Faces of Ireland

Aghaidheanna na hÉireann
(Faces of Ireland)

From our second story perch at a Starbucks on Grafton St. we had a window to the world below. As the throngs passed by we had a front row seat to many small dramas. On the right of the photo below you can see a hole in the pavement that was the first act of Faces of Ireland. Moments before the young man who is now approaching the hole a young mom with a stroller along with another child holding her hand swerved around the hole to avoid it. In just a split second the young girl with curly blond hair wearing a bright blue raincoat with gold and orange fishes swimming about on it broke away from her mother and jumped gleefully into the hole with both feet making a very satisfying splash. The look of sheer joy and contentment at this unexpected delightful treat that had been offered to her was priceless. The small, radiant face a lesson in remembering to savor all the small things that come our way.

As we decended from our aerie a young man with a fantastic voice was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" we joined in singing along with this face of Ireland, a student, possibly from Italy or Spain, - an example of the extreme youth of this country (average age is 35) and the number of people from the EU making their homes here in the Republic. 

We next had the priviledge of meeting a charming, vibrant Dubliner for lunch whose family roots are deep in this historic city. Her family participated in the Easter Rising of 1916. The narrative of that time was fascinating. She was gracious enough to give us a tour of the Archaeological Museum after lunch. What a fabulous collection of artifacts. The three of us then went to a bookshop where Mike was able to purchase some material for his Irish language studies. This is yet another face of Ireland - the erudite and intellectual bent of a country, a small island, that has produced four Nobel Laureates in literature.

This full day ended in a multi-cultural experience - toasting Arthur Guinness on Arthur Day in O'Neils Pub then a delicious Italian dinner topped off by a sinfully good almond and polenta tart with lemon curd and cream.

All is more than well in our world tonight - Kate