Ireland

Road Trip Music

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Did you ever make mixed tapes in the past?  Did you ever try and seduce someone with your idea of the perfect set of love songs?  Did you ever create a mixed tape masterpiece for a family member to bring them back to a time to your past together?  Does a song every bring you back to a particular location while on vacation?

Well, a little while back I posted about Road Trip Food.   It got me thinking about Road Trip music.

I vividly remember driving my German friend through California and Arizona choosing appropriate “Road Trip Music” all along the way.  We listened to the Gypsy Kings as we drove through Central California.  We listened to the Beach Boys while traveling through LA.  We listened to U2’s Joshua Tree Album while traveling through Joshua Tree National park in Southern California near Palm Springs.  We listened to Elvis in Las Vegas.  We listened to American Indian mystical music in Sedona.

On subsequent trips to Europe with her we listened to country specific music when traveling through France and Italy.  We also paid special attention to whatever was popular in the country at the time.  I vividly remember a song called “The ketchup song” which to this day I still do not understand.  Europe had to have a flaw and that song was it.  We listened to the Proclaimers in Scotland and Ah-Ha in Germany.  (I was actually fortunate enough to see them in concert while there!)

Traveling through Ireland with my brother I brought Irish CDs with me only to find out the car we rented didn’t have a CD player.  Nonetheless we listened in hotels to Van Morrison, U2, Sinead O’Conner, Thin Lizzy, The Chieftains, Clannad, The Corrs, and Christy Moore.

I was introduced to Ronan Keating who sang, among other songs, “Nothing at all.”  I was familiar with the song from when Alison Krauss sang it and remembered Keith Whitley sang it first.  I pointed this out to a bartender who was singing along to it and he nearly threw me out of the bar for lying to him.  I never did convince him that someone else could have sang it first.

On a road trip with my husband to Utah we knew we would be stuck in the car for two full day’s worth of driving just to get to our main destination.  We ended up getting Farenheit 52 as a book on tape.  It was terrible!  Don’t hate me.  Everyone else in the world seems to love that book…  We had better luck listening to the Serial Podcast about a journalists journey to find the truth behind a murder!  That was an absolutely wonderful way to spend a road trip up and back to visit in-laws in Oregon!

Now-a-days we have Pandora and iTunes and a billion other music options.  It seems mixed tapes are no longer necessary making room for digital “playlists.”  I can tell you I will never bring a physical CD on a flight ever again!  But, I do miss the days where I put a lot of thought in to what music would be played to enhance my trip no matter whether I was driving or flying.

What kind of music do you listen to on the airplane when traveling?  Or what kind of music do you listen to in the car on a road trip?  What songs transport you back in time to a vacation moment you had long ago?

Ode to the Full Irish Breakfast

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Ireland and its people are wonderful. I would recommend a visit for anyone.  The history, the music, the castles, the neolithic art and archaeology, the mysticism, all reasons to visit.  But, one thing can be found in Ireland that cannot be found in many other places.  The full Irish Breakfast.

In many of Ireland’s B&Bs the full Irish breakfast is served and makes staying at said B&B even more worth it.  This breakfast will set you up for the day making it so lunch may not even be necessary.

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day please enjoy some full Irish Breakfast photos taken at the impeccable Riverstown Country B&B in Rathfeigh County Meath!  This B&B was originally built in the early 1700’s and still boasts a lovely thatched roof.

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Cyprus Avenue wafting on the airwaves in Ireland

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In honor of Saint Patrick’s day I have been thinking of Ireland once again.  I am taking my parents there this summer so it is double on my mind.  And frankly, Ireland is a part of me and I think of it all the time.

I remember back to 1999 on my first trip to Ireland.  I traveled on my own to take a summer class at Trinity College Dublin and met up with my brother Sean afterwards.  It was the first big international trip for both of us.  While preparing to embark on our journey away from Dublin we were sitting having dinner in a small local restaurant in town.  We were excited and happy to be together on our journey when Van Morrison started singing on the radio.  Having been familiar with “Brown Eyed Girl” as a kid I had never heard this “new” song he sang.  “Cyprus Avenue” played on the radio in the restaurant and I was enthralled.  I had to know what this was.  Well, it turns out it is off an early 1968 album called Astral Weeks and wasn’t new at all.  I bought the CD while we were still in Dublin and it has remained one of my all time favorite albums.  My husband and I even saw Van Morrison in concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 2008 where he sang all of the songs off of the album as a 40th anniversary tour of the albums release.

