Dublin, Ireland (Warning: Lots of non-swear words.)

[mgc1961]

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. - W. B. Yeats

We left early Friday morning on American Airlines for a Chicago connection to Dublin although our connection wasn't until late in the afternoon. We do this because experience has taught us that a long layover is much better than a shorter one where international flying is concerned. You see, many global destinations have but one flight a day so an early start increases the chances of arriving on the intended day should there be unforeseen circumstance that disrupt our original travel plan. As it turned out, we did have an unexpected treat of visiting with some friends who retired and moved away from Nashville about 8 years ago. They just happened to be traveling through Chicago on their way to Houston, Texas to return their Godchild to her mother after a week's visit to Burlington, Kentucky.

We traveled business class on the way to Ireland and, as expected, the service was great. I was especially awed by the noise canceling Bose headphones I used to view a movie. We got a second bonus upon arrival. Our flying time was aided by a tailwind that put us in Dublin about 35 minutes early thus making quick work of bag collection and immigration before the bevy of morning arrivals disembarked.

We made our way outside, crossed the street in the early morning light and bought round trip Airlink Express (bus) tickets to Heuston Station where we disembarked to make our way by foot to the Dublin Hilton Kilmainham, on the west side of downtown. The hotel is excellent. The rooms are well appointed and spacious. The staff was exceptional, but we'll soon get to their outstanding assistance. To begin on a slightly down note however, let me say that it's a bit out of the way. Although their web site says they're just a little over a mile from the city center, they mean the outer ring of the city center. To get where we were going I'd say a better estimate is about twice that distance.

Once we advised the desk of our early arrival (stated check-in time is 3 PM) we relaxed in the lobby. Napping, however, was a bit difficult due to the foot traffic at the beginning of a busy weekend. After getting our room we unpacked, freshened up, and hit the street toward the city center to reconnoiter the area for the following days of sightseeing.

Saturday was cloudy and windy with occasional drizzle.

We reached the city center and found Temple Bar district where most of the tourist activity takes place. It's basically one block south of the River Liffey which bisects the city of Dublin into a north Dublin and south Dublin (Dubh Linn or "Black pool" in Irish Gaelic). After walking about a bit we decided upon a very Irish dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Hamburgers and, as promised, a Guinness for friendships. Natalie, our waitress, was great and she made something clear that I think future visitors should know. When paying a bar tab by a credit or debit card, a gratuity space does not appear on the signed copy. So, if you intend to reward your bartender, you must do so in cash. For a tab that includes food, the gratuity line appears on the merchant slip just like it does in the U.S..

We knocked off early Saturday to get some much needed sleep and an early start on Sunday. By early I mean before noon. And we were pretty successful. However, the frequency of the rain increased overnight and into our second day.

Ok, it's time for a brief intermission. There was something weird about our television. Every other night the screen would light up as if on standby. There was no image on the screen, just a glow. I'd wake up, notice the light and turn it off with the remote. Several minutes later, there it was again. The power indication light always appeared red, indicating off rather than green for on. I wondered if perhaps it was responding to activity in an adjoining room, but there were only a few occupied rooms on the top floor and they were not next to ours as best as I could tell from the time we were there.

Anyway, back to our story. Sunday morning began with a stop at the partial remains of little St. Audoen's church, the oldest medieval church in Dublin (Built in the 12th century). It also sports the oldest bells in Ireland (three of the bells date back to 1423). A portion of this original building is still in use.

After finishing a short St. Audoen's tour, Denise and I went our separate ways until Christ Church Cathedral was open to tours (after Sunday morning service). I went to the Dublinia exhibit across the street which is an exhibit of old Dublin that contains a model of the city during the Viking period and beyond. For novices, Dublinia a pretty good introduction to that early era. However, to potential visitors with previous knowledge of early Irish history this exhibit could be scratched from the top of the do-list. The National Museum is a better bet for actual relics. That being said, I did enjoy two parts of the exhibit. The first one is the display containing the remains of a medieval woman. A replica of the skull was made and a reconstruction of the face put on it. This kind of science/art is very intriguing to me because it gives us a chance to look, about as closely as humanly possible, into the face of our past. The second recommended part of the exhibit revolves around the display of a man carrying a small boy on his shoulders. The story is about a 10 year old boy named Lambert Simnel who was, at the instigation of a Yorkist priest named Richard Symonds, proclaimed king Edward VI by a rebellious Dublin crowd at Christ Church Cathedral in 1487. The pretender's supporters gathered together an army of Irish sympathizers and Flemish mercenaries and invaded England in expectation that some powerful English lords would support their claim and help dethrone the new king, Henry VII. When the support failed to materialized the Yorkist rebels were defeated at Stoke Field. Simnel was wisely pardoned by Henry in recognition of his manipulation by adults and made a member of his household staff. And thus ended the great 15th century Let's-put-him-in-charge experiment.

