Dublin

We've been driving around rural Ireland for a few days now, and it's time for something urban, I guess. So we drive to Dublin. The land flattens out much more on the way there. This must be the land that Cromwell wanted to force the Irish off so he could give it to his supporters. It seems he was trying to push the Irish back to the western areas where the landscape looks like giant shelves of rocks shoved out through the earth's surface. Not at all good for farming. Unless your crop is grass or moss, that is.

We get to our hotel in time for supper. This time I have the pasta tubes in tomato sauce. It comes with a large boiled potato, of course. After supper, Keith decides it is a good time for a tour meeting. We're going to hear the limericks that we've all been working so hard on. But first, we have to embarrass ourselves in front of the Irish staff by singing traditional Irish folksongs. Apparently they've been trained to ignore the tourists when they try stuff like this, so it's not completely horrible. Some of the limericks that we've written are not too bad, actually. I haven't written one, and manage to get out of being called to judge them. We give out awards for the Best Irish, Overall Funniest, and Best About the Group. The limerick that wins the Best Group award is about the attempt by several of our members to set a record for the most people to use a pay toilet on one coin.

After supper, one of the group members and I decide that this would be a good time to do some laundry. The desk person directs us to a facility, but of course it's closed by the time we get there. It seems that everything closes here after 5:00, and this is doubly true on Sundays. We will have to try again later, elsewhere.

The TV in our room only gets two channels. I know. I try to tune the other channels for quite some time, but these are the only ones that show up. One has news, then something called Life Lines. This seems to be a review of this old poet/storyteller's life, and all of his friends are in the audience. Network 2 is showing complete coverage of the Canadian Grand Prix, in which an Irish-owned team places 2nd and 3rd. I'm sure we'll be hearing much more about this on the news. These guys are even more partisan than Houston sportscasters, if such a thing is possible. But I stay up and watch anyway. Wings comes on at 11:35, so there is something good on, finally. I think I'll sleep in a bit tomorrow.

I do sleep in until about 8:00. Nice. Today is our "free day" in Dublin. We get to go sightsee on our own. Andrew's dad comes to get him at 8:00, and I decide that this is as good a time as any to get up. I stagger down to breakfast at about 9:00, and decide to just get a Continental Breakfast, since I am not clear on whether a hot course is already paid for or not. After I get back up to the room, I discover that Irish TV doesn't even put a test pattern on until 9:00 (I've been checking all morning), and then they just play a radio station over it. If I lived here, I would probably end up going insane, or shelling out whatever it would take to get a satellite dish. I think I'll go out and see the city now.

I've been consulting my guidebooks and maps, and I think I have a decent itinerary planned out. First up: St. Michan's Church, to see the mummified crusaders. It's a bit of a walk down to Church St., and I don't find the church right away. The trouble is that they've redone the front of the church, and it doesn't look old enough. The tour has started already, but I am allowed to catch up with them just as they're heading down into the first crypt. Something about the combination of the soil and the trees that used to grow by the river has made the environment just right for preservation. There's almost no humidity (it all gets absorbed by the limestone), and the ground releases methane gas, which helps preserve the remains. The first crypt has a chamber with 4 coffins that have broken open over the years, so we can see the remains of a crusader, a nun (possibly), a thief (he's had his hands cut off), and another guy. Very odd. The other chambers just have coffins in them, and of course we can't look inside of them. The guide says that this is still an active burial ground. Families have purchased these chambers to be buried in, but they're only putting in cremated remains now. They've been stacking the coffins one on top of another for a few centuries now, and in at least one chamber, the bottom one has collapsed and been flattened. I catch the first part of the next tour, which takes place inside the church. They have the oldest organ in Ireland there, dating from 1724. Handel used it in a rehearsal for the Messiah at one time (possibly). The organ still works, but they've replaced the keyboard. The old keyboard is still on display, and looks pretty dilapidated. Most of the historical spots we've seen on this trip could use quite a bit of restoration, and this church is no exception. That's probably why they all charge admission to the tourists. This tour was one pound twenty. I take a few pictures, talk for awhile to a guy from South Carolina, then push off for St. Patrick's Cathedral.

This is a very impressive structure. And again, one pound twenty to get in. There are plaques all over the wall in memory of many people. The most famous (to me, anyway) is Jonathan ("Gulliver's Travels") Swift, near the entrance door. They're also trying to raise money to restore their organ, and you can put your contributions in large empty metal kegs of Guinness Beer. Interesting. Also interesting is the souvenir stand they have right by the entrance. Yep, selling stuff in the church. I don't know. Time to head off to St. Stephen's Green.

The Green is a very nice park right in the middle of Dublin. I get there right at the tail end of lunch. There are many office people sitting and eating, and many more tourists strolling around. My guidebooks says that occasionally there is some sunbathing activity in the park. Well, either my book is lying to me, or it's much too early in the season for that sort of thing. There is some sun, but also a good breeze. I walk along the stream for a bit, then decide to go see the Trinity College Library and the Book of Kells.

