The Best (and Worst) Things About Ireland

The best things first.

1. The people. The friendliest and nicest people. Someone offered us a parking voucher. Someone offered to share a table with us in a fish and chip shop. People on the street say hello - and yes, they're talking to you! Hotel and restaurant staff were all especially friendly. (Except for one. There's always one.)
2. The hotel rooms. All of the rooms we stayed in were spacious except for one. (There's always one.) Several of them included a sitting area with a sofa.
3. The views. Dramatic coastline, green hillsides dotted with sheep, and of course, castles.
4. Seafood. Fresh. Fish, shrimp, crab. You name it. Fish cakes. Fish chowder. Fish and chips. Baked fish. And did I mention it's all fresh?
5. They do cocktails. Mark ordered a dry martini and got a dry martini instead of a glass of vermouth - which is what you are likely to get if you order a dry martini in England.

And now for the worst.

1. The weather. The weather wasn't what I'd consider perfect. We had a couple of really brilliant sunny days. Most days were cloudy, but without rain. And we had a couple days that can only be described as foul. I'm sure the cold was due to the time of year we chose to go, but I'm not sure about the clouds and rain. I suspect those may be fairly consistent. I visited Dublin some time ago at a different time of year and I remember experiencing clouds and rain.
2. Cold hotel rooms. This is indirectly related to the weather. If it had been hot outside, the hotel rooms probably would have been hot. In fact the young lady who showed us to our room in Kildare wanted to make sure we knew how to operate the air conditioning. (It was not needed!) But several of the hotel rooms had the radiators on timers which were controlled somewhere near the front desk and not in the room. When you called to report that you were unable to turn up the heat, they offered to boost it for you. Whatever that means. In one hotel they brought us an additional heater. In another they switched us to a different room. In the last hotel we just sucked it up and lived with it. (It was always warm enough at night.)

And then there is the interesting. What I found particularly interesting is the lack of diversity. In the US you are very likely to encounter all sorts of names. Not just in folks you know and work with but in the businesses and professionals you deal with. For example, my doctors names are Jarrah, Monier, Evans, Terrill, Trautmann, and Gold. Department stores are Dillards, Penneys, and Macys. You're not going to find that diversity in Ireland. The doctors and dentists are named O'Leary, Murphy, O'Connor and Flanagan. Department stores are much the same. Nothing wrong with it. It accurately reflects the population. But in England all the staff in an Indian restaurant are of Indian, Bangladeshi, or Pakistani descent. In Ireland, only the folks doing the cooking are Indian. The rest of them are O'Connells.