Along with work that week we had another trip planned for Friday. We had to meet at UCD and then we were picked up by two vans which took us to the Wicklow Mountains. I had heard so much about how beautiful they are so I was excited to experience them for myself. As soon as I stepped into the van for the trip, I was so glad I had not gotten into the other one, simply for the driver alone. He was an older lad who was full of personality just like any Irishman. He introduced himself as Tommy and told us that if we didn’t sing that we better change that quickly. Soon he popped himself into the driver’s seat and we were off. He loaded in a Irish Power Ballads and we instantly knew what we were in for, a whole lot of Irish singing and dancing. We started out by driving along the south coast of Dublin. Along the way, Tommy played “Dublin in the Rare Auld Times,” not once, but twice so we could hear the lyrics and then try to sing along. Tommy was more or less yelling at the top of his lungs, rather than singing and slamming his hand against the dashboard to the beat, even stopping the CD at one point. He was a lovely man and he took us to Kiliney Bay which is absolutely gorgeous and compared against some in Italy. From there, we were able to see Bono’s house—yes, I had a minor panic attack and asked if we could go there, but Tommy had other plans. Once we went down to the beach and had come back up, Tommy was waiting with some tea and biscuits—possibly the cutest thing ever. He poured our tea and also poured his Irish charm and stories. Eventually we headed back in the van and made our way to the Wicklow Mountains.
Our first stop also had to do with Bono as it was where we had written Beautiful Day—yes, another panic attack ensued. I absolutely knew why he had come to that spot to write the song, it was absolutely beautiful. Although the sun wasn’t out that day, it was just as gorgeous as it would be had it been filled with sun. To the left were mountains or varying green and then a top a mountain we stood, looking down to what appeared to be nearly a black lake with a mountain rising on the other side and then an estate on the right bank of the lake. The lake is private property belonging to those who own the estate, conveniently the most famous family in Ireland, the Guinness’. Tommy told us that sometimes they throw parties which will last an entire week. The family also imported white sand to put on one end of the banl, making it look almost like a pint of the black stuff.
After we had taken multiple photos and were pulled away by Tommy, he barrelled through the narrow, winding roads to a restaurant for lunch. I had an amazing bowl of Irish stew full of huge chunks of beef and veg, we also were given a pint with our meal. However, I was entirely too full to keep going. Tommy rounded us up and had stolen back the Galway Girl CD from the other driver so we blared that over and over again until our next stop at Glendalough Monastery. Here there is an original round tower, cemetary, oldest church in Ireland, and a cross which one can hug and make a wish. After a quick tour, we walked back to the van and we left one member of the crew behind and we were hoping that Tommy would go back for him, but we weren’t so sure. Luckily, on our way to our next stop we saw him walking down the road.
Our next stop was a lake which was beautiful and surrounded by mountains. We stayed there for a little while, sitting and skipping rocks—when we walked back to the van, Tommy was sitting there with his ice cream dripping down his chin. He opened the door and we piled in, making our way to our next stop fueled with loads of singing. At one point Tommy told us to get out and he would pick us up a few meters down the road, when we got out we were standing looking down at a beautiful meadow and as we continued walking up the road with the hill continuing above us with sheep popping out here and there, we came up a waterfall which was not at its full force due to a dry spell. Again, the view was indescribable and breathtaking. When we finally met up with the van, we were shoved back in with Tommy telling us that he still had lots left to show us. We again barrelled through the rough mountain roads, almost flying off the road and different points and finally we came to a bridge which had been used in the movie, P.S. I Love You, and also over which the water used to make Guinness flows.
Back into the van we went and then we were showed a huge rolling field where the battle scene in some movie was filmed. We then ended up by a cottage where Oscar Wilde had once lived and then went a lake which Tommy claims has been used in several Vogue shoots. The lake was surrounded by rocks, different greens, and mountains making it an unbelieveable sight. We were told that this had been our last stop, but once we were back in the van we were taken to one last place which is a building used in different peace processes from working with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the Northern Ireland Peace Process. On the ride home, we had had just about enough singing for one day and we fell asleep. It had been a long day so we were looking forward to a night in and our house ended up watching P.S. I Love You, seeing scenes of places where we had been.
The next day was another full day and three of my housemates and I started out and went to see Kilmainham Gaol. I had looked forward to going to the jail even before I had landed in Ireland. Kilmainham is a bit of a walk from where we live so it took awhile to find and when we finally did we had to wait a bit to start our tour. Kilmainham is a jail which has been used since the Famine until the Irish Civil War. The leaders of the Easter Rising were put here after the rebellion and all were killed in the yard except for Eamon deValera who went on to be both the Taoiseach and President of Ireland. Our tour took us to different cells, including those of deV and Charles Stewart Parnell and also to the old wing where those during the Famine had been placed. People would try to get in jail at that time because Kilmainham was the only place where three meals a day were guaranteed. Children from five years old had seen the inside of the jail. After seeing the yard where the killings of the Easter Rising leaders had taken place we learned the symbolism of the Irish flag with the green representing the Catholic Nationalists and the Orange for the Protestant Unionists, together in white for peace. Eventually the tour came to a close and the four of us ran for the LUAS and tried to get back into the center of the city. The Pride Parade was taking palce that day and was providing heavy traffic and attention throughout the city. We finally got some food and then bought tickets for a Gaelic football match the next day. We met the rest of our roommates and then went to find a pub where we could watch the US v. Ghana match. Eventually we found oursevles at a pub in Temple Bar, Fitzsimon’s and we got seats in front of the largest screen I have ever seen, I felt as though I was literally in South Africa. Somehow several people from our program showed up, making it somewhat fun since there were a bunch of other Americans. However, the result was a bit of a downer and set us off from doing too much the rest of the night.
On Sunday we had plans to go see a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. We watched Dublin lose to Meath and then Louth beat Westmeath. We were lucky enough to see a doubleheader, however, the extra amount of football did not make the rules of the game any clearer. With a combination of soccer, basketball, rugby, and football, it is not quite clear what we were watching, but it was certainly the most entertaining sport I have ever seen. Walking into the park was an experience in itself with the garda guiding you where to go and then people decked out in their jerseys, scarves, and these braided ropes made of the colors of the different county teams. The matches were fun, but it had been a long week and I was ready to relax at home.
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