It’s official. Going to Ireland in November. <\/p>\n
I was there for my birthday once before. My sisters and I were all there together – Siobhan was in school at UCD, and Jean and I traveled to visit.<\/p>\n
The hilarity that ensued that week is difficult to describe. Pretty much the entire vacation has a “Had to be there” clause attached to it.<\/p>\n
And the laughter? The laughter was intense.<\/p>\n
We spent my birthday traveling to look at the pre-Stone Henge spirals of Newgrange<\/a>, on a grey rainy day.<\/p>\n Here is my imitation of what it is like to take a tour at Newgrange:<\/p>\n You follow the tour-guide up the narrow inclining-passageway in the tomb. The rocks around you are literally covered in carved spirals.<\/i><\/p>\n Random person: So what do the spirals signify? You get into the tomb area, where on the Solstice – if it is sunny – the light crawls up the narrow passage, and floods the inner tomb with light. In the tomb, on the sides, there are these large rounded-out stones – like platforms, or tables, or … who the hell knows what.<\/i><\/p>\n Random person: What are these large stones for? It is HILARIOUS. If you ever go to New Grange, I highly suggest you take the tour, because basically the message is: “Nobody knows anything about this place, but isn’t it just feckin’ amazing???”<\/p>\n And it is.<\/p>\n The night of my birthday, my sisters and I went out and saw a play, and then huddled together in a Dublin nightclub, drinking beers, and screaming at each other over the music. Jean had bought a bodhran earlier the day, and we didn’t have time to go back to the dorm and drop it off, so she was forced to bring the bodhran into the club. This mortified her.<\/p>\n “I look like such a tourist. I can’t believe I’m bringing an Irish drum into a nightclub in Dublin. I hope no one asks about it.”<\/p>\n The entire week was one long laugh-fest. And it all ended, gloriously, with “the night the lights went out in Dublin”. One of the funnest and funniest nights I have ever had in my life<\/a>.<\/p>\n I was there for the millennium as well – and now I’m going back. This November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s official. Going to Ireland in November. I was there for my birthday once before. My sisters and I were all there together – Siobhan was in school at UCD, and Jean and I traveled to visit. The hilarity that … Continue reading
\nTour guide: (Irish brogue) Well, we don’t really know.<\/p>\n
\nTour guide: Nobody really knows.
\nAnother random person: Do they think that it was a burial site? Or …
\nTour guide: Your guess is as good as mine.<\/p>\n