Made my day! Will see if he’s at the bar later…
FC/OT: Trip to Ireland now perfect. Ran into Colin Farrell at our hotel.
- Thread starter Midnighter
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Ran into him again leaving the pool with the kids - it’s a big hotel. Told him I’m a fan. Nice dude. Kids were like who’s that?
He was great in Horrible Bosses. Probably his best role outside of Miami Vice.
How is Ireland these days? I'd love to go back (been 3 times) but have seen its lost a lot of what made Ireland.... well, Irish, lately.
I believe he's a recovered alcoholic so probably not at the bar.Made my day! Will see if he’s at the bar later…
I don’t have any other frame of reference this being my first visit and all but seems very Irish to me….
This may sound hokey, but while I was in Ireland I knew I was home.
The people are unyieldingly nice - if not your ancestral homeland they sure make you feel like it is.
Would really like to visit Ireland. Have heard really nice things.Made my day! Will see if he’s at the bar later…
Also, after watching All Creatures Great and Small, would really like to visit The Yorkshire Dales.
I specifically said Banshees and Penguin. In Bruges is wonderful. Also great in S2 True Detective.
If you don’t mind, where are you staying? What have you done and seen? Haven’t been there but plan on going. Most of my ancestry is from Ireland.Made my day! Will see if he’s at the bar later…
I’ll give a rundown once I get home; we’re en route at the moment. Hotel was the Intercontinental Dublin in Ballsbridge. More to come!
Reading between the lines I think you’re referring to the amount of immigrants in country, and in Galway, which has two big universities that attract international students wanting to learn English, nearly all non-Irish I saw were students or tourists. Everyone working for the most part was Irish. All our cab drivers were Irish. Outside of Galway, it is all Irish (towards Gaeltacht areas).
Dublin had more but nothing extravagant or to the level of what I see in Paris, London, or Frankfurt (or DC). Think you’ll be fine.
Immigration is/was a problem as there is/was a housing crisis in Ireland and especially in Galway. They welcomed a large amount from the war in the Ukraine. We went thru one town, was there for 2 weeks in late 2023, where all the hotels were filled with immigrants, Lisdoonvarna, so we were told. Traveled all around Ireland, in Belfast in the Protest section we saw a house all painted with derogatory remarks about immigrants. That being said, this was my 4th trip to Ireland where first trip was in 1989. Yes, Ireland has changed, most touristy parts turned into tourist traps. Let me explain, in 1989 I drove right up to the Cliffs of Moher and parked about 50 ft away from the cliffs, now you have to pay to park in a parking lot and walk a fair distance to get there. Same with the Giants Causeway. 1989 we could just drive from town to town without reservations at a B&B, find one and pay about $15 for a night. These days you need reservations and it costs about $150/night. I know 35 years have passed but just listing observed differences. Getting out in the countryside it still feels pretty Irish to me, not a fan of the big cities. Galway and Derry were enjoyable, Dublin and Belfast not very enjoyable, I am not a city person. Lastly, they don't pour Guinness like they used to. We did end up in a pub in Donegal where the owner/bar keep was 87 and still poured it the traditional way which made my trip!! Like one poster mentioned, when in Ireland, it feels like home to me as well. I could live there on a remote island, like Achill, or somewhere on the west coast. People are still extremely friendly and curious when you sit down next to them in the local pub. Slowly, working on my better half to retire there or at least live there for a year if we can get a visa for that.
On one tour to Kylemoore Abbey outside of Galway a hotel (kind of in the middle of nowhere) was completely bought out for Ukrainian refugees. I saw more pro Ukraine/Palestinian flags there (both Galway and Dublin) than I see in DC. Also saw a protest outside of the very cool looking U.S. Embassy in Dublin (it’s also in the same area where we stayed). Living in Germany, where every third person is Turkish, Dublin and Galway seemed mild to me.
US Embassy Dublin
We went there about this time last year. At one point my wife and I were standing in a pub in Killarney and I must have just been standing there with a massive grin on my face. My wife asked what I was so happy about and I said, “This feels like a family reunion.” It’s hard to put it into words, but I had the same feeling as you.
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LOL. I have an Irish surname so of course wanted to get any information I could about its history and locality. I told a cabbie my name and he said ‘where are you from in the States?’ And when I said ‘outside of Pittsburgh’ he was like ‘oh yeah - definitely Irish!’ - was great to hear
Also have English heritage that predates the civil war but not nearly as excited by that…
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