Friday, July 20, 2007
The James Joyce Centre
the Centre is in a restored Georgian townhouse about 200 metres from my hotel. the exhibit filled all three floors and the postage stamp-sized backyard. the top floor had a small theatre were 3 short films looped. there was a lecture hall and a series of family portraits on the second floor. the first floor held a café and a store with mugs, t-shirts, and the usual tourist crap.
in Joyce’s novel Ulysses the Bloom family lived at number 7 Eccles Street, Dublin. like many of the novel’s settings, there really is a number 7 Eccles Street and the James Joyce Centre was given the original front door:
a group of twenty somethings walked through the Centre while i was there. the group was loud. i heard them moving from floor to floor. they were ina nd out in under twenty minutes. let’s see: 20 twenty somethings x €5 = too much to tour 4 just twenty minutes.
i was mesmerized all afternoon. i need to reread Ulysses.
Hogan's Bar!
i found a bar south of the Temple district called Hogans. it was opened about 22 years ago by Tony Hogan. he retired and sold the place to a non-Hogan in 1992. currently Hogan's enjoys a young clientele.
it may have been my imagination but the Guinness seemed to be just a little darker and colder.
it is raining this morning. off to view the Book of Kells today.
chocolate bars
tried a couple of the local chocolate bars. not bad.
notice the warning lables on the Yorkie....
notice the warning lables on the Yorkie....
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Guinness!
after a rather long day getting to Dublin i sought out and found a lovely pint of Guinness at a pub on O’Connell Street called Frazer’s. the pint of dark, cold, and worth the wait. the pub shows local football and hurling games and i will stop back again to catch one. its two minutes walk from my hotel.
my first full day in Dublin was spent waking up at 5 am and going for a 2 hour walk down the hill along O’Connell Street, across the Liffey and through the main downtown area. nothing was opening but the sun was up and the streets were clean. i was handed the morning paper by a young woman handing them out at a corner. stopped off at a coffee shop just opening up and bought a coffee. dark as guinness and hot.
i got back to the hotel about 8:30 am and went down to the lower floor where breakfast was being served. a full irish breakfast is included with my room. 2 large pieces of bacon, two breakfast sausages, white pudding, an egg, beans in tomato sauce, and a fried tomato. toast and traditional soda bread is served on the side. coffee, too.
my first full day in Dublin was spent waking up at 5 am and going for a 2 hour walk down the hill along O’Connell Street, across the Liffey and through the main downtown area. nothing was opening but the sun was up and the streets were clean. i was handed the morning paper by a young woman handing them out at a corner. stopped off at a coffee shop just opening up and bought a coffee. dark as guinness and hot.
i got back to the hotel about 8:30 am and went down to the lower floor where breakfast was being served. a full irish breakfast is included with my room. 2 large pieces of bacon, two breakfast sausages, white pudding, an egg, beans in tomato sauce, and a fried tomato. toast and traditional soda bread is served on the side. coffee, too.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
here @ last
the plane was struck by lightning.
we sat on the runway at heathrow for 90 minutes due to a terrorist alert.
the flight from london to dublin was delayed due to supposed bad weather over the irish sea.
but i did finally make it and sun was shining on the low, rolling green hills surrounding the airport as we made a smooth landing.
i took the airporter and got off on o'connel street, walked up the hill and found the castle hotel after only a few minutes of looking in the wrong direction.
after checking in i wandered back down o'connel and stopped in the first pub. had a fresh made burger on a crispy roll with fries and brown sauce... and a very large cold guinness.
we sat on the runway at heathrow for 90 minutes due to a terrorist alert.
the flight from london to dublin was delayed due to supposed bad weather over the irish sea.
but i did finally make it and sun was shining on the low, rolling green hills surrounding the airport as we made a smooth landing.
i took the airporter and got off on o'connel street, walked up the hill and found the castle hotel after only a few minutes of looking in the wrong direction.
after checking in i wandered back down o'connel and stopped in the first pub. had a fresh made burger on a crispy roll with fries and brown sauce... and a very large cold guinness.
