This is their story.

Michelle and her family

Growing up in Ireland I didn’t think about my family’s history or roots at all. It just wasn’t important. My parents regularly took my siblings and me to visit our grandparents in Sligo and Galway and I knew in a background, “who cares?” kind of way that my family had probably been living in those same places for generations.

Roll forward to 2010. I’m a Mum with two boys, living in Seattle USA and in a very American way my children are more interested in learning about their “roots” than I ever was. My husband is also Irish so my children have visited Ireland regularly but they call themselves (proudly) “Irish-American”. They are fans of Taytos and love Father Ted but at school they’ve learned about the Pilgrims, the Mayflower and Benedict Arnold. They’d never heard of Home Rule or the Famine. We talked about taking some time on our next trip to Ireland to introduce them to some Irish history – and maybe some family history too.

Michelle in front of her grandmother’s house

Thanks to an exploding Icelandic volcano, the opportunity for a combined history lesson presented itself unexpectedly. We were in Ireland for a family wedding but with all aircraft grounded we found ourselves with time on our hands. Like good Americans we decided to do a road trip: Sligo via Belfast and the Antrim coast.

My mother is from Sligo. The row house in the photo (left) was my grandmother’s home. I have a photo of me at two years old sitting in her arms outside that window. Sensing that I might be about to get soppy on them, my kids dashed across the street (of course looking the wrong way for traffic) to check out the river, as the house faces the Garravogue.

Before I could drag them even further down memory lane with stories of feeding swans with my grandparents, Brendan, my younger son noticed the Famine Memorial sculpture.

Famine memorial scuplture

“What’s that for?”

“Read the sign, it’s a memorial for the 30,000 people who left Ireland from Sligo during the Famine”

“What Famine?”

Even if I swore to you that my kids had heard about the Famine before then it wouldn’t matter. This was the first time they’d really thought about it. I could tell that Brendan was having a hard time reconciling what I was telling him with his mental image of Ireland. For him, Ireland is about family and fun; cousins and grandparents; music and laughter. This picture of people dying and fleeing – from right where we were standing – was just too much.

We walked on towards the Town Hall.

Mr Bernard Collery, Mayor of Sligo 1882

Meet Mr Bernard Collery, Mayor of Sligo 1882, MP for North Sligo from 1891 to 1900, my children’s great-great-great-grandfather – and an anti-Parnellite to boot. My poor kids got a bit of a crash course in Irish history in the early 20th century looking at this photo.

I think our guide took pity on them: “Would the boys like to see the council chamber?”

Sensing a way to escape the history lesson, they nodded enthusiastically.

With their new best friend leading the way, my boys followed into the bright chamber. Cillian looked around, and settled himself on the best seat in the room.

Cillian goes for the chair

Maybe it was genes kicking in, or maybe it was just coincidence, but he was sitting in the mayor’s chair.

Michelle Duffy blogs at WanderMom where she provides inspiration on where to travel with children and tips and information on traveling around the world with kids.

Kilkenny is the perfect hybrid of old and new, city and town, culture and clubbing. So when visiting the old capital, where are the hotspots to hang in?

EAT

Modern invention meets new and old Irish flavours and a hint of global at Zuni Restaurant on Patrick Street. Fancy the sirloin of a Kilkenny-reared Angus? This is the place.

The Marble City Bar on High Street is one of the oldest public houses in Kilkenny, and, thankfully for our eyes, has kept many of its original features. If you’re in the mood for cake then pop into their Tea Rooms, where you can stuff yourself with coffees and pastries. Or the other way round…

Another High Street gem is Café Mocha. Along with their homemade bites and huge selection of teas, the café is also a real treasure trove for gifts such as handmade chocolates. Yum!

Rinuccini’s Restaurant in Kilkenny

If you like a little Italian with your Irish, then you’ll love Ristorante Rinuccini. Located in the heart of the city right beside Kilkenny Castle, it’s been around for over twenty years and is one of Ireland’s finest Italian/Irish restaurants. Run by Antonio and Marion Cavaliere, Rinuccini specialises in Irish seafood. Food aside, custom-built wine cellar is an absolute winner. Guests are welcome to explore it, too.

