50 Shades of Green

As enticing as the title may sound, this post is not a saucy ebook about leprachaun relations. This is not that sort of blog. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Since arriving in Dublin five days ago we have had superb sunshine. I don't understand it either. It's very unIrish. But fortunately for me, I kept my weather expectations very low for my big trip to this region.

I had been warned about Ireland. You'll fall in love with it immediately in a very serious way.

You'll also be met at the airport by a leprachaun who speaks Martian (Gaelic, same thing) who drives you into the city through wild paddocks and forces you to down 24 Guinesses and then brands you on your forehead with a shamrock and crossbones. And then you have to check-in to your hotel drunk with this thing on your head.

Before coming to Ireland, most of what I knew came from cliches and 'an englishman, welshman and irishman walk into a pub' jokes.

Here's the deal about this place. It's such a cute little ditty. It is not naturally possible for the scenery to get any more lovely. The greenest green, 50 shades of leprachaun green, which is painstakingly borne out of torrential rain for nearly every day of the year. Except, surprisingly, when I've been here. It did rain yesterday but we were up in the hills, watching the leprachauns play with cows and goats. It happened.

The average summer temperature across Ireland is between 19-21 degrees celsius, which is hugely depressing. It's total blarney. I don't know any Aussies who could or would put up with that. No wonder the Irish spend their days in pubs scoffing Guinness.

We started our journey with 2 nights in Dublin at a quaint hotel in the city near the Christchurch Cathedral. Dublin is a vibrant, chaotic city, sort of a western version of New Delhi.

No-one can drive, the cyclists are nuts; they don't wear helmets and careen down the roads in between buses and cars. I'm all for sharing the road but it's probably a good idea to wear some sort of brain protection given that the car insurance industry is backed by the mantra that accidents happen.

Sleep time. I think I'll pen more tomorrow...