It’s amazing to me how one small moment on a trip can stay with you so many years later.  Do you have any travel moments that stick with you many years later?  Songs or music than bring you back to a time and place?  Smells or colors that bring you back to a particular travel moment?

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day friends!  Slante!

http://www.amazon.com/Astral-Weeks-MORRISON-VAN/dp/B000002KAT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426266589&sr=8-1&keywords=astral+weeks+van+morrison

Giant’s Causeway – County Antrim, Northern Ireland

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My brother Sean and I had long heard stories of Giant’s Causeway and driving all the way to Ireland’s Northernmost tip in County Antrim was a must for us.  The journey was half the fun but this geological wonder and UNESCO Heritage site was worth the travel.

Giant’s Causeway is made up of area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns which ultimately hailed from a volcanic eruption.  This natural wonder if amazing to behold and begs legends to be told of its grandeur.

Our grandmother had long told us the story of the Giant Finn McCool.  After we got old enough to do proper research I heard stories of Finn McCool in many different ways.  But legend has it that the stepping stones were created when Finn scooped up part of Ireland and threw it at an enemy causing a walkway between Ireland and Scotland.

One day Finn heard another Giant Benandonner was coming to fight him.  Unsure if he could fight off this giant he devised an ingenious plan.  Finn’s wife dresses him as a baby and hid him in a giant cradle.  When Benandonner arrived and saw the size of the baby he realized quickly that its father Finn must be of enormous size and stature.   Benandonner  ran scared back to Scotland via the causeway never having seen the Giant he came to fight.

   
   
Here are a few photos from the way back machine. If memory serves these photos were taken on Sean and I’s first trip to Ireland in 1999.

Muddy sailing in Ireland

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Ireland has a strong connection to the sea. It is easy to see why so many songs were sung with hope and anguish related to the water. The famed Irish sweaters, with their knitted family patterns, were created as a way to identify lost sailors who might wash up later.

Ireland is full of surprises. It seems everywhere one goes even the most benign things are beautiful and interesting. For me every town, and every bit in between, brings something charming and new.

While traveling from Kinsale along the southern coast of Ireland we came upon these boats in a harbor bent over waiting for the Tide to awake them. I love how the small town is going about its business behind the boats normally. The boats seem to have personality to me. They look like proud boats just waiting for the tide to slowly regain their glory.

Below are a few Sea shanties to get you in the mood.

The Holy Ground

Fare thee well my lovely Dinah a thousand times adieu
We are saying goodbye to the Holy Ground and the girls we all love true
We will sail the salt seas over and then return to shore
And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more.
Fine girl You Are.

Now when we’re out a-sailing and you are far behind
Fine letters will I write to you with all the secrets of my mind
The secrets of my mind, me girl, you’re the girl that I adore
And still I live in hope to see the Holy Ground once more.
Fine Girl You Are.

Oh, now the storm is coming, I see it rising soon
For the night is dark and dreary, you can scarcely see the moon
And the good old ship she is tossing about and the rigging is all tore
But still I live in hope to see the Holy Ground once more.
Fine Girl You Are.

One More Day

Oh, have you heard the news, me Johnny
One more day
We’re homeward bound tomorrow
One more day
Only one more day, me Johnny
One more day
Oh, rock and roll me over
One more day
Don’t you hear the old man growlin’
Don’t you hear the mate a howlin’
Don’t you hear the caps’n pawlin’
Don’t you hear the pilot bawlin’
Only one more day a-howlin’
Can’t you hear the gals a-callin’
Only one more day a-rollin’
Can’t you hear the gulls a-callin’
Only one more day a-furlin’
Only one more day a-cursin’
Oh, heave and sight the anchor, Johnny
For we’re close aboard the port, Johnny
Only one more day for Johnny
And your pay-day’s nearly due, Johnny
Then put out your long-tail blue, Johnny
Make your port and take your pay, Johnny
Only one more day a-pumpin’, Johnny
Only one more day a-bracin’
Oh, we’re homeward bound today, Johnny
We’ll leave her without sorrow, Johnny
Pack your bags today me Johnny
Oh, an’ leave her where she lies, Johnny
Only one more day a-workin’, Johnny
Oh, come rock ‘n’ roll me over
No more gales or heavy weather
Only one more day together