DRINK

The world’s largest hurley at The Field Bar in Kilkenny

Want to check out the world’s largest hurley? The stick (which is over twenty feet long!) has been signed by generations of hurling legends and can be found at The Field Bar on High Street. The bar also exhibits sports memorabilia from all over the globe including Muhammed Ali’s glove, and jerseys worn by none other than Pele and Maradonna. Those two wouldn’t have needed a hurley. They could have just soloed a sliotar into the net.

Those who appreciate aesthetics as they sup should visit The Left Bank Pub overlooking Kilkenny Castle. Dating back to 1870, the building originally housed a bank. The many remaining period features make this place an absolute gem.

Did you know Smithwick’s has been crafted in Kilkenny city since 1710? The golden ale is made at St. Francis Abbey Brewery on Parliament Street. Go on a guided tour and have some history with your pint.

Finish off your night on the dancefloor of Langton’s on John Street. One of the most popular spots in the South East, it houses several bars under the one roof with live acts, trad music and DJ’s every night of the week. They’ve even won ‘National Pub of the Year’ a record four times in a row, so they must be doing something right!

BE SEEN

The Irish weather (usually) gets warmer come the start of June. And the hottest county to be in that weekend has to be Kilkenny – it’s also the funniest. The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival brings together the best Irish and international comedians and prides itself on being the biggest comedy event of the year – not to be missed.

Kilkenny City

Kilkenny likes to get creative, too. Artists and craftspeople including renowned potter Nicholas Mosse work in studios all around the city.

When it comes to Irish handcrafted gifts you’re spoiled for choice at Kilkenny Design Centre. Overlooking the castle, the centre contains a wealth of knitwear, jewellery, pottery, china, crystal and celtic souvenirs.

The National Craft Gallery is also well worth a visit. The building was once used as the stables of Kilkenny Castle, and is a leading centre for contemporary design. You can watch clay workers in action or even have a go yourself – ah go on!

A castle and craftwork to marvel at, comedians to amuse, and fine food to savour – Kilkenny, you’re spoiling us.

He was also the first President of the United States to visit Ireland.

Ulysses S Grant. Image courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Decades before John F Kennedy motorcade was greeted with streamers, screamers and mild hysteria, President Ulysses S. Grant spent five days in Ireland. Just like the statesmen who followed, including Reagan, Nixon and Clinton, Grant would have been aware of the huge number of Irish in America who were entitled to vote. But this visit wasn’t about canvasing – it was a homecoming.

Farmer Boy

Grant’s great-grandfather was a man named John Simpson. He was born in a farmhouse in Ballygawley (near Dungannon), County Tyrone in 1738. That same farmhouse stayed in the Simpson family for centuries. Imagine, this is a house that was owned by Simpsons from as far as the 1600s right up until the 1970s.

John Simpson, however, emigrated to Ohio at the age of 22.

From Ballygawley to Point Pleasant

In Point Pleasant, Ohio in 1833, a son was born to John Simpson. His name was Hiram Ulysses Grant.

The eldest of six children, when Hiram entered West Point Military Academy as a recruit he was erroneously called Ulysses Simpson Grant, and the name stuck.

Grant went on to be one of the biggest players in the Civil War – as General, he accepted the surrender from Confederate General Lee. In 1869, he became America’s 18th President. At the age of 46, he was the youngest man ever to hold the office.

After two terms as president, Grant decided a world trip was in order. By then, Grant would been among the most famous Americans in the world, so the two-year journey would have been a huge deal. After a leg of the trip that included Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal, Paris and London, Grant reached Ireland.

A visit home. Sort of…

The VIP’s favourite: The Shelbourne Hotel Dublin. Image Courtesy of the Shelbourne Hotel

Grant landed in Dublin on 3 January 1879 and began his five day visit to the island. He stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, which continues and continued to be the hotel of choice for visiting VIPs (hence the Grace Kelly, John F. Kennedy, and Peter O’ Toole rooms). When he visited The Bank of Ireland on College Green (which still stands today), apparently Grant asked numerous questions about banking and monetary policy. Imagine what he’d have to ask today?!

Later that evening, Grant was made an honorary citizen of Dublin – a title that would be offered to Presidents Kennedy and Clinton many years later.

