Travelling With a Fridge, Tenements and The Kennedys...

Céad míle fáilte, welcome to your Letter from Ireland “Shorts”. Each Tuesday we’ll bring you a quick-read of some of our favourite and interesting Irish things for this week.

FAVOURITE PLACES IN IRELAND
14 Henrietta Street – The Tenement Museum, Dublin. This is a great “living” museum to visit if you’re ever in Dublin. It started life as a house for a private banker in the 1700s but by the 1901 census there were 87 people living there. Have a listen to this podcast episode where we compare the tenement museum in New York and Henrietta street in Dublin.

FEATURED IRISH SURNAME
Our Irish surname of the week is Kennedy. The surname largely came from Cinnéide, a nephew of Brian Boru whose name meant ‘helmeted head’. In the 11th century, the surname Ó Cinneide emerged in Ireland and the ‘Annals of the Four Masters’ cite an Ó Cinneide as Lord of Tipperary in 1159. To see where the name appears in Ireland in the mid 1800s go to this page on Johngrenham.com

BOOK I’M READING NOW
“Round Ireland With a Fridge” by Tony Hawks. A great recommendation from one of our readers. From Dublin to Cork and back, Tony and the fridge travel, meet royalty (both real and fake) and even enter a bachelor festival. It’s a month of madness, laughter, and good ol’ Irish charm. And the fridge? Well, it becomes a star in its own right. See the book on Amazon here.

IRISH WORD OR PROVERB

“Níl uasal ná íseal ach thuas seal agus thíos seal”
(pronounced “Neel oos-sal naw ee-shall ock hoo-us shall ogus hees shall“)

A bit of a tongue-twister to say which translates to “It is not upper class or lower class, but up-a-while and down-a-while”.

Click here to listen to the pronunciation.

A warning if you’re up – or hope if you’re down at the moment!

IRISH CRAFT/PRODUCT WE LOVE (not an advert – just things we like)

When we were on our last visit to the Burren in Co. Clare, we came across the Burren Perfumery. It’s a great place to stop off if your in the area as they have a lovely cafe and herb garden. They’re a small family company with really high quality products and Carina couldn’t help but get something for herself when we visited. They sell much more than perfume and you can check them out by clicking here.

That’s it for this week. Send us an email with any of your own favourites for inclusion in future emails, or if you’re a plus member leave a comment below.

Slán for now,
Mike & Carina.

Note: The above article may contain some affiliate links (for example the Amazon link) which means we get paid a small amount should you choose to purchase, at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep the show on the road!