Tales from the Thousand and One Nights: Ireland

by Cindy

Jeff and I were fortunate to spend the past week in Ireland enjoying the cooler weather and green hills and mountains. It was a great trip to yet another beautiful place. We are now back in the UAE to teach summer school (Cindy) and research (Jeff). We will leave for America on August 4th.

Here are some of my reflections on Ireland:

Driving on the left side of the road is not as difficult as it seems. I did have to remind myself quite a bit but it wasn't too bad.
Flashing headlights means the same thing in Ireland as it does in the US - beware, a cop is ahead.
Ireland really is the Emerald isle. One of our guides told us that Johnny Cash said there are 40 shades of green in Ireland and it is true. It really was magnificent. Everything is green.
The roads were SO narrow. What we think of as country roads, which are 1.5 lanes wide, are their main roads. I was amazed at how narrow the roads were and how many big tour buses pass through on these roads. The upside is that the country side has really been preserved and is not littered with infrastructure.
The Irish people are very friendly people!
We enjoyed a whiskey tasting and I must say that Irish whiskey is better than the rest! I have never liked American whiskey/scotch/bourbon but we did taste some very mice Irish Whiskey. Jameson Gold Reserve gets my vote.
I'm still not a fan of beer and definitely not a fan of Guinness. Guinness is good for baking brownies and goes very well with chocolate (try it, you'll be surprised!) Otherwise, no thanks.
For whatever reason, the food in Ireland is expensive. It was all good but really pricey.
I will take 45 F instead of 45 C all day long! We loved the rain, the clouds and the cool weather. Everyone kept apologizing for the weather but we loved it.