WHY DO THE IRISH SEEM SO DIFFERENT TO THE ENGLISH?

Map of Ireland

Because they are different racially and culturally and have had totally different historical developments. 

Ireland was settled by successive waves of Celtic-speaking peoples in the first millennium B.C. The next settlers were the Vikings who established Ireland’s first towns along the East and South coasts in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. At that time the Irish people were still living a tribal-pastoral life. 

England was also populated by Celts at one time, but it became a Roman colony two thousand years ago, and was settled by Germanic tribes in the fifth century A.D. 

More information: RTE

In the eleventh century, French-speaking rulers conquered England, establishing French as the language of the court and the high society. The amalgamation of Germanic peoples with French-speaking rulers created English as we know it; closer to German for basic communication, closer to French for more official, intellectual and refined matters. 

The Normans came to Ireland also but not in great numbers, and they soon took on the language and customs of Ireland. 

Industrialization, colonization and colonial power have significantly influenced the English character. 

The Irish character has been shaped by opposite factors; the continuity of the rural agricultural way of life combined with the experience of powerlessness under English colonial rule.

Source: Why do the Irish? by Fiana Griffin

 Why should Ireland be treated as a geographical fragment of England - Ireland is not a geographical fragment, but a nation. 

Charles Stewart Parnell

BELGRADE-BEOGRAD: THE WHITE CITY OF SERBIA

The Grandma outside Belgrade Cathedral

The Grandma is in Belgrade, Beograd in Serbian, the capital of the Republic Serbia. She has just arrived on The Orient Express after had visited Milano and Venice.

Today, she wants to visit this beautiful capital and she has decided to read something about it before visiting it. She's taking a look in Wikipedia:

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. Its name translates to White city. The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.23 million, while over 1.65 million people live within its administrative limits.

More information: Grad Beograd / City of Belgrade

One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city, naming it Singidūn. It was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire, Frankish Empire, Bulgarian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary before it became the capital of Serbian king Stephen Dragutin (1282–1316). 

In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo.It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841.

More information: Belgradian.com

Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006.

Belgrade has a special administrative status within Serbia and it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council. City of Belgrade covers 3.6% of Serbia's territory, and 22.5% of the country's population lives within its administrative limits. It is classified as a Beta-global city.

Let's go to visit Belgrade and enjoy it!

 Belgrade is the ugliest city in the world in the most beautiful place in the world.

Le Corbusier