Christ Church Cathedral, or The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is a magnificent building that nicely compliments St. Patrick's Cathedral which is just a few blocks away. Both of them are brilliant, distinctly unique, cathedrals. Christ Church is smaller and more ornate than St. Patrick's and houses a fine collection of old Bibles. Among the bibles on display in the basement are a 19th century reprint of a 1535 Coverdale Bible, a 1595 Geneva edition, a 1666 King James version, and a 1691 Vulgate Bible. Also of interest in the crypt are the mummified remains of the "cat and the rat" that struck a chord so powerful with James Joyce that he immortalized them in Finnegan's Wake.

Now, let's shop. We stopped at The Irish Celtic Craft and browsed a large selection of sweaters, wall hangings, and assorted knick-knack. Denise found some nice jewelry, but the Irish made hat I fancied was sold out in my size so that purchase was put off until later when we made our way over to Grafton Street which sports a large number of upscale stores and is conveniently located near another important stop on our itinerary, Trinity College. While Denise was settling her bill, just outside the door...pow! A Range Rover type vehicle smacked into the rear of a parked city bus necessitating an unexpected transfer by the bus riders and a new fender and left front tire for the offending driver.

Up next was St. Patrick's. We arrived just in time for one of their tour windows during a day of regular use as a living church. St. Patrick's is very impressive. It's clearly larger than Christ Church. Inf act, St. Patrick's cathedral is the largest in Ireland. Although they didn't have a book collection on display I was pleased to see some remembrance of one of their past deans, Jonathan Swift. As many readers know, Mr. Swift was the author of Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels. Included among the statues and plaques is Mr. Swift's death mask. What made the visit even more remarkable was hearing the magnificent organ being played as we strolled around the cathedral. Indeed, at least some parts of the current organ were probably in use during the middle of the 18th century when George Frideric Handel rehearsed Messiah for it's debut at Dublin's New Music Hall on 13 April 1742 with the combined voices of 26 boys and 5 men from Christ Church and St. Patrick's cathedrals respectively.

By the end of our St. Patrick's tour, we were getting pretty hungry so we made our way over to The Old Mill for a cottage pie and a Harp, my favorite Irish beer. We talked about music, Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile), and her appearance on Ed Sullivan which Denise remembers watching except she thought Sister was a French Canadian instead of Belgian.

That night, the wind increased along with the rain. The whole of our third day was filled with rain. It wasn't a particularly hard rain but, it was continuous. Denise's small, flimsy umbrella proved wholly inadequate for Sunday's conditions. Now, there was this. The Hilton Kilmainham staff was prepared. "Here," says the young lady at the check-in desk, "use one of our umbrellas." What a help it was too. Both large and sturdy, their umbrella shielded both our heads and shoulders from the worst of the rain. It's safe to say that it was the difference between staying in our room ot forging ahead with our Monday plans.

Our first destination was quite literally right across the street, the notorious Kilmainham Gaol. (Be forewarned, admission is cash only. They don't have a card reader.) Opened in 1796, this jail primarily housed debtors, but it also incarcerated people convicted of petty crimes such as begging, stealing, assault, prostitution, and drunkenness. Even small children were sometimes imprisoned at Kilmainham and subject to the same harsh conditions and labor as the adults for the sins of stealing bread or couple of potatoes during the famine (1845-50). Indeed, for the first 50 years of its existence the Gaol had no glass in the windows, no lighting, one candle per cell every two weeks, and the meals of bread, milk, oatmeal, and soup were delivered in the same bucket inmates used as their toilet. In 1862 the prominent east wing of the prison movie watchers will have seen in In the Name of the Father was built and Gaol was largely cleared of non-political prisoners in 1867. In 1910, the prison was closed for six years then reopened during the 1916 rising when the most prominent captured leaders of the rebellion were imprisoned there and then executed by firing squad in the stone-breaker's yard. The Gaol was permanently closed in 1924 following the Irish Civil War between the free-starters and unionists. I highly recommend a visit to the Gaol.

As the rain continued we made our way downtown, set a rendezvous time and went our separate ways again. I was intent on going to St. Stephen's Green by way of St. Kevin's church. Although I was having difficulty navigating streets whose names may change with every intersecting street I did find the church and George Bernard Shaw's house was a bonus, sitting just around the corner. By the time I reached St. Stephen's Green I had precious little time for a proper walk around so I made a mad dash through the park to reach my rendezvous point ten minute late.

After a brief explanation to Denise about my tardiness, we discussed which day trip from Dublin we would take and then decided now would probably be a good time to go over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells Turning Darkness into Light exhibit. This book was high on my do list. From the online Catholic Encyclopedia:

An Irish manuscript containing the Four Gospels, a fragment of Hebrew names, and the Eusebian canons, known also as the "Book of Columba", probably because it was written in the monastery of Iona to honour the saint. It is likely that it is to this book that the entry in the "Annals of Ulster" under the year 1006 refers, recording that in that year the "Gospel of Columba" was stolen. According to tradition, the book is a relic from the time of Columba (d. 597) and even the work of his hands, but, on palæographic grounds and judging by the character of the ornamentation, this tradition cannot be sustained, and the date of the composition of the book can hardly be placed earlier than the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century. This must be the book which the Welshman, Geraldus Cambrensis, saw at Kildare in the last quarter of the twelfth century and which he describes in glowing terms (Topogr. Hibern., II, xxxviