What I Learned About Ireland

It has now been one week since I returned from a ten day tour of Ireland. I cannot find any adjectives equal to the task of describing my journey, so I will just say it was the trip of a lifetime. In my endeavor to remember every detail of my trip, I have compiled a list.

1. It's true that Ireland is the Emerald Isle. It is a kaleidoscope of green that dazzles the senses while soothing the spirit.

2. There are four seasons in Ireland – every day. The Irish say, “If you don’t like the weather just wait a minute!”

3. People dress fashionably in Ireland. The men wear dress shirts with pullovers and suit jackets, and they favor black “skinny jeans.” Women wore leggings and dark tights with short skirts and shorts or alone with longish tops. Everyone wore boots!

4. The Irish eat tomatoes at every meal – hot, as in grilled, or cold.

5. There is no Pepsi in Ireland; at least, not that I could find. :{

6. The Irish people are incredibly courteous and friendly, but they are stingy with their ice! Their drinks are cool, not cold, even the ones you purchase from a cooler.

7. Vegetable soup is not at all like American vegetable soup. It is puréed and varies in color and taste depending on the vegetables used. I ate vegetable soup four different times and it looked and tasted different each time. It is however, always served with Irish soda bread, not crackers. Irish soda bread is brown in color and chewy in texture and the Irish people seem to favor it.

8. They don’t use washcloths in Ireland. The hotels, even the five-star ones, don’t have washcloths.

9. Contrary to popular belief, in America that is, the Irish do not say ‘Top of the morning to you.’

10. The paper Euro comes in different pastel colors and sizes depending on the value. The coins range in size from smallest – the one cent, to a slightly larger two cent, to a larger five cent, ten cent, 20 cent, twenty-five cent, fifty cent, one Euro and 2 Euro coin.

11. The Irish shamrock is a three-leaf clover! It does not look like the plant Americans call shamrocks.

12. Ireland does not like chewing gum. All the buildings have signs that say: No Smoking and No Chewing Gum.

13. The lifts (elevators) in Ireland are small with incredibly random floor numbers. There seemed to be no consistency in assigning floor numbers. Case in point, a room number of 105 could be found on the second floor. In another hotel it was on the zero floor or the G floor. I also saw a GL and a 1 ½ floor!

14. Irish toilet paper is luxurious, but they are extremely stingy with napkins. Paper napkins are tiny and you get strange looks when you ask for extra napkins.

15. The Irish recycle everything. Their “dust bins” are labeled according to paper, glass, plastic, and rubbish. When they put trash outside for pick-up, they put labels on the bags identifying their content. They are not wasteful and use “just enough” with one exception. There never is “enough” of the drink!

16. The hotel rooms in Ireland are wired so that you have to insert your room card into a slot above the light switches in order to get the electricity to work in the room.

17. The only things more plentiful in Ireland than ancient castles, cathedrals, and ruins are bars.