Visiting Ireland

Travel journal: March 30 -April 10,  2004

    As we stepped out of Shannon airport in the gray of the early morning, only a few slivers of tourmaline blue were visible in a sky filled with dark and ominous clouds. But it was dry. It was barely eight and most passengers from our transatlantic flight looked like they would need something more than just several cups of coffee to get out of their zombie-like trance. An affable guy picked us up at the curb and drove us to the car rental place. “You people are lucky”, he said. “Nice weather; it usually rains here at this time of the year”. That was the first lesson we learned about Ireland. Not for nothing is it called the Emerald Island and not for nothing do we see everywhere the national penchant for green.

As long as it does not rain, it is good weather.

    Well, it was not raining; yet. In the sky the cumulus clouds were moving in tandem and purposefully in one direction like galleons of the Spanish Armada bearing down on the coast of Albion. In between there were splotches of bright blue sky, just to remind us that the skies in Ireland can also be blue. Or was that maybe just to keep flagging hopes alive? There was a slight breeze, but the wind felt cold, in concord with the color of the skies. 

    So here we were, in the Emerald Isles also known as Ireland. A rental car was waiting for us for our 10-day adventure of visiting Ireland.