Grant was given a “tumultuous reception” in County Londonderry where he received another honorary citizenship. In Belfast he visited the Harland & Wolff shipyard, before returning to Dublin and making for  the Far East.

Strangely enough, Grant did not visit his ancestral home. You can, though, as the homestead has been restored to its 19^th-century glory with mud walls and mud floors. In the farmyard stands a horse-plough and a flat-bed trailer, clues to the pastoral roots of one of America’s most vaunted leaders.

Make some time, too, for the exhibition and video about Grant that brings to life the story of emigration in which John Simpson was just one actor in millions.

The ancestral home of Ulysses S. Grant near Dungannon, County Tyrone. Image courtesy of Dungannon Borough Council

The Presidential trail

Ireland’s presidential connections don’t end there. There are two further ancestral homesteads in Northern Ireland that represent the roots of family trees from which US presidents have sprouted.

The families of both President Andrew Jackson and Chester A. Arthur hail from County Antrim, and their family homes have also been restored to their original condition. The ‘Milhouses’ of Richard Milhous Nixon (who visited in 1970) were also originally from the area.

On Ireland’s south coast, Kennedy’s County Wexford ancestral homestead was visited by the young president months before his death.

As far as presidential stories go, that might even impress Mr Spielberg.

Grant’s ancestral home in Tyrone. Image Courtesy of Dungannon Borough Council

I was a city child, raised in Dublin in the 1950s and 60s. In those days, for me, March 17th was all about ribbons, bright green ones, one for each child in the family, with a gold paper harp on them and gilt safety pins to attach them to our coats. They arrived each year by post, sent from the country by my grandmother along with an extra length of ribbon specially for me. My earliest memory of St. Patrick’s Day is of green ribbons bouncing on the ends of my plaits, the glitter of the gold harp on my coat, and a bunch of shamrock tucked into the band of my father’s hat as I walked beside him on our way to morning mass. The shamrock had arrived from the country too, packed into a box of wet, crumpled paper, still miraculously green and fresh despite its overnight journey on the mail train and a bumpy trip to our suburban door in a sack on the postman’s bicycle. I’m not sure why the cluster of green shamrock was reserved from my father’s hat while the rest of us wore harps and ribbons. But I remember my mother had a green enamel shamrock brooch with a pearl dewdrop on it, that spent three hundred and sixty four days of the year in her jewellery box and came out to be worn on her dress on St. Patrick’s Day.

That gold harp that Felicity wore as a child? You may find it elsewhere, too

The shamrock’s association with St. Patrick goes back to a story that every Irish child still learns at school. According to legend, the saint first came to Ireland as a slave, kidnapped from Roman Britain by seafaring raiders. After years as a shepherd on Ireland’s green hills, Patrick the slave boy escaped, made his way home, and grew up to become a Christian missionary. Then, as soon as he could, he travelled back to Ireland where he used the shamrock, which has three green leaves on one stem, to explain the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

It is said that Patrick was bonded into slavery on Slemish Mountain, County Antrim

The historical truth behind the St. Patrick legend was certainly more complicated than that, but in Ireland St Patrick’s Day has always celebrated Ireland’s myths as much as its history. The earliest St. Patrick’s emblem we know of is a red cross on a white field, for example, not a gold harp on a green one. But magical golden harps with silver strings sing with human voices in many Irish folktales and green is the colour of springtime. So, in displacing Ireland’s pagan rites of spring, the feast of St. Patrick literally took on native colouring, amalgamating ancient Irish myth with Roman Christian legend and, ultimately, adding a dash of nineteenth-century romantic nationalism to make the picture complete. (It took a combination of Riverdance, Hollywood and the Celtic Tiger to throw in the Irish dancers in sparkly nylon ringlets and red- bearded leprechauns in huge, wobbly hats.)

The stone passage tomb at Newgrange, County Meath, was used as a burial ground for the pagan High Kings of Ireland

Now, in the twenty-first century, cities all across the world go green on March 17th. This year Dublin will host one of its largest St. Patrick’s Day parades ever, with seventeen bands marching along a 3.44km parade route, 1,784 viewing seats, 3,000 people participating in the official Festival Parade and a whopping 8,000 in the People’s Parade , complete with jugglers, acrobats, loudspeakers and all the dancing leprechauns that anyone could wish for.

