Weekend in Dublin

I am back safe and sound and still up late at night in Galway, so rest assured that the weekend with Brigid went swimmingly.

Thursday: I took the bus out that afternoon, getting dropped off along the Liffey River, and made my way to the Kinlay House via the mental map I had of that area of town. Brigid had gotten in about fifteen minutes before me, so after we cleaned up we headed out to Bull and Castle around the corner for a bite to eat and a free pint of Galway Hooker upstairs. It was early and a Thursday night so pretty quiet; we had the bar mostly to ourselves and quickly made friends with the bartenders although they were out of the Galway Hooker (or so they said... perhaps it was just a ploy to get us to come back the next night). We chatted for a while then headed off to the Brazen Head, a pub rumored to have good traditional music. It turned out to be a nifty, laid-back little place where the band was just sitting at one of the tables like everyone else in the small room, except that they were playing old Irish songs and singing along. We didn't stay out too late since we wanted to be rearin' to go the next morning.

Friday: Quick breakfast then walked out to the Guinness Storehouse which only took maybe twenty minutes. Toured that for a few hours, etc. Oh, and quick note to anyone that ever ends up there - you get a free pint by going on the tour and you can either use it pouring your own pint (I think around the 5th floor), and you get a certificate, or you can redeem your ticket stub at the top in the Gravity Bar. I highly recommend the latter option as this Bar has an almost 360 degree view of Dublin. We then grabbed lunch at a pub and headed for the Jameson Factory. [aside: yes, I know, this sounds ambitious and overly-alcoholic, but they were both a bit out of the way of most of the other things we wanted to see, and relatively close in proximity to each other.] Unfortunately we got there and it appeared to be exactly the same as the Guinness Storehouse, except it was whiskey which neither of us have a particular taste for, so we opted to pass on that. We made a detour on the way back, however, at the Four Courts, the courthouse in Dublin that overlooks the Liffey and wandered through there for a bit (sorry, not allowed to take pictures). We returned to Kinlay House in a rather roundabout way, passing through the Temple Bar area to see what all the fuss was about. Really it's just a huge tourist area with a lot of pubs. We had a little more time than anticipated when we got back so we took a very short nap then went back out near the Temple Bar to eat dinner and start a pub tour. We're near 7:30 at this point, FYI. We went to four pubs, nothing noteworthy, then decided to end the night back at Bull and Castle with our bartender friends. However we missed closing time by fifteen minutes, so we went back and were in bed a little after 2:00.

Saturday: Woke up nice and refreshed, again with a quick breakfast, then meandered out towards Kilmainham Gaol, the prison-turned-museum. It was out past the Guinness Storehouse and as we were walking we passed someone who looked like Claire Ferguson. It didn't dawn on us until it was too late to turn around and see if it was her, but we shrugged it off. Well, no, actually... we looked it up later and she was in Dublin that very day for a concert. And to think six years ago I was her tour guide for her overnight visit at Thacher. And I digress... We got slightly lost/didn't walk far enough because the jail wasn't clearly marked on our map so a friendly old man with a really thick accent helped us. We nodded and grinned and went about our way... still as confused as before. While we were puzzling over which direction to head another man, this time with two kids, stopped to ask if we knew where Kilmainham was. Perfect. We joined forces and carried on our way. We arrived soon after (we were closer than we had thought) and went on a very sobering hour-long tour. I highly recommend going there. We had a lovely lunch of fish'n'chips and continued out to stroll around Trinity College (perhaps a seven minute walk in the other direction of Kinlay House). The afternoon was spent hitting the typical tourist spots - Merrion Square, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grafton Street, Dublin Castle - and stopping in a few little shops. One boutique I was particularly fond of was Cleo, a fabulous little wool store on Kildare Street. We ate dinner then went out to Duke Street Pub for a literary pub crawl. Relatively entertaining, there were two fellows leading who would do scenes from plays and tell us interesting stories about Joyce, Wilde, etc. Hands down the best part was winning a shirt for getting the most trivia questions right at the end of the night. Too bad it's an XL. It was snowing by the time we came out of the last pub (gargantuan flakes, mind you! think an inch in diameter - no hyperbole!)... We made our way back to Bull and Castle for the last time and met up with our bartender friends who were thrilled to see us and gave us free drinks the rest of the night. It was packed, too. We stayed there until closing then went back to... not sleep. Brigid had a flight out at 6:45am so she left at 4:30 so we stayed up until then. I slept from 4:31am until 8:45, got breakfast, and booked it out expecting to be able to sleep the three hours on the bus. Heads up: you cannot sleep on an Irish bus. They accelerate and decelerate much too frequently, take roundabouts and dizzying speeds, and stop in every small village along the way.

