in 6 sided shapes which look like steps going down into the sea. The old legends tell of an Irish giant building a bridge so he could get over to Scotland (22 km away). He wanted to beat up the giant living there. But the Scottish giant was much bigger than him so he went back home, destroying the bridge as he went just leaving the steps into the water. This particular formation is also on the Scottish side. I was surprised that the stones were so small. I got the idea from pictures that they might be a meter or more across but they weren't a lot bigger than my foot.
The people living in Northern Ireland can have two passports -- Irish and/or English. The English would never consider having an Irish one and the Irish usually choose not to have the English one. It's still pretty divided even though the fighting stopped 15 years ago. One village will have a Union Jack flying so you know it's English. Another doesn't fly a flag and you know they are Irish. I asked about inter-marriage and was told it is happening a bit but usually the couple emigrates due to unhappy families. The Belfast guide felt it will change as the younger generation's ideas take hold.
We had just over an hour in Belfast on the way home. There were choices of what to do: wander around downtown, go to a bar or have what is called the "Black Taxi Tour". We opted for the latter. Very interesting. The drivers were through and through Irish and gave us the rather horrible details of how the British treated them. Lots of children shot as well. We saw the wall dividing the city -- couldn't believe that it still exists and that they close the gates at night and some don't open on weekends. The fence is really high with barbed wire on top. These fences are supposed to be coming down. There was a march today because the Irish (some just won't let things go so keep agitating) were mad about some flag which was taken down off the city hall. Well, there were three helicopters hovering over that area and lots of police in combat gear. They call those years of fighting "The Troubles". After hearing all this plus having heard and read about all the past centuries of what the British did to Ireland I have lots of sympathy for the Irish.
Interesting perspective on our family --- they came over in the 1600's from England/Scotland. One source says the British wanted to get rid of these troublesome clans so sent them off the Ireland, amongst other countries. But another perspective is that the English were trying to dilute the Irish culture by sending their own people over to colonize. (Reminds me of what China is doing to Tibet --- they are shippping in thousands of Chinese farmers to Tibet in hopes of getting rid of the Tibetan culture.)
One interesting stop today was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It was a 1 km walk from the car park. We were then allowed across this 300 year old bridge (which is kept upgraded so it is safe!) no more than 8 at a time. It connects the mainland to a small island and was used by fishermen all those years to carry their catch back to land. They would attach one end of their nets to the island so they could catch the salmon going by on their way to spawn. The whole area is cliffy and rocky. The bridge did not agree with me --- heights never bother me but the very short time I was on it made me feel seasick. Rocked horribly.
Our tour guide today was the best I've ever had. He was entertaining, informative and personable but firm on keeping us on schedule. Weather was good which was a bonus.
Sunday Sept 22
Today we travelled by bus (3 hours) to Limerick then 20 minutes to Adare. Met a lovely elderly lady who's family way back emigrated to Canada. She thinks they had a tough life there which they did but we both think it was worse here.
So we are in our B&B which is run by an elderly lady with swollen ankles. Seems sweet. Our room is small but we've managed to stow everything. Will be here for a week so can unpack somewhat.
Anyone watch Crown of Thorns? They frequently film in the Antrim area and were there somewhere yesterday.
I've seen a few people very oddly dressed. Eg have seen two guys (one in Denmark and one here) with tight shorts? that ended just above the knees. Looks odd as normally females wear that sort of thing. Today was a real winner. This overweight gal had on a short skirt under which she had pantihose. Now the hose was black patterned until mid-thigh then there was a black strip going up from there looking like garters.
There's a big game on today with 80,000 people in the stadium in Dublin. The team from the west hasn't won for over 60 years. They had a curse put on them by a priest dating back to their last win. Apparently they ran into a funeral procession in their victory celebrations. The curse says that they won't win until all the team members are dead. There are two still alive.
We've just taken a little stroll around part of the village and have had supper. The town is lovely and quite interesting in that there are a lot of high end shops. Wonder why? Is it because of the Manor nearby? Lots of pubs which is no different from the rest of Ireland.
PS On the game -- the team with the curse lost 2 to 1.