Trip Notes - The North

Driving through a small town near the Northern Ireland border, we encountered a number of police checkpoints. The heightened security was due to a public holiday known as The Twelfth, on which the Northern Irish light bonfires and generally run amok (albeit in a relatively orderly fashion). I was going to yell out the window, "End Irish civil war! British army leave!" but determined it unwise.

Ireland has two official languages - English and Irish. It is most important to concentrate intently on what a local is saying - firstly to determine which language he is speaking, and secondly to determine what he is actually trying to say.

In the town Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, no doubt is left regarding allegiance. The Republic and the Kingdom may fortunately get along okay today, but it wasn't always that way.

We enjoyed an hours-long discussion and learned much history together with this couple. Abraham was quite eager to put on tefillin with us and proved to be rich with Jewish knowledge.

Same, but different. Driving on the left side of the road, looking at nearly identical road signs, yet so, so far from home.

We continue to be blessed with abundant sunshine. On the way to one of our appointments the main road was closed by the police, and we we were told to make a detour. When we told the officer where we were headed, his eyes widened in surprise and he took a deep breath. "What you're going to do," he said in a nearly incomprehensible accent, "is just turn left here and go all the way down the road. Just keep driving and driving until you reach the end of that road. After that you make a left, and you'll find yourself back on the main road. But you don't want to turn left until you reach the end, all the way at the end of that road, okay?"

"So how long in distance would you estimate this road to be, officer?" I asked

"Oh," he said, gazing distantly. "Around about nearly almost two miles, I'd say."

Abundantly clear signage is another Irish phenomenon we've noticed. You just want to make sure that when you enter a One Way System you will be able to exit, that's all.

Visiting Oxford Island, a national nature reserve. Here we exchanged many pleasant greetings with curious passersby.

More to come!