Being a native Bostonian, Dublin and surrounding towns were the ancestral homes of many of my peers growing up. So I have some familiarity of Irish culture, and curiosity about the humor, the poetry, the wit, the writing, and traditional Irish music.
We spent some of our time in Dublin going to local pubs where traditional Irish music was on tap alongside the Guinness. There’s a joy, a lilt and a sense of fun that infuses the city and the music, and a friendliness that accompanies the pints. I found Dublin joyful and walkable. We walked miles going from the vast Long Hall at Trinity College and its gorgeous campus, where we saw the Book of Kells and amazing source books and original manuscripts held in storage (ranging from Shakespeare’s first folio of 1623 to Oscar Wilde’s personal letters to collections of children’s books, stained glass designs, Gulliver’s Travels, and the oldest map of Dublin dating to 1611) to Christ Church to Darkey Kelley’s, the bar that became our “go to” for a few nights in Dublin.
Although Amsterdam was the fourth stop on our journey, it wasn’t until we arrived there that I became conscious of how differently people moved around the cities we’d visited, and how much that movement made a difference in our experiences. In Dublin we walked and took old-school cabs (no Uber or Lyft here!). We were constantly interacting with people who were upbeat and welcoming. Taxi drivers told us their favorite bars, and at bars the patrons universally said “pull up a chair and join us.” We didn’t see acrimony or angst, which isn’t to say that it doesn’t exist, but the general outlook we experienced was notably positive. There was a sense that although things weren’t easy financially, life was to be enjoyed.
What came through to me was what I’d felt growing up from my Irish friends — work hard and play hard. Laugh. Create. Make music. Write poetry. Generate art. Drink Guinness. And then do it all over again.