But in towns and villages throughout Ireland many celebrations will be quieter, less hi-tech and more traditional. Last year at the end of the Dingle Peninsula, where I live now, dogs barked and neighbours cheered as adults, kids and animals paraded through the village street wearing green and gold costumes and waving home-made banners. They were accompanied by musicians crowded onto trailers pulled by farm tractors. Earlier, in the church, dust motes danced in sunlight as the congregation sang hymns. Over the gentle sound of the organ we could hear sheep calling on the mountain. Then, as the priest left the altar, the doors swung open and everyone streamed out of the church into the sunshine to the sound of whistles, concertinas, accordions and fiddles, all playing a tune called St. Patrick’s Day in jig-time. This year, come rain or shine, the same rites and rituals will take place all over again all over the country.

Gallarus Oratory on the Dingle Peninsula is the best preserved Early Christian church in Ireland

It’s many years since I walked to St. Patrick’s Day mass in the morning wearing ribbons in my hair. Looking back, I can’t remember what became of my mother’s enamel brooch with its little pearl dewdrop, or all those gold paper harps. But as I write this in a stone house on an Irish hillside, there’s shamrock growing green in the high fields all around me, fresh and wet and ready for picking.

The House on an Irish Hillside, by Felicity Hayes McCoy

Felicity Hayes-McCoy is a professional writer working in print, broadcast and digital media. Born in Dublin, Ireland, she lives and works in a stone cottage in Corca Dhuibhne, Ireland’s Dingle peninsula, and in a inner-city, former factory building in Bermondsey, London. She blogs about life in both places on her blog here. Her memoir, The House on an Irish Hillside (Hodder & Stoughton UK June 2012) has an official FB page where Felicity posts gorgeous images and all sorts of curious links.

Ireland is one of the smaller countries in the world and one would be forgiven for thinking that it’s possible to drive all around it in a couple of days, a mere blink of an eye. That attitude quickly changes when tourists get behind the wheel and they see the extraordinary range of scenic delight ranging from the majesty of the Cliffs of Moher to the rugged beauty of the Wicklow Mountains. In such places, time almost stands still as the issues of life seem almost insignificant compared to the astonishing, sublime sights that appear before you. Driving in Ireland is a rare privilege and we uncover just two of the amazing routes one can take while in the Emerald Isle.

ROUTE ONE: Glendalough to Kilkenny Castle

Glendalough Monastic Site, County Wicklow

What better place to begin than the valley of the two lakes, otherwise known as Glendalough, a place that is said to ‘fill your soul, inspire your heart and still your mind’. It was founded in the 6^th century as a monastic settlement and is known for its 30 metre high Round Tower, Our Lady’s Church and a host of other medieval buildings along with the lakes which are clear and postcard perfect! Drive through the Wicklow Mountains National Park to gaze upon hundreds of millions of years of geological change while taking in the granite summit of War Hill and twin corrie lakes of Lough Bray.

Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny

You may be dreaming of Kilkenny Castle as you leave the Wicklow Mountains but this would be to ignore the stream of wonderful little towns you pass through. Take a pit stop in Laragh and relax at the splendid Wicklow Heather Restaurant which is known for its top notch customer service and amazing traditional Irish leg of lamb. Rathdrum is close by and is the site of Avondale House which was home of the ‘uncrowned King of Ireland’ Charles Stewart Parnell. The small town of Avoca is just a short drive away and you can stop in for a pint of Guinness at Fitzgerald’s bar while taking a brief tour around the town famous for being the site of TV show Ballykissangel starring Colin Farrell.

Altamont Gardens, County Carlow

While on the way to Kilkenny, it would be a crime to simply speed through Carlow without enjoying its glorious countryside, river valleys and mountains. Altamont Gardens in Tullow is known as one of the jewels in the crown of Irish gardens and covers 40 acres while featuring pristine lawns and ancient oaks. Eventually, you will make your way to Kilkenny Castle, an astonishing structure that was completed in 1213.

