Today, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Garden of Remembrance where the Queen laid a wreath at a monument honoring the Irish who fought for independence from England. Needless to say, there were mixed feelings throughout Ireland concerning the event, especially when they played both the English and Irish National anthems there. Some groups were protesting the visit, but most Irish just watched their tv sets in amazement that the events were even occurring.
Tomorrow, the Queen is visiting the Irish War Memorial at Islandbridge, which is a memorial to remember the Irish that died in WW2. Then she is going to Croke Park where the first Bloody Sunday occurred. Many other events are also scheduled. What can I say?....It's not the usual event of a dignitary visiting Ireland. When Obama comes next week, it will be very different, I am sure. The streets of Dublin were like a ghost town...Many of the streets were closed and the public was kept away from the vicinity where the Queen was visiting. The security was at a level never before seen in Ireland. More Gardai( police) were in the streets,and seeing my husband's native city like a ghost town was very strange indeed. It is still an event that was historically significant to Ireland, but it was still a bit eerie in feeling.
I will be watching the events on tv tomorrow...I am sure that countries all over the world are watching too.
11 comments:
I will admit to being a fairly uninformed American (although maybe not as uninformed as some - my Mother's family all came from County Cork, and despite being Americans for a couple of generations now, still have strong Republican beliefs....), but how could the Queen POSSIBLY think visiting a memorial for Irish who fought for independence from England would be a good idea? The WWII monument I can see, but some of the other sites? All I can say is 'Huh.'
-Dr. Liz (not Fiona the dog, although she's named after a TV character who used to be in the IRA...)
Makes no sense to me, lol.
We are getting rain most of the week, so no walks:(
Debbie
Very interesting! Hope you have a great day...Mumzie :)
I'm enjoying your observations on this histoic event Micki. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this Micki...I didn't know...It sure is historic...must be very mixed feelings...Dzintra
It is all over the news here, that the Queen is visiting Ireland!
What a shame her visit had to be so carefully managed, we heard over 10,000 police were used to protect her!
MICKI DEAREST!!!! Oh sweet one, thank you, MERCI for coming to visit! Do come back and take the tour on Sat. May 28 and visit all the lovely blogs that are participating!!! There will be plenty of cafés to visit so you and Joe can take a rest to stop and dream.......have a splendid day, Anita
We watched the wreath laying ceremony on TV-quite an historic moment.
I can understand the protesters too...there were harsh times for a very long time.
Well I also do not always keep up on the news but my husband does and he has not heard anything about it here in America??? It does seem funny and I wonder what her reasoning is. Maybe she wants to bridge the gap of old riffs?
We are getting snippets of the event here, but I am sure it is nothing like the coverage there.
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