That was my weekend, though. This weekend I'll be going down to Kilkenny with Bethany and hopefully Noel (group project just assigned; we'll see if she makes it) to see Kilkenny Castle but most importantly to attend The Hibernian Orchestra's performance of Arvo Part, Mozart, and Brahms. I've been counting down the days to this ever since I found out!! It's sure to be phenomenal!!

And before I depart for bed, a few shots from Dublin:

Four Courts

This is what you should ponder next time you have a Guinness...

Here's to you, Michael

Inside Kilmainham

I almost went crazy when I was locked up in a cell in those dank halls, the silence pressing in all around! But I made it out without too much lasting damage... or that's what I tell myself.

Not escaping over these walls too easily.

Trinity College

A walk down this path in Merrion Square...

...led us here!

Doors of Dublin

Inside Dublin Castle

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Christ Church

ditto

Pancake Tuesday!

Have you wondered why you hunt for eggs at Easter? Actually... I haven't either. But I now have the answer! And it's all thanks to the wonderful little country of Ireland (or so I'm told). Back in the day it was very common for the Irish to give up eggs for Lent, so they would spend all day before Ash Wednesday making things that had eggs in the recipe to use them all up. Pancakes eventually became the food of choice to whip up, so for those of you who have heard of Pancake Tuesday but didn't know where it originated from (Nick), now you do. Then, on Easter, the Irish would go "hunting" for eggs to feast on. So there you have it! Now you'll never again wonder why you look for eggs of all things on Easter. So... does anyone know why the animal representing Easter is a bunny? (Seriously, I'm curious. I don't actually know the answer to that one yet...)

So I acknowledge that I haven not written in a few weeks. Hopefully no one has been kept awake at night wondering if I got brainwashed by the Irish folksongs and went native. Don't fret; I still have every intention of returning home in May. (quick aside: I've heard from a couple of sources that rumor has it I plan on sticking around here for an extra month, or the rest of summer - depending on the version you might have heard. I'll go ahead and dispel that; I still have every intention of coming home at the end of May, cross my heart!)

As to what shenanigans I have been up to in the past few weeks? If you are up to date with my adventures (really you have no reason not to be - everyone likes to procrastinate, not to mention you had plenty of time to catch up) then you will know that the next destination on the agenda was Bunratty Castle and Folk Park outside of Shannon. Noel and I met up to catch the 8:00am bus down which took about an hour. Once in the park we started out the morning with a cup of tea and delicious homemade scone at the Tea Room in the Folk Park. Since it was technically during the off-season we had the place mostly to ourselves; this made roaming around a bit easier as there were no crowds to fight. We spent the better part of two hours in the castle alone.

We toured a bit more of the Folk Park which was comprised of small cottages built in the fashion of homes from different areas of Ireland, then headed out of the park to get lunch. There was a restaurant called the Creamery Bar a little ways off with delicious clam chowder. Actually some of the best vegetable soup I've ever tried, too. Why are all the best restaurants out in the middle of nowhere? Well, Vernon excluded...

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the grounds of the Folk Park, a pretty extensive place with about twenty-three shops and homes we could go into. Actually it was mostly houses, then one area representing the main street of a village.

We got dinner and a pint at Durty Nelly's, a good little pub next to the castle, then headed home. Rating of this adventure: A- (since it was off-season the folks who usually work at the park representing various Irish livelihoods weren't there)


Other event worth mentioning: attended the Law Ball last Tuesday with Brad, a fellow from the states who was here last semester as well. Each department hosts a ball every year. I cannot speak to the rest of the balls but I have to imagine that they're all pretty similar. It was a nice affair starting with cocktails at the Galway Bay Hotel, dinner, then a band. I admit I was a bit disappointed that the band actually played mostly American music, but on the bright side I knew the majority of the songs. The shindig went well into the night/morning and there was an after party, well, after, but we ended up just heading back at that point.

(before I rendezvoused with Brad; this is one of the few pictures I have from the night. also, Beth is on my right, Meg on my left)

That's really all the craic (pronounced "crack" - can be used for anything from "good time" to "What's the craic?" which is essentially, "How are you?") here. Finally got out on a horse yesterday with the Equestrian Club. Just tryouts to place us for lessons (I think... they were very vague) but it was great to be back in the saddle (I know, curveball coming from me)! Headed out to Dublin Thursday after class to meet up with Brigid (buddy from Thacher). She's in Florence for the quarter and wanted to come to Ireland for a bit; she is a McCarthy after all! Needless to say I'm excited to see her after almost three years! Actually, I'm going to be out of town the next three weekends. Heading to Kilkenny the following weekend, then meeting up with Alex and Dub (also Thacher comrades spending the semester in Madrid and Florence, respectively) the first weekend in March. Anyway, that's all I have on the horizon at the moment.

Oh, and the horse? Still MIA...