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Mar

Memories of St Patrick’s Day In and Out of Ireland

by Joyce McGreevy on March 15, 2021

Ireland’s blue sky and green meadow in March evoke memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Before the pandemic, March was a popular time for travel to Ireland . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

How Real Was My Cultural Authenticity?

What could be more Irish than memories of St Patrick’s Day in Ireland? Picture it: County Limerick, March 17. Sunlight illuminates my boarding school overlooking the banks of the River Shannon. Such cultural authenticity! We’ve the day off from classes. Cue the festivities!

The Dripping of the Green

Ah, but this is 1970s Ireland. St Patrick’s Day is a holy day, not yet a holiday. To “celebrate,” we each pin a clump of sodden shamrocks to the front of our school uniform. At Mass, I watch in dismal fascination as brackish liquid oozes along the wool grain of my personal upholstery. Read more...

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Ireland/Travels to the Past

Jan

Art Discoveries: The Mystery in the Ceiling

by Meredith Mullins on January 25, 2021

A Humbert painting unveiled via curtain, showing art discovers that can inspire travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins and Charlie Meagher.)

What treasure is hidden in this Paris ceiling?
© Meredith Mullins/Charlie Meagher

Follow the Clues & Travel Through History

The world loves stories about surprising art discoveries—treasures that are unearthed via bizarre circumstances and that send the finder on a compelling journey, perhaps including travels through history.

In 1940, four teenagers followed their dog down a narrow cavern and found cave walls filled with hundreds of prehistoric paintings—the now famous Lascaux caves in France.

Cave painting of a horse from the Lascaux caves, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture.)

A dog discovered the famous Lascaux cave paintings.
(Photo courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture) Read more...

Meredith Mullins 6 Comments

France/France (Paris)/Travels to the Past

Jul

Let a Tune Transport You!

by Joyce McGreevy on July 28, 2020

Travel Memories Inspired by Music

Imagine a melody with the power to recreate worlds. The cocoa-butter scented breeze of a beach in Maui in 1979—when it’s 2020 and you’re in Montréal. The soaring elegance of a train station in Leipzig—as you drift off to sleep in Lincoln City.

That’s what happens when a tune, any tune, becomes travel music. Oh, I see: When it comes to modes of travel, nothing transports us like music. Read more...