Travels with the Benzes

Our day began with an engaging historical walking tour in Cork, led by a charismatic and humorous guide who brought centuries of Irish history to life.  Our day started off rainy, but quickly turned sunny, then rainy, then sunny, etc.   Our guide explained that the Celts first settled in Cornwall, the only part of England they occupied, before sailing to Ireland around the 7th-9th centuries BC. They brought their history, heritage, and culture, including two significant contributions: The Irish Language (Gaeilge)  - Our guide humorously explained why Irish is so difficult to learn: it consists of all the languages and dialects the Celts collected during their travels across Europe. As he put it, "we were left to sort it out" because "every country they visited" contributed dialects. He described it as "57 other languages, everything and anything" depending on what part of Ireland you're in. His advice: "If you haven't been raised into Irish la...

Our Welsh adventure took us to the magnificent Penryn Castle, located near Bangor in Gwynedd, North Wales. This impressive castle, with its dramatic castellated turrets and stunning architecture, sits overlooking the Menai Strait with breathtaking views of the North Welsh coastline extending eastward toward Chester on the English border. In the 15th century, the Penrhyn estate was the centre of a large landholding developed by Gwilym ap Griffith and began as a fortified manor house with an adjoining chapel. The Pennant family had owned Jamaican sugar plantations since the middle of the seventeenth century. By the 1730s, they had moved back to England, becoming established as merchants in Liverpool and London, while still benefitting as absentee landlords from the profits of their Jamaican estates – and the hundreds of enslaved African people working for them.  Richard Pennant (1737–1808), MP for Liverpool, and the first Baron Penrhyn, established Penrhyn Castle as the family seat. ...

For our day in Dublin, Fran and I chose a walking tour around the center of the city. We arrived at Merrion Square, one of Dublin's most beautiful Georgian squares, where our guide Simon began an engaging walking tour. The weather was pleasantly warm - around 68°F (20°C) - making it a perfect day for exploring on foot. To begin our tour,   Simon provided some fascinating insights into Irish history.  We learned about the dramatic decrease in the population of Ireland from 8.4 million in 1845 to just 3.4 million in 1964 due to the Great Famine.  However, since hitting its demographic low point in 1964, Ireland has experienced steady population growth of approximately  1.6 million people over 60 years  - nearly a 50% increase from the 1960s.  Simon explained that Ireland has had an economic evolution,  noting that when he left school (he's now 60), "if you got a job, you'd be in that job and that would nearly be a job for life." This has completely ...