Last and greenest- Ireland!

The grass is always green and the ground is always wet.
Rebecca and I toured both Ireland and her English sister North Ireland.  We expected them to be the same on both sides, like the two Berlins, separated by an arbitrary line and a demilitarized zone.
Nope.
The Irish generally don't consider those in the North to even be Irish.  They are colonized Britons, or they would have emigrated.  Those in the North would rather go to London than Dublin, and sound more Scottish than Irish.  Everything looks and feels like it should be adjacent to Derbyshire rather than to the country of Ireland.  They have apparently made peace with their colonization.  The border doesn't even have a sign to say "welcome to another country".  The biggest problem is you must have exact change in the currency of that side of the motorway in order to pay the tolls.

The Emerald Isle is breathtakingly green.  The sea is gray but warm.  the air is grey and continuously portends rain.  I've been to kiss the Blarney Stone- can you tell?  And in honor of eating at a medieval banquet in Limerick, I've composed this wise limerick:
Beware of potato-on-dagger.
Try not to eat with such swagger.
It may roll away
And ruin your day
By setting the tongues all a-wagger.


It was an awesome trip- details and pics will follow shortly, pending reliable internet, a face-to-face visit, or you happening to stop by my grandma's!