a year

a year has gone by since my trip. my life has changed tremendously. new home. new job. new woman in my life...

i am still working on a dvd/slideshow of my time in dublin.... coming.

last post... in Erie

i leave tomorrow for home. i have many feelings concerning the last week and a half. Dublin is old and new. the city has so much history and is now entering a new era of change. much of the language one hears on the streets is not English or Irish but rather eastern european. while Guinness puts massive marketing funding behind Gaelic games like hurling, and Irish TV programming so often in Irish, immigration is at rate not seen since the Vikings invaded. most of the shop attendants that i spoke with were new to the island. the Brazen Head pub (Dublin’s oldest) was staffed with tall, thin, blonde women all dressed in black and sporting accents from everywhere around the world except here. there are a few editorials in the papers lamenting the changing population but most published comments link the growing economy (construction cranes are everywhere around the city) with the influx of new people.

everyone that i met and dealt with in shops, museums, taxis, buses, and on the streets were all very friendly. the other day i was standing on a busy street with my map out trying to orient myself and a man walking by stopped and set me right. often at the end of a museum visit the attendants would suggest the next place i should visit.

i have become comfortable moving around Dublin and i was able to take three short trips out of Dublin (north, west, and south), but there is much more beyond Dublin to see in Érie...

the Gaol

headed out this morning for Killmainham Gaol.



after the last prisoner was released in 1924 the gaol sat unused until the 60's when a group of volunteers began the 20 years process of restoration. our tour guide was brilliant. the history of the gaol was, like much of Irish history, very sad.



the interior of the gaol has been used in several movies... there was a crew shooting something up on the out-of-bounds levels while i was there.



the small black cross marks where the British shot Jim Connolly after the Easter Rebellion was crushed. he was too wounded to stand so they tied him to a kitchen chair.

next door...

this morning i noticed a small plaque on the building next to my hotel...

one more U2 tidbit

the renovation notice on the otside of U2's Clarence Hotel stated there would be 40 spaces for cars and 38 spaces for bicycles!!

my new vocation..

spotted on the street...





and if that job doesn't work out... how about a meat shop?

wednesday and another train ride

headed off to Malahide Castle today...



the castle is almost 800 years old... well, at least portions of it. and its been owned by the same family all that time until they sold it to the Dublin Tourist Council in 1975.



Malahide is about 20 minutes by train north of Dublin. as i walked through the small village between the train station and the castle i came across the thatched roof of a private residence....



after exploring the grounds and castle i got back on the north bound train and continued to the end of the line.
i arrived back in Dublin around 4 and in time for a quite look around the National Museum of Archaeology. much of the museum is closed for renovations / restorations but the exhibit i came for, Ireland's prehistoric, was still open.



just outside the Museum on the sidewalk is a short quote from Ulysses.



there several of these plaques around the city..

U2

i had unknowingly been walking past the hotel owned by U2 almost every day! sometimes 2 or 3 times! no sign of Bono or the boys yet. i will keep and eye open for them!

here are a few pics of the place... interesting top floor.



there was a notice on the side of the building. they are applying to city council for permission to renovate and expand. next time i come over they will have a pub and restaurant to visit!

...if its tuesday i must be in a castle...

tuesday... no rain today... off to the Dublin Castle and City Hall. i have been getting out early as there are fewer people in the exhibits. by 130~2 the streets museums and pubs are full... rain or shine.
today it seems to be nice but i take my new guinness labeled umbrella just in case.

the Dublin Castle, the General Post building, and City Hall were major players in the 1916 Easter Rebellion.



St. Patrick's Cathedral is cracking!



Sir Arthur Guinness turned ST. Stephen's Green into a public park (it had been private previously)...





i found the apple store!!



Beshops.... the best place for fish & chips in Dublin... the chips were good but i didn't like the haddock. next time i will try the cod.

Joyce

there are quite a few homages to the great writer around Dublin. while he did all his important writing after he left Ireland, Dublin still claims Joyce as a son.


found in St. Stephen's Green...



and just off O'Connell..

one more harry post

one of the major book vendors here in Dublin has turned itself into the book store that harry and all the pupils of Hogwarts go to purchase their books and magical paraphernalia!

pictures & postings

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also, if you click on any of the pictures a larger sized image will open in a new window.

Carlow

i took the early morning train.





this is the traditional ancestral home of the Hogans. Carlow is about an hour west of Dublin. green countryside with a few fields of sheep, cattle and horse. mostly grain.



Carlow town is bisected by the Barrow River several times and there are a few bridge. i spent several hours walking through the streets. i had lunch at 3pm and had to ask for directions back to the rail station as i was completely turned around.



clean street. quiet roads. beautiful town.





finding the Carlow Castle was quite a surprise... i did not know there was a ruined castle in the middle of the town!



i did not find any Hogans but i did come across an old pub...

the Tower!

this morning i took the train out of town to the southern suburb of Sandycove to visit Joyce Tower.



the Tower was built 200 years ago to serve as a harbour defense.



Joyce spent about 4 days there in 1904 and then used it as the setting of chapter one in Ulysses.



the Tower houses a first edition of the novel as well as several other early, rare editions.

harry!

the last book came out yesterday at midnite.
i visited several of the local book stores as the time crept close to the witching hour. line ups all around. most the people in the lines were 16 - 20.



there was a young boy (10?) reading the new novel at the Joyce Tower in Sandycove.
on the train back from Sandycove i saw a young woman reading the novel.

Book of Kells

like everyone else that visits Dublin i viewed the Book of Kells. too many people to really enjoyed the amazing book. i was enthralled with the Long Hall: the wooden ceiling and the stacks of ancient books.



i have no pictures of the Long Hall or the Kells exhibit as there is none allowed anywhere in the building. i understand why.

a man stepped in front of the small group of visitors that i was in and held up his camera and began focusing on the Long Hall. i held up my arm, reached past him, and pointed at the “No Photography/Videography” sign. we had a short discussion about precisely what the sign meant.



i thoroughly enjoyed the tour i took before viewing the Book of Kells. the tour guide was a third year philosophy major at Trinity and spoke eloquently about the history of Trinity and the Book.