Monday, July 16, 2007
nearly there...
i am at the airport using the Telus crappy Wi-Fi. slow.
the shillelagh was brought over from Ireland by my Great Grandfather in the first half of the 1800’s. his name was Patrick and was a very large, brutal looking man. his image survived into the 20th century by means of a tintype photograph. unfortunately, in the mid-1970’s a massive warehouse fire in Chatham, Ontario, destroyed that family heirloom along with countless other Hogan treasures. when told of the conflagration, my father experienced what doctors later labeled a heart “episode”.
sunday mornings after mass my Great Grandfather Patrick would practise his shillelagh skills with other men of the congregation. men, two hundred pounds plus, cracking each other about with these formidable weapons... all just a bit of fun.
the shillelagh was hewn from the Blackthorn tree. i also have a cane from the same tree that was used by Great Grandfather Patrick.
the shillelagh was developed during the British rule of southern Ireland when Irish men were banned from owning conventional weapons. sticks with a natural knot on the end could easily be discarded or camouflaged as a walking stick. in fact, all current shillelaghs look more like a walking stick than an effective skull crusher. the knot of Great Grandfather Patrick’s shillelagh was nearly the size of a man’s head and, when swung properly like an awl, would most definitely have a shattering effect on an unfortunate opponent.
Irish men equipped with the shillelagh were known as the Rapparees.
one hundred and fifty years before Great Grandfather Patrick Hogan came to Canada, an ancestor of his gained fame not with a shillelagh but with his riding skills. Galloping Hogan was a Rapparee and a scout for the great Irish war hero, Patrick Sarsfield.
in the late 1600’s, during a British siege of the town of Limerick, Galloping Hogan lead an ambush on a English artillery train, utterly destroying it and ending the siege. over three hundred years later the boulders scattered by the explosions are still visible in the surrounding fields. his knowledge of the countryside and his riding skills all lead to the victory and solidified Galloping Hogan's place in Irish history.
thirty years ago Matthew Culligan-Hogan retraced Galloping Hogan's charge on the artillery train and wrote a book about his experiences.
at some point in the next few years i intend to follow in Matthew’s footsteps and visit Hogan’s Glen. There, in the glen, is a permanent marker describing Galloping Hogan’s ride into history.
our family have a few other items that were brought over the waters from Ireland. the creamer has a small chip but is otherwise intact and quite beautiful. there are a few other items such as a woven rocker that was used to soothe infants to sleep and a letter writing box.
the shillelagh was brought over from Ireland by my Great Grandfather in the first half of the 1800’s. his name was Patrick and was a very large, brutal looking man. his image survived into the 20th century by means of a tintype photograph. unfortunately, in the mid-1970’s a massive warehouse fire in Chatham, Ontario, destroyed that family heirloom along with countless other Hogan treasures. when told of the conflagration, my father experienced what doctors later labeled a heart “episode”.
sunday mornings after mass my Great Grandfather Patrick would practise his shillelagh skills with other men of the congregation. men, two hundred pounds plus, cracking each other about with these formidable weapons... all just a bit of fun.
the shillelagh was hewn from the Blackthorn tree. i also have a cane from the same tree that was used by Great Grandfather Patrick.
the shillelagh was developed during the British rule of southern Ireland when Irish men were banned from owning conventional weapons. sticks with a natural knot on the end could easily be discarded or camouflaged as a walking stick. in fact, all current shillelaghs look more like a walking stick than an effective skull crusher. the knot of Great Grandfather Patrick’s shillelagh was nearly the size of a man’s head and, when swung properly like an awl, would most definitely have a shattering effect on an unfortunate opponent.
Irish men equipped with the shillelagh were known as the Rapparees.
one hundred and fifty years before Great Grandfather Patrick Hogan came to Canada, an ancestor of his gained fame not with a shillelagh but with his riding skills. Galloping Hogan was a Rapparee and a scout for the great Irish war hero, Patrick Sarsfield.
in the late 1600’s, during a British siege of the town of Limerick, Galloping Hogan lead an ambush on a English artillery train, utterly destroying it and ending the siege. over three hundred years later the boulders scattered by the explosions are still visible in the surrounding fields. his knowledge of the countryside and his riding skills all lead to the victory and solidified Galloping Hogan's place in Irish history.
thirty years ago Matthew Culligan-Hogan retraced Galloping Hogan's charge on the artillery train and wrote a book about his experiences.
at some point in the next few years i intend to follow in Matthew’s footsteps and visit Hogan’s Glen. There, in the glen, is a permanent marker describing Galloping Hogan’s ride into history.
our family have a few other items that were brought over the waters from Ireland. the creamer has a small chip but is otherwise intact and quite beautiful. there are a few other items such as a woven rocker that was used to soothe infants to sleep and a letter writing box.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
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