Heave away

Come get your duds in order
For we’re going to leave tomorrow
Heave away, me jollies, heave away
Come get your duds in order
For we’re going to cross the water
Heave away me jolly boys, we’re all bound away
Sometimes we’re bound for Liverpool
Sometimes we’re bound for Spain
But now we’re bound for St. John’s town
To watch the girls a-dancing
Now it’s farewell Maggie darling
For it’s now I’m going to leave you
You promised me you’d marry me
But how you did deceive me
I wrote me love a letter
And I signed it with a ring
I wrote me love a letter
I was on the Jenny Lind
Sometimes we’re bound for Liverpool
Sometimes we’re bound for Spain
But now we’re bound for St. John’s town
To watch the girls a-dancing

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Brownshill Dolmen – County Carlow Ireland

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There are many things that make visiting the Celtic world interesting.  Dolmen, Burial Mounds, and Stone Circles are certainly some of them.  Fascinating, powerful, energetic, mystical, and unknown.  Archaeologists have spent countless hours digging, researching, taking historical accounts, but we will never truly know what they are about.  And, that is what makes it so interesting…the not knowing.

Brownshill Dolmen is considered a portal tomb.  While that, of course, is unusual and fascinating the true interest with this tomb is its size.  In the photos where people are present you can see how massive it is.  It is one of the largest in the Celtic world.  One must have been able to see this dolmen for miles when walking to it for ceremonial purposes.  But this begs the question…how did they build it?  The rear stone is a giant bolder.  Without modern tools like a trackter or crane it is nearly impossible to behold moving this stone not the mention the smaller yet still large ones that are holding the stone up.  Archaeologists believe it was levered up in small bits then filled with dirt while the larger stones were placed below it.  Then the dirt was removed to leave the large bolder elevated by the smaller stones.  Whatever the method the outcome is spectacular and is a must see if visiting County Carlow Ireland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownshill_Dolmen

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Drombeg Stone Circle – Kinsale Ireland

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In celebration of Halloween I thought I would post a few photos of the Drombeg Stone Circle taken near Kinsale in Ireland. This stone circle was a magnificent example located in a gorgeous area overlooking the sea and lovely farms. Its hard not to feel something otherworldly when visiting these locations or even when looking at them in a photograph.  No one really knows what they were or are used for. There is much speculation about religious centers, time travel, ceremonial altars, etc and one can come to their own conclusions.  Drombeg itself is oriented in the direction of the setting sun during the midwinter solstice. Most of these circles are pre-christian era in their design. It makes me wonder how the engineering and their creation was so precise so early on.

Having visited countless numbers of these circles in Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, England, and France I can attest to the sense of energy at each one.  Whether this sense is real or imagined I find myself searching them out on the map everywhere I go never tiring of visiting a new one.

Happy Halloween readers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drombeg_stone_circle

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What does it say for your luck when you lose a 4-leaf clover you have found?

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I am pretty sure the Irish Saints are shaking their head at me. My sweet husband and I were walking through a garden of large clovers. I was admiring them and asked my husband to find me a four leaf clover knowing that most people live their entire lives without finding one. No joke, he bends over and the first clover he picks is a giant 4-leaf clover of the most beautiful variety. He naturally thought this clover business was a piece of cake. I took a few photos of it and placed it in the pages of a book like it was my most prized possession. After arriving home I placed it within the pages of a nice hard backed book intending to frame it some day. I chose an important book that I love so I would never lose it. Well, guess what? I can’t remember which book I put it in and haven’t been able to find it now for going on two years. Ugh. Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid are surely rolling their eyes at me.

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