ROUTE TWO: Killarney to Cliffs of Moher

The trip takes in the best of the West as you begin in the beautiful town of Killarney in Kerry, a place that was named as Ireland’s tidiest town in 2011. Attractions include Ross Castle, a 15^th century tower and Killarney National Park, a nature reserve which has Ireland’s only native herd of Red Deer. While you could spend a week in Killarney, it’s time to travel north where you will pass through the small town of Castleisland, famously known as the Gateway to Kerry and home to Crag Cave, one of the nation’s largest open cave systems.

Bunratty Castle, County Clare

You will drive through the city of Limerick and into County Clare to the small village of Bunratty which is famous for its medieval castle built in 1425. Explore the ancient structure and get to the top with your camera to snap a picture of the famous Shannon estuary and catch a glimpse of Shannon Airport. If you’re feeling hungry after the drive and fancy staying the night in Bunratty, you simply must sample the legendary Bunratty Medieval Banquet which is a four course meal with good wine and mead, an ancient Irish drink. The feast is followed by traditional Irish music with violin and harp professionals giving you a taste of a great medieval night in.

The Cliffs of Moher, County Clare

Drive through the towns of Sixmilebridge, Clarecastle and Ennis before your journey concludes with the Cliffs of Moher in Doolin. It is Ireland’s most visited tourist attraction with well over 1 million visitors per year. The magnificent cliffs rise to over 200 metres and when you visit, you must go to the top of O’Brien’s Tower where you can see the Aran Islands, Galway Bay and Loop Head on a clear day. This is a photo opportunity that simply can’t be missed.

Still think driving around Ireland will be short and sweet? We have outlined just two out of dozens of journeys that can be taken around the country. Clear your calendar, fill up your tank and get ready to see more scenery packed into a relatively small area than almost anywhere else in the world.

For car insurance in Ireland, Steven recommends Liberty Insurance. And he would know!

Come Here To Me! was set up as a blog by three friends back in winter 2009. “In many ways, things were pretty miserable. Countless places were closing down in the city and we had to say goodbye to so many close friends who were leaving the country”, says Sam McGrath.

“We decided that there was something to celebrate about Dublin and went searching for its little gems, the historical stories and the often missed little bits and pieces that make up the city today. From street art to social history, football stadiums to back lanes. It’s become so much more popular than we could have imagined”.

So we asked Ciaran, Sam and Donal for their quirkiest/favourite moment in Dublin’s history and they’ve come up with some crackers.

Donal Fallon’s tantalising Dublin tale:

The Spire replaced Nelson on O’ Connell Street

“For me, the love/hate relationship of Dubliners with monuments and iconography in the city is an endless source of content and often humour. While Admiral Nelson gazed over Dubliners he was the source of much ridicule, and at various points in the history of Dublin campaigns were formed to remove him from the top of Nelson’s Pillar and replace him with someone the natives deemed more fitting.

The Virgin Mary, Patrick Pearse, Saint Patrick and even JFK were all proposed between the 1920s and 1966, and one group even proposed removing the whole thing and re-erecting it at the Hill of Howth! Bonkers. In the end, a bomb done away with Nelson’s Pillar and the locals rechristened him Admiral Blownapart. It’s only fitting that Dubliners today are divided by Nelson’s replacement, the 2003 Spire of Light!”

Sam McGrath’s favourite story about Dublin:

“I’ve always been fascinated about the stories of non-Irish joining the Easter Rising in 1916. You had Arthur Wicks (known to his friends as Neal) from Norwich who worked in the Shelbourne Hotel and was a trade union activist. Joining the Rising on Easter Monday he was based with the Irish Citizen Army in Fairview and then in the Hotel Metropole on O’Connell Street. Fatally wounded during the evacuation of the GPO (General Post Office) on Friday morning, he died in a house on Moore Street just after the rebels surrender.

As far as I can assert, he was the only insurgent to die in the Rising who was not born in Ireland nor could claim any Irish ancestry. You then had the two sailors (one Swedish, the other Finnish) who joined the Rebels (out of a sense of adventure and solidarity with a small nation taking arms against a Empire) who fought in the GPO. Finally, the mysterious wounded rebel who was found to speak only Spanish when taken to see a doctor. Those little stories give the Rising, which essentially quite a localised affair, a bit of a international flavour.”