The library is right in the middle of the campus, which seems to be equally populated by students and tourists. I guess the students are used to this, but it would drive me nuts. I finally find the library building, and discover that the exhibit will cost me three pounds. Great. This will leave me no money for lunch, but it's something I have to see. First, though, I am taken though an exhibit of scientific instruments made by Irishmen, and since I've paid three pounds for this, I take a very good look around. After going though that exhibit, I'm directed up into a little room where the Book of Kells is on display with a couple of other really old books. The Book of Kells is just the four Gospels, and seems to be in two volumes. The illumination work is incredible, and the lettering of the text is really precise. Very impressive, indeed. The other two books are smaller, but also fine examples of this kind of craftsmanship, although not quite so ambitious. Then I go upstairs to The Long Hall. Man, is this place impressive. Particularly to a librarian. It's just filled floor to ceiling with really old books. Of course you can't get too close to them or take pictures, but it's still impressive. The books seem to be shelved by size. Each set of shelves is designated by a capital letter, single on one side of the room, double on the other side. Then each shelf has a lower case letter, starting at the bottom. Again, single on the right, double on the left. I guess this is how they find the books, but I don't see a catalog to confirm this. They have a display up showing how they're doing preservation work on the collection, and it looks like an incredible job. These are really old books, and conditions are not completely ideal, but they've done an outstanding job so far. They say that other libraries occasionally want to borrow some of their books, but first the other library has to fill out an incredibly detailed questionnaire about its environment and security procedures. Sound precautions, I think.

When I get back down to the entrance/gift shop, I want to buy the book about the Book of Kells, but I don't have enough cash with me. Not wanting to go out, cash a traveller's check and come back, I get the Oxford History of Ireland as well, and a postcard with a picture of The Long Hall, then put the whole thing on plastic. After I leave, I decide that I'm really hungry, and end up going to the American Express office to cash a traveller's check, anyway. Just have to exchange whatever is left when I get back to England. For a bit of the taste of home, I go to Subway for lunch.

The rest of the afternoon I spend wandering around Grafton Street. This is the main shopping area in Dublin. I go into Marks & Spencers looking for a towel, but find nothing. Second M&S I've tried in Ireland. Just clothes and food. I look around in the other stores and mall areas, but nothing jumps out at me. Well, nothing except the public toilets in one mall that you have to pay an attendant 10p to use. I decide that I don't have to use it all that badly. I also look in all the bookstores I can find. I'm on my next to last book, and getting worried. But again, nothing. Maybe I need to pick up some classics, like Thomas Hardy or something. I think about getting the other David Eddings series, the one that I haven't read, but these are new printings priced at six or seven pounds each, so I skip it. I'll have to look again in England.

I find an interesting pizza place in my guidebook. It says the place is down by the river, near the Ha'penny Bridge, on some street called Crown Alley. I finally discover that the Ha'penny Bridge is the footbridge (no signs, naturally), but I can't find Crown Alley for the life of me. I finally give up and eat at a nice pasta place near the hotel. The manager offers me a free glass of wine with my meal (special offer, he says). I think it's just because he's glad someone is eating there. Perhaps it will pick up later, but right now, I'm about the only one there.

I go back to the room, and when Andrew comes in, I remember that I haven't seen the two statues we were supposed to see -- a mermaid and Molly Malone with her cart. They are also sacreligiously described by some as the "Floozy in the Jacuzzi," and the "Tart with the Cart." After getting directions from Andrew's father (it seems that both statues are on O'Connell St.), I head out again. I find the mermaid easily enough, I just didn't go down that street far enough in that direction, but Molly continues to elude me. She's supposedly in an area I passed through many times today, but I can find no trace of her. Perhaps I'll just get a postcard. I see her from the bus the next morning, right where I passed by five or six times today. Ah well, there's always the postcard.

Seeing as how there's nothing on TV tonight, except for highlights of Gaelic Football (a strange mix of soccer, rugby and basketball played with a volleyball), Andrew and I decide to retire early. We're exhausted, anyway.

Tuesday, June 13, 1995

Up at 6:00 today. We have to be down to breakfast at 7:00 so we can be on the bus by 7:30 so we can be at the ferry by 8:15. Since we don't have much time for breakfast, it's the Continental Breakfast again. Then a rush for the bus, and the drive to the ferry dock, first making sure that the hotel guys have taken our luggage down.

We make it in plenty of time for the ferry, but this time we're in the second row of buses instead of at the front. This ferry seems to be a bit smaller and older than the one we took over to Ireland. I look around, but there is no recliner deck on this one. The closest I'm going to get is the Business Lounge on the top afterdeck. At least there I won't be bothered by the large horde of school kids who've boarded the ferry. I hope. While I'm looking around, a couple of kids (who are not with the school group) ask me to pick up some cigarettes for them in the duty-free shop. Another guy asks me to pick up some wine or something for him so he can get more than his limit. I decline both requests (politely, I thought), then go and hide in the Business Lounge. This ferry is also a bit noisier than the other one, but this doesn't stop me from getting a really good nap.

After I wake up, we get some excitement. About a half-hour out of port, we see a Royal Air Force Rescue helicopter following us off the stern. It hovers there for awhile, and the intercom tells us to clear the back outside deck. Then it moves over us, and a guy comes down on a cable. He lands safely, and another guy comes down after him. They fiddle about on the deck for a bit, then hook themselves together, and get taken back up. We're all watching this from the back windows. We thought that there might be a medical emergency, but it looks like this is just some sort of practice manuver. Then they come back and do it again, but this time three guys come down. They may be different guys this time, it's hard to tell. One guy goes up alone, then the other two link together and go up. They wave at us as they're leaving the boat. The helicopter doesn't pull them in right away, instead it takes them out away from the ferry and over the water before it pulls them the rest of the way in. So they spend some time hanging over the ocean. Might be fun, but perhaps I won't try it today. When we dock this time, we all manage to make it onto the bus before it drives out of the ferry.

Copyright © 1995,1996 Stanley Cottrell II

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