Oran and I received an invitation last week to attend a party "to celebrate the refurbishment and upgrading of the County Arms Hotel" in Birr, County Offaly. (Check out the website at http://www.countyarmshotel.com/.) The opening ceremony was performed by An Taoiseach Brian Cowan. For those of you that don't know, the Taoiseach of Ireland is sort of like the U.S. President. He's basically the leader of the country. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoiseach for some background.)
Oran is good friends with Connor, one of the sons of the Willy and Jean Loughnane, who own the County Arms. I met Connor last year when he invited Oran and me to the hotel to spend a weekend. It's a really gorgeous hotel and I'm a huge fan of Connor's. The fact that he and Oran are practically twin brothers has nothing to do with it I'm sure.
Anyway, it was quite a party. There were about 1,000 people in attendance and the Loughnane family were fantastic hosts. There was tons of food and drinks and live music. The most amazing part though, was the reception Mr. Cowan received. Honestly, I was expecting there to be tons of security and media, maybe even sniffer dogs and a few helicoptors. At the very least I assumed he'd arrive in a motorcade. But no, there was none of that. At 7pm, most of us were milling around in the front of the hotel when two Mercedes Benz drove up - right on time. Mr. Cowan got out of the first one and two security guards got out of the second one. That was it. He was met by members of the Loughnane family and posed for a few photos and then he walked around and chatted with people in the crowd. If you weren't really paying attention you would have missed the entire thing. Most people just looked over and said, oh, there's the Taoiseach and went back to chatting with their friends or looking for one of the girls with the trays of champagne. That was it. I was floored.
Here's a picture of his "grand entrance." That's Mr. Cowan on the left and Mr. Loughnane on the right.
Here's a picture of Mr. Cowan shaking hands with someone (he's the big guy on the right).
I made it a point to ask some of the people I met if this was normal, since I can't fathom President Bush arriving to an event without 20 secret service and every guest having been through a full background check. And certainly you wouldn't be able to just stroll up to him and ask him how his day went. Geez, did the Irish not hear about 9-11??
Besides laughter, here are a few of the responses I received.
- But why would anyone want to hurt the Taoiseach? That's just ridiculous.
- Of course there's security. See those two guys over there by the bar....
- You Americans are so paranoid.
It was also explained to me at length that Irish people generally do not make a fuss over famous people and that when they do encounter someone famous, they usually make it a point to ignore them because "they are not better than you and me...they're just people." I'm still shaking my head in disbelief. It is so strange to live in a country that isn't obsessed with the likes of Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears. It's also kind of refreshing.
Here are a few more pictures of the hotel grounds. As soon as I get copies of pictures of me and Oran all dressed up, I'll post them as well.
4 comments:
I don't know if your comparison with the president thingy of Ireland and the president of "the free world" as they say is apples to apples. You do realize the population of Ireland is about the same as Kentucky. Would people make a fuss if the governor of Kentucky showed up to a rich person's party in DC?
I'm sure this dude had more security around him during the times when the tensions between the Republic and Northern Ireland were greater.
I don't know about the lack of fascination with celebrity gossip over there because when the Ryder Cup was there a few years back, some Dublin paper ran gossipy stories about Tiger's wife and it was a big deal. She sued for defamation and won. However, I certainly share the perspective of the people you talked to about the topic at the party.
Random info. I went to IrishFest here in Chicago last night. I learned about rings with hearts, hands, and crowns on them.
Okay, I can't spout off facts and stuff like Mr. Jonathan can but I thought Ireland had a female President? Maybe I'm wrong but when I did my paper last year I had to study female presidents and I thought you and I talked about how the president of Ireland was just a "poster child" for the country.
Anyway, all I really care about is.....was Brittany there? OMG did you get to stand near her? Could you smell her sweat? Do you know Paris personally? Could arrange for me to walk her dog? That would be like so totally awesome!!!!
Just kidding.....couldn't resist!!
Love you bunches!!!!
Are Jonathan and I the only ones that read your blog?
The President of Ireland is a female, but that's a different position than the Taoiseach. The President doesn't really have much power, as least from what I can tell.
Yes, I think you and Jonathan are the only people that read my blog.
Well, not everyone can sit around their apartment all day working with no contact with the outside world except through email and blogs!
I smelled Brittany's sweat. It was like dead fish.
Post a Comment