The GPO, O’ Connell Street in 1916

Ciarán Murray’s two cents: 

“What I love about Dublin, being the only one out of the three of us not actually from the city (although I’m not sure if that makes a huge difference or not!) is the fact that, for a relatively small city, it has made such a huge imprint on the world, in every aspect of life from theater to literature, music to film. Not counting the arts, the regular people of Dublin have arguably even greater stories to tell.
As we’ve covered on the blog, at various stages of history Dublin has played host to, amongst many more; a cinema manager who was the only Irish prisoner in Dachau, a fish and chip shop owner who was, until his death in 1987, the last survivor of the mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin and one of the first journalists to cover the allied landings from the front line in World War II, who landed with the troops at Arnhem. There are a million and one stories to tell about the city, and its rooting them out, and telling them to people who never heard them before that is the fun part.”

 Over the last three years, the guys have published just under 2,000 articles and received over 5,000 comments from 1,000 different people. They were always interested in the possibility of making a book out of their best articles and were delighted when they were approached, with that exact idea, by New Island Books. The book, published in December, contains 70 of the best articles published on the blog along with a number of new ones.

And where did the blog’s title come from? From Dublin slang naturally, which “used to mean “Listen to this’ or ‘I’ve something to tell you’. These phrases tend to imply a secretiveness or revelatory importance to the upcoming piece of information,” according to the bloggers. Picture a Dubliner beckoning you over with a mischievous smile because they have a wonderful story to share. And it’s always worth hearing. For more bewildering Irish slang, read our blog on it here!

Ireland is famous for its weather, and while the climate may feel like we have no specific seasons, the flora and fauna tell another story. We’re sharing some photos and stories from our favourite spring moments:

Altamont Gardens, County Carlow

Snowdrops at Altamont Gardens

Orla Grant from Dublin’s Fair City

A chance visit to Altamont Gardens in County Carlow a few weeks ago revealed their snowdrops were in full bloom. There is a dedicated ‘Snowdrop Walk’ to follow around the beautiful gardens and the crocuses and daffodils were beginning to grow too. I’m sure by now the grounds are covered in yellow, purple and white flowers. Swans glided across the lake and the whole place was terribly tranquil. I sent my six year old cousin on a quest for a peacock feather but alas we left empty handed. There is always next year…

We interrupted a peacock kiss!

‘Tis lambing season

Jonny Lucey, farmer, from Inchigeelagh in West Cork.

Spring is a special time of year for every farmer. The days begin to stretch and you can see the land waking up and blooming after the long winter.  When you spot the first lamb in the field, you know for sure that spring has arrived. There are few sights fonder to me than newborn lambs running around the fields in spring. They run and tumble around in little gangs, looking for new areas to explore but never straying too far from their baaing mothers. And you might get the odd ‘pet lamb’, too. These have to be bottle-fed and can end up following you all around the farmyard like a little dog! I always think it’s an awful pity that the little lambs grow up into big old stubborn sheep!

 

Jonny is still waiting for his lambs to be born so we found these in the North Sperrin mountains

The sun is back in County Wicklow

David Fallon, Manor Kilbride, County Wicklow.

I grew up at my grandparents’ house. It was directly across from the kind of farm that children’s authors make up, right up on the top of a hill with this red corrugated iron barn that was more red from rust than paint. It seemed to lean into the valley as if it was about to tip over. Once Spring came, the sun would roll over the crest of the hill away from us. Our dining room was faced with floor to ceiling windows so we’d sit watching, cursing their luck that they were sitting in sun until well into the evening.

Once the cows were back out in the fields we’d watch a steady line of them follow each other to the barn where they were being milked, like some well-drilled army troop. Their moos were trapped perfectly in the acoustics of the valley so we’d hear them when we were having dinner. Mr Lucey above would get a great sound out of his guitar. It sounds a little soppy, but it was exactly what made living in the country special. Also, in my part of west Wicklow, Spring meant that the snow from the Sally Gap would be gone, so we could drive up to Lough Teagh (The Guinness Lake) and over to Laragh and Glendalough. Even Powerscourt. I owe someone a thank you for a childhood in Wicklow.

The Sally Gap in west Wicklow

There you have it. We Irish are suckers for Spring. It signals the end of our chilly winter and gives us hope of an actual summer. Plus, any excuse to take more photographs of our gorgeous landscape can’t be ignored.

