Digging for Our Roots, Part I: An Irish Interlude

28 August – 3 September 2012

Russ and Chris left on Tuesday, the 28^th of August for a several day trip to Ireland. The excuse was the Notre Dame/Navy game, but it was an opportunity for some guy time (they spent part of their trip over discussing the various types of drywall fasteners - real father/son bonding) and a bit of sightseeing as well. Chris spent a semester his junior year doing a study abroad in Dublin, but Russ has never been to the country. So Russ had a personal tour guide for the trip.

The flights over went well with no delays nor lost luggage. Russ commented on how friendly the people were to them everywhere they went. I had told him that I had never seen so many shades of green (I visited Ireland in the 70s), but I don’t think he believed me until he saw them for himself. He said some of the grass was a shade of Kelly green that he had never before seen on a living plant. The weather was terrific with temperatures in the mid-60s and no measurable rain, only a light mist now and then.

The hotel they stayed at was about 30 minutes outside of city center, but there was a light rail within a few minutes’ walk that went straight downtown, so they had no problem getting to all the scheduled Notre Dame events. Dublin is an easy city to walk around; it is very compact and pedestrian friendly. Russ said he got his walking in and then some.

On the day they arrived, Chris took his dad on a tour of Dublin. They visited the National Museum of Ireland and Dublin Castle. Chris pointed out that the Lady Justice statue that sits atop the gates to the castle faces inward towards the castle buildings rather than outward towards the city. The Irish are quick to point out that “It is typical that the Irish would see the backside of British justice.”

The next day included a tour of O’Connell House, which is Notre Dame’s center for Irish abroad studies. Chris took a couple of his classes at the O’Connell House and the rest at the University College Dublin. The highlight of the day, apparently, was the Viking tour of Dublin, utilizing “Ducks” which are these World War II amphibious vehicles.

Notre Dame sponsored a tour to Glendalough which is about an hour bus ride north of Dublin. This is a beautiful valley full of ancient cemeteries, church ruins and monk towers. This is where the Irish monks established a monastic settlement in the sixth century and preserved much of Europe’s written works during the Dark Ages. Russ was struck with the difference between Irish “old” and American “old." They had plenty of time to tour the area and even take a bit of a hike on some of the wilderness trails that cross the valley.

That night, Notre Dame held a ginormous pep rally in the O2 arena in Dublin. This wasn’t the typical pep rally, turns out it was broadcast live on national TV. So the prime minister of Ireland and other dignitaries (including Martin Short) were on hand to say a few words and there were several Irish performers that sang, danced and read poetry - kind of a variety show format. Of course, the Notre Dame band was there to perform the standards. All in all, Russ and Chris thought it was very well done.

The weather on the day of the football game was beautiful. The game was played in Aviva stadium which is a mile or so outside of city center. This is a soccer/rugby stadium so they had to convert the field for American football. Lots and lots of fans were on hand. In fact, CBS reported that over 35,000 people came from the United States to watch the game which is the largest group of fans ever to travel to another country for a one day event.

The game did not go well for Navy; Notre Dame won 50-10. For Notre Dame, this helped ease the pain the school has felt since losing three times in the past five years to Navy after having a 43 year win streak. With the score not even close, people in the stadium, I guess, got bored. In particular, the midshipmen started playing their own version of football. One of them had a foam football which they were throwing around amongst themselves. Then the game evolved to tossing it up to folks in the stands above them. Then they started a game of seeing how far the ball could travel around the stadium. So they started chanting “To the left”. The ball made it about halfway around the stadium and then stalled. So then the kids started chanting “Where’s our ball?” All in all, a fun way to spend what, otherwise, was a totally painful experience for the midshipmen.

The last full day in Ireland was spent seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College and attending a garden tea party in Drumleck which is a bit north of Dublin along the coast. The Book of Kells is an illustrated Bible made in 800 A.D. It has the most amazing color and illustrations. The book is opened to one page per day and you stand in long lines to be able to stand before it and view it. Quite an amazing work of art.

The garden party was hosted by Naughton, a very wealthy Irish businessman, at his estate in Drumleck. He cosponsored the establishment of the Irish Studies Program at Notre Dame and has donated substantial amounts of money to the university. The party was open only to alums of the Dublin study abroad program. But there was a problem in communications which caused a bit of angst among the young alums. Apparently, the party was not only to honor the study abroad alums but also to provide a forum for Irish businessmen to visit with the wealthier ND alums and do some “networking”. So they arranged for the kids to show up a bit later than the VIPs. The way they did this was to have the young alums take an hour long nature walk along the cliffs that led to the estate. Unfortunately, the dress code for the party (“business casual”) wasn’t exactly conducive to a nature walk, especially for the young ladies, some of whom were dressed in summer frocks with strappy sandals. The walk was steep in places and muddy in others, so shoes were ruined and, in one case, a girl fell in the mud and cut herself. Both Russ and Chris felt that this part of the event was very poorly conceived. The party itself was very nice though, with music, good food, drinks and a beautiful garden to hang out in for a few hours.

The whirlwind trip ended on Monday, the 3^rd of September with a long flight home. Thankfully, no dramas on this day. I picked them up at O’Hare and we had a nice dinner with Chris before heading back out to our campground. A couple more days in Chicagoland, then we head out towards Iowa and more adventures.

Everyone arrived safely in Dublin, albeit a bit tired.

Dublin castle.

Inside Dublin Castle.

Outside O'Connell House.

One of the beautiful rooms inside O'Connell House.

The river Liffey runs through the middle of Dublin.

Couples purchase these locks, write their names on the lock and after locking them to the pedestrian bridge that crosses the river Liffey, they throw away the key, to demonstrate their unending love.