WAS YOUR MOTHER BORN IN IRELAND?. Review on Ireland, General

My Mother wasn't born in Ireland but my Grandmother was born in Dublin. Her Family arrived there in 1493 when they fled Spain during the Spanish Inquisition.

We decided to visit Dublin for a few days. Dublin is the capital city of Erin, (the Gaelic name of Ireland). The currency is the punt or the Irish pound. The official language is Gaelic but English is used as well. Dublin's population is just under one million people. We stayed at the Drury Court Hotel near St. Stevens Greens.

The first place we visited was the Irish Jewish Museum and spent half a day looking at the artifacts from older time up to today. We then went to the cemetery to see if we could find any of the graves of my Grandmothers family but we couldn't. There are 4 Synagogues in Dublin and we choose to attend Saturday morning services at the Jewish Home of Ireland on Leinster Road.

We took a tour and the first place we visited the famous Christ Church Cathedral. This is a beautiful Cathedral near the Wood Quay. Our next stop was at the Quay to visit Dublinia to see the display of artifacts of the Vikings and the recreation of the original city. The next stop was to see Dublin Castle. There are no Monarchs in Ireland now so it is only used to entertain foreign dignitaries. There are Protestants in Ireland and we visited the St Patricks Cathedral. We were lucky as the choir was practicing and they all seemed to have 'voices' of angels! St. Patricks is in the center of the City and our tour ended here.

There are many places to shop in Dublin. We walked down Crafton Street and browsed through the designer shops. There were so many pubs we begin to feel thirsty so we dropped into one for a pint of dark draft beer.

On Henry Street and Talbot Street we stopped at the Arnotts and Dunnes Stores.

The Temple Bar area is for the trendy crowd. We went there to buy some records and to see the clothes shops.

WERE WE ATE:

I must tell you is that the take out fish and chips shops are great. The food is cheap and the food is delicious. We loved the pubs and the food so between these two this is where we had lunch.

One night we the Siam Restaurant for huge bowls of Thai soup and chicken sate. Then we went on to Velure Restaurant and Bar. We sat at the Bar and listened to great jazz.

We decided to go to The Med for wonderful Mediterranean, (mostly Greek), food.

Our last night we splurged and at the La Cave Wine Bar & Restaurant. Imagine eating gourmet French food in Ireland!

WHAT WE BOUGHT:

We always by everyone t-shirts, I bought our daughters Irish lined tablecloths and our son a gold shamrock. We each bought Irish sailors sweaters and my husband bought a hat and a cane.

ST. PATRICKS DAY:

If we weren't there then why am I telling you about it? Today March 17. 2002 is St. Patricks Day and I want wish anyone who is Irish a Happy St. Patricks Day.

Our Tour Guide told us that, '' St. Patrick was of 'Celte' origin and was captured by an Irish 'marauder', (pirate) and sold as a slave to a chieftan of an area that is now in the county of Antrim. He became Catholic at this time. A legend says that an Angel appeared to him while he was tending his master’s sheep and told him to run away as G-D would protect him. He became an apostle and traveled through the country and converted many of the Irish people to Christianity by telling them the shamrock represented the Holy Trinity. He died on March 17th sometime in the mid 400's.'

MY FATHER LEADS THE NYC ST. PATRICKS DAY PARADE.

My Father came home from a trip to Chicago and New York City. He told us that Mayor LaGuardia had asked him to ride with him in his convertible that led the St. Patricks Day Parade. My Father had a bit of the 'blarney' and we never knew if what he told us was try. The following Saturday I went to the movies with my friends. In those days the movie was proceeded by a newsreel and a cartoon. The first item in the newsreel was the NYC St. Patricks Day Parade with the Mayor and my Father leading it. I later learned that the Mayor's Mother was an Irish Jewess and a friend of my Grandmother. A few years ago I read in the Edmonton Journal's 'trivia page' how Mayor LaGuardia, (who everyone believed was 100 percent Italian), needed the Jewish vote to win the election. It was going to be difficult because his opponent was Jewish. During the run up to the election they were to debate at a Jewish Community Center. In his opening remarks the Mayor challenged his opponent to debate in Yiddish, (a language similar to lower

German that eastern European Jews spoke). The Mayor spoke excellent Yiddish and his opponent couldn't speak one word. And now you know the tale of how an Italian-Jewish man became the Mayor of NYC.

SOME THOUGHTS:

I loved Dublin and one day we hope to go back and see the rest of Ireland.

What little we saw of the green countryside was beautiful. The people were jolly and always ready to help us. If you are think of a place to visit I highly recommend you think about Ireland.

I'll end with an old Irish blessing that my friend Maggie taught me:

'May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back

May the Sun shine upon your face

The rains fall soft upon your fields

And, until w meet again,

May G-D hold you in the palm of His hand.'

©LL