Ireland has a lot to offer the traveler besides its famouslygreen countryside and popular

Ireland has a lot to offer the traveler besides its famously

green countryside and popular traditional music. It is rich on【M1】______

prehistoric and Medieval ruins, fine Georgian architecture,

and art. For those interested in literature, it is also the homeland

of a great deal of the English language's finest writers: Swift,【M2】______

Wilde, Shaw, Yeats, O'Casey, Beckett, Behan, and—most famous

of all—James Joyce. The Irish are intense proud of their writers, 【M3】______

and literary memorials are scattered all over the country, and

frequently visited.

Unlike Northern Ireland, about which we hear so often in the

news, the nation of Eire, that makes up most of the island, gained 【M4】______

its dependence formally in 1921 and completely separated from 【M5】______

the United Kingdom in 1949. Although memories of the long

struggle for independence are everywhere, but Ireland is also a very 【M6】______

modern nation. In the 1990s it experienced high-tech boom which 【M7】______

created widespread prosperity. In the aftermath of the dot-com bubble,

some of that prosperity have dwindled, and the Irish are struggling with 【M8】______

a declining economy; but the country is still presents a bright, modern 【M9】______

face to the world. It is a participating member of the European Monetary

Union, so we had our first chance to use Euros on this trip. Although

the bills are generic across the Union, coins have a reverse side

illustrating some aspect of their country of origin—in case of Ireland, 【M10】______

a Celtic harp.

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