The Same But Different

While traveling through Ireland we have discovered many things are almost the same as they are in the United States. The "almost" in that sentence is the key. For example . . .

Stores and Restaurants:

There are many, many stores and restaurants in Ireland that are unique to its culture and country. However every once and a while we came along one that made us think of home. This is a picture of H & M which we have at the Galleria at Tyler. We also saw a Claire's, Famous Footwear, Gamestop, McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Pizza Hut.


Road Signs:

There are many road signs in Ireland with icons that mean different things. What made them unique is that the words on the signs are written in Gaelic as well as English. While English is the first language for most of the counties in Ireland, Gaelic is spoken by almost everyone and is included on their street signs.


License Plates:

The cars in Ireland are required to have license plates like we do in the US, but they are not composed of random numbers and letters. The first numbers indicate the year the car was first bought (2003), the letter(s) is the county code where the car was first purchased (Dublin), and the last set of numbers is the car identification number.


Car Insurance:

In the United States we assume that everyone else on the road has the required amount of automobile insurance, but in Ireland proof of insurance is required to be visible at all times. Every car we saw had a plastic pouch displayed on its lower left hand side front window (not the side in front of the driver because the driver sits on the right hand side in Ireland) with insurance information inside.


Toilets:

You kind of assume that a toilet is a toilet and that they all work the same. Well, that is not necessarily true. If you look closely at the picture you will see that the handle on the right hand side is flat and much bigger that the toilets we have at home. That is because one light push on the handle is not enough. In fact, often you have to push the handle several times to get the toilet to flush here in Ireland. It works better if you use the palm of you hand, thus the big handle.


Front Doors:

Of course all the houses (actually there are more apartments or flats in the city) have front doors, but what is different than the front doors in the US is that they are very colorful. It is not unusual to walk down a block and see a blue door, a red door, an orange door, a yellow door, and every color in between. The flats may be in the same building with the same exterior but the doors were all different colors.


Pedestrian Signals:

In Dublin there are crosswalks and pedestrian signals at the corners of all busy streets. Somehow I still managed to walk out into the street, thinking I was perfectly safe, only to jump back after being narrowly missed by a speeding car! At least until I realized that there were words written on the street that helped me . . . “LOOK LEFT” or “LOOK RIGHT”. I guess I had automatically looked the way the traffic flows in the US before crossing which did no good because the traffic flows in the opposite direction in Ireland. Now I just look down, and then look to the right or left as directed by the writing on the street, and then safely cross the street.

Street Names:

In California a street will almost always run through an entire city, or maybe more than one city, without its name being changed. That is not the case in Dublin. If you look at the map below you will see that Suffolk Street becomes Nassau Street, which then becomes Leinster Street, which then becomes Clare Street, which then becomes North Merrian Square, which then becomes Mount Street Lower . . . It can be a mass of confusion for those trying to get around town!

Renting Bicycles:

In many cities it is possible to rent a bicycle. You go to a shop, sign a release form, pay the fee, and the bicycle is yours for a certain amount of time. In Ireland it is different. You go to an automated machine and “subscribe” to be a long hire card holder or 3 day ticket holder, or a 24 hour user. The machine releases the magnetic hold on the bike at a certain numbered stall next to the machine and you have 60 seconds to take it. You then return it in the specified amount of time. It was pretty cool!