A sea of daffodils at Barnett Demesne

Also a major event in Spring is St Patrick’s Day – our national holiday to celebrate the famed Saint. And our year round festival for 2013 is The Gathering Ireland – bring it on!

What’s on TV in Berlin? Green!

You all know St Patrick’s Day reaches well beyond Ireland these days, with March 17th celebrated as the day the world goes green.

The spirit of St Patrick’s Day has essentially hijacked the colour green. Hence the ‘greening’ season when; landmark towers, bridges, hotels, and natural wonders lit up in a fabulous green glow. From Auckland to New York, Madrid to Sydney, the greening knows no bounds or borders.

We know that you guys can get swept up in the green scene too, though. Which is why we’re holding a competition this year in honour of greening season. Share your bright, funny and of course green photos and videos with us, and you could win a trip to Ireland. The competition opens on 25 February on our Facebook page.

Until then, we’ve plenty of greenings up our sleeves. On 17 March, if you’re in London, keep an eye for the HMS Belfast. In North America? Watch the Niagara Falls, Las Vegas ‘welcome’ sign and San Francisco’s City Hall go emerald.

In Europe, expect a green Little Mermaid, Leaning Tower, Prince’s Palace, Allianz Arena, and TV Tower. Down under, we’ll greenify the spectacular Sydney Opera House and Sky Tower in Auckland. We’re most excited about the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, Pyramids and the Sphinx in Egypt, Burj Al Arab in Dubai and Table Mountain in South Africa.

Wondering what such a sight would look like? We have the photos.

The Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, known as the €˜Armadillo€™, goes green

The Pyramid of Giza turns on the green light

City Hall in San Francisco in the colour of the season

Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai sporting the shamrock look

Little Green Mermaid in Denmark

Greening Tower of Piza

Allianz Arena in Munich

Prince’s Palace of Monaco goes green

Welcome to Las Greenas

An emerald Sydney Opera House. Looks like a big mint ice-creanomnomnomnomnom

The sky’s the limit as Auckland’s Sky Tower goes green. Accentuated nicely by palm tree on left. Smart.

Irish baker Cara Lloyd from The Corner Bakery has a solution to your problem that’s as simple as it is delicious: homemade chocolate truffles.

Whip up a batch of these and forever be remembered as the most romantic and thoughtful other half of all time!

Cara explains:

What could be more romantic than Irish Cream Truffles you’ve made yourself? You’ll be surprised how simple these are to make. Use good quality ingredients and they’re sure to impress.

Irish cream liqueur is the inspired combination of whiskey with chocolate and cream or milk. We have the recipe for that too.

Irish Cream Chocolate Truffles recipe

Making a lovely chocolatey mess

Ingredients:

8oz (200g) dark chocolate
5 fl oz (120g) heavy cream
2 tbsp (50g) softened butter
3 fl oz (80g) Irish Cream liqueur
Cocoa powder or chocolate vermicelli, to decorate

Makes about 20 truffles.

To make the truffles:
1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces, and place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Combine the heavy cream with the Irish Cream liqueur. Bring to the boil by heating a heavy-based saucepan or put in the microwave.
3. Pour the just-boiled cream mixture onto the chopped chocolate, and stir gently until the chocolate melts and mixes with the cream.
4. Add the softened butter, and stir until melted.
5. Leave to cool for 30 min, then refrigerate for 30 min.
6. Cover a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
7. Scoop out walnut-sized balls of the chocolate truffle mixture onto the baking sheet, using two teaspoons. Now here comes the fun bit: Coat your palms with cocoa powder, and roll the balls between your hands to shape them into rounds.
8. Roll each truffle in a bowl of cocoa powder or chocolate vermicelli.

The finished (and delicious) product!

Serving suggestion: Cara says “for a romantic touch, serve in paper candy cases or wrap in a cellophane bag, tied with a red ribbon”.

Or get some very tiny and delicate ribbons and tie them around each truffle – this will add to your brownie points hugely!

Individually ribbon wrapped truffles – THAT’S love!

Clearly Ireland has the romantic touch. So much so that we’ve become a honeymoon hotspot and we’re renowned worldwide as the ‘Land of Legendary Lovers’. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here we take a look at Irish people who have quite literally changed the world.

The man himself: John Philip Holland Photo: Wikipedia

We start our journey with a man who is considered the father of the modern submarine; a man by the name of John Philip Holland. As a young lad he was captivated by Jules Verne’s epic novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and couldn’t shake his fascination with what lay beneath the mysterious waves.

John was born in 1840 in a little place in County Clare called Liscannor. Opportunities for an engineering virtuoso were thin on the ground in Liscannor, so in 1873 he packed up and joined the rest of his siblings who had moved to America.

He quickly found work in an engineering firm in New York before becoming a teacher in New Jersey. He spent his nights drawing designs by flickering candlelight and slowly but surely his submarine took shape. John approached the US navy with his designs but they were dismissed as “a fantastic scheme of a civilian landsman”. He didn’t let this deter him, and designed better and better versions of his submarine. He built his first fully functional one in Todd & Rafferty’s Shop in New Jersey. The US Navy couldn’t ignore this genius Irishman any longer and in 1900 they bought the submarine designs for $150,000 and so the USS Holland was born – the first submarine of the US Navy fleet.

Lismore Castle: a fine place for an experiment or two!

Next up is a man who was one of the key contributors to the scientific revolution on the 1600s: Robert Boyle. Some consider him the founder of modern chemistry. He discovered a fundamental scientific truth that “At a constant temperature the volume of a confined ideal gas varies inversely with its pressure”, which became known as Boyle’s Law. It led to a much greater understanding of how pressure works and was used in everything from syringes to underwater exploration.

Boyle grew up in Lismore Castle. You can imagine puffs of smoke and sparks shooting out of the castle chimneys from his scientific explorations. He was also a member of a mysterious club known as the ‘Invisible College’ (think League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). His achievements didn’t end with discovering universal truths though; he also invented the pneumatic pump and a perpetual motion machine. Good man Robert!

Push the Red button!! Photo Stefan Kuhn

Next up we have a man that James Bond, fighter pilots, stuntmen and Dick Dasterdly all owe allegiance to: Sir James Martin. For Sir James was the genius who invented the ejector seat. James was born in 1893 in County Down and ironically it was his life’s passion to make things go up. 

Imagine it now, a world without ejector seats, that’s not a world I want to live in. Just as things look their worst, the plane wing is on fire, enemy rockets are locked on, all seems doomed then BANG! Ejector seat to the rescue. Just another gift the Irish have given the world.

Reinventing the wheel… almost

When we’re not writing award-winning literature, painting the odd masterpiece and selling millions of albums, we love a spot of inventing.

The world has us to thank for colour photography. John Joly from County Offalyfound a successful way of producing

Mmmmmm Thank you Mr Sloane! Photo JohnnyMrNinja

colour photographs from a single plate and changed the way we see the world.

Like chocolate milk? You’re welcome. It’s well-believed by some that Sir Hans Sloane from County Down was lounging in the Caribbean one day munching on some

chocolate and found it a wee bit bitter. So he added milk, and voilà! A taste sensation was born.

Cut your knee? Sudocrem is your only man. For minor burns and nappy rashes, we all turn to the antiseptic healing Sudocrem it. The magical qualities of Sudocrem have been salving hurts since it was invented in Ireland by Dublin pharmacist Thomas Smith in 1931.

Irish architecture at it’s finest

It was an Irishman (James Hoban to be exact) who designed the residence of US presidents: The White House.

We coin words too. The term ‘boycotting’ was created in Ireland when a mean old landlord called Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott got ignored by all his tenants and an entire village. He couldn’t buy milk in the shop, get any work done by locals or even get his hair cut. Thus the term ‘Boycotting’ was born.

Not all of our achievements lie in the past either.

Modern Ireland

Our little island is forging a confident business path into the future. Dublin is known as the Silicon Valley of Europe, due to the amount of IT companies with European Headquarters here, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Pfizer and most recently, HubSpot.

The video below has some very impressive figures, it’s Ireland by the numbers:

We may be the island of saints and scholars, but we also know how to invent the odd world-changing device. So next time you see a colour photo, an ejector seat, a submarine or just a humble pot of Sudocrem, spare a smile for Ireland.