Driving on the Left Hand Side
For the most part, it's common knowledge that the Irish drive on the left hand side. Additionally the wheel is on the right hand side of the car. Driving on the left hand side wasn't all that difficult as one might think. You did have to be conscious of it and remind yourself when turning to stay to the left. The more difficult part was having the steering wheel on the right hand side. We had a relatively large car, and the first few days we were constantly getting very close to the edge of the road. This may not sound bad except for the fact that the side of the road was either hedges, stone walls, or a cliff. Most of the Irish roads have "No Shoulders" - None! We took turns driving and each of us had our "AHHHHH - WATCH OUT!!!!" moments!
Fortunately there weren't many other drivers on the roads we drove, but it was certainly dicey when trying to pass an on coming car. Usually one of us would stop, to let the other one squeeze by.
Guinness
...is Good for You (enough said)
"Lovely" & "Brilliant"
The Irish are generally very friendly. A common phrase or response you would hear very often was "Lovely" and on occasion "Brilliant".
Examples...
"Where are you from? - Virginia - Lovely"
"Do you have live music tonight? - Yes we do - Brilliant"
Food
Food in Ireland has apparently changed for the better over the years. We found most of the food to be good to exceptional. We did our best to try as much of a variety of food as possible including various fish, lamb, and beef dishes. Lamb, as you might expect, was always exceptional. Food was not cheap though. Even the pubs, while cheaper then some restaurants, were still a bit pricey.
Bread - Bread was generally fantastic.
Butter - I'm not a huge butter fan, I prefer margarine, but Irish butter is out of this world. So rich and creamy!
Ice Cream - We probably ended up having ice cream half the time. Whether it was served in a restaurant or soft ice cream from a petrol station, it was damn good!
Coffee - The Irish tend to like their coffee on the strong side. I had to take mine with milk and sugar, but once I did that, it was very good.
Irish Coffee - Only had it once while I was there. The few times I've had Irish coffee in the US I didn't like it much. However the Irish Coffee I had in this quaint pub on our last night was excellent. A rich cream on top, rich coffee, and only a hint of Irish Whiskey (not overpowering as they do in the US). The flavors blended very nicely.
Music
We tried to find local music as often as possible. We learned a little bit about traditional Irish Music. The most common instruments are the flute, bodhran, and uilleann pipes (the Irish version of Bag Pipes) - possibly the spoons. Sometimes we would also see a guitar as well.
Danny Boy - "No self respecting Irishman will play Danny Boy"
Traditionally, Irish music is played in the Pubs. A few musicians will gather in a corner booth, sit around a table, and play music for several hours into the night. Traditional Irish music as this is experiencing a huge resurgence. It is quite impressive to see musicians play such challenging difficult music like it was nothing.
We didn't care much for a lot of their current music. They take a LOT of our songs and have someone else sing them (and not for the better) - it was weird. Some of their DJs are quite funny though, and do similar shows like they do over here.
Animals
We saw tons of sheep and cattle as we drove throughout the countryside, it was a lovely site. What we were particularly aware of was how healthy they appeared. Unlike some others we've seen in the US, the livestock just seemed visually very healthy. This might account to why their food is so fresh and tasty.
Homes
Homes in Ireland are not made in the same fashion as they are in the US. They have a cement block frame instead of a wood frame. I imagine with all the rain they get, this method holds up best. It was rare to see a run down home, except for true ruins of course. Maintenance is probably much less for this type of construction as well.
Gaelic
Gaelic is required learning up until the age of 17. All road signs, as well as other signs are in both English and Gaelic. I won't go into the history as I'm no expert, but I will tell you of the most common phrases we saw - mostly in gift shops.
Slàinte! - Cheers!
Cead Mile Failte - A hundred thousand welcomes
Gambling
The Irish seem to be quite big into gambling. Almost every town seemed to have a storefront for the local Bookmaker. The Irish bet on everything from the American Presidential Elections, to what the weather will be this summer.
American Politics
The Irish are quite intrigued with the American political system. They are very up to date on what's going on with our Presidential Election.
In the News
I won't go into details about everything in the news, but will give you the general overall regarding my opinion of current news articles. As an outsider looking in, it appears the news in Ireland is not that different then the news in America. The Irish are facing the same major financial problems, namely high gas prices and falling housing prices. They do have better interest rates both in lending and savings. We also hear a lot about Drunk Driving on TV, in the papers, and on billboards.
TV
Their TV programs were interesting. They had a good mix of Irish, American, British, German, and French TV. They carry some of our major shows like "Desperate Housewives". Naomi noticed that they don't run commercials in between a show, they run them in between shows and they start at odd times like 9:55pm. Most of the shows parallel ours having similar sitcoms, reality shows, talk shows, etc. They even do similar shows like our home makeover type of shows.
Gas Prices
US - $3.50 gal
Ireland- $1.25 liter (~$5.00 gal)
