As this is written, young Robert and I are in Ireland. We spent three days in Dublin, a day at the Curragh racecourse near Kildare and are now headed west toward Galway City and an excursion to the Aran Islands, a small group of mostly Irish-speaking islands located just off the west coast.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the weather (although arguably no worse than much late March weather in the New York area) has been pretty bad, with cold, raw days punctuated with sporadic intervals of rain. The locals in Dublin were actually quite apologetic about the conditions, claiming that the city was very dry all winter - at least until we arrived. While Dublin had enough indoor activities (museums, churches, and yes, the Guiness brewery tour and the pubs, where Robert had a good number of Cokes with his pub food), the Curragh was soggy for man and beast. And it will be even more of an issue in the Aran Islands, where such activities as hiking and bicycling are on the schedule.

Although the lad and I are mostly of Irish descent, this was our first trip to the Emerald Isle. However even to an inexperienced visitor, it is clear that the country has undergone a very significant economic rebirth in recent years. There are numerous upscale areas and people seem quite fashionably dressed. From the tourist's point of view, this results in higher prices, but also in higher quality of services and cuisine.

Ireland does, of course, have great number of attractions. Even in March, the country is very green and lush with idyllic rural scenes. It has a very interesting, if somewhat star-crossed, history. The pathbreaking work of the Irish monks during the Dark Ages, as epitomized by the Book of Kells, was followed by an invasion by the Vikings and then by hundreds of years of British rule. The British domination was punctuated by occasional famines (most notably the 1848 potato famine) and numerous bloody rebellions (including the famous 1916 Easter uprising) before the country finally gained its independence in 1921. And this very small country of 4 million souls has produced an incredible number of major writers - Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, John Synge, Brendan Behan, WB Yeats, Sean O'Casey and Samuel Beckett, just to name a few - whose lives and works are celebrated throughout the country.

But I have to say the country's greatest charm is the graciousness, wit and charm of its people. Virtually everyone, from cabdrivers to hotel personnel to bartenders, greets you with a warm welcome and seems genuinely interested in talking.

The trip to Ireland also brings to mind my mother's parents, Thomas Tarmey, who was born in County Galway and emigrated in 1906 and Margaret Meagher, who was born in County Tiperrary and came to the United States in 1912, after unsuccessfully attempting to book passage on the Titanic. They met in the United States, married in 1918 and gave birth to my mother in 1924. My grandparents both lived long lives and they came over to my house virtually every day during my childhood to help my mother out with various chores around the house. They were obviously very important figures in my life growing up. I see the same great characteristics that they had - warmth, patience, wit, a gift of gab -- in many of the people that I have met here in Ireland, and this has helped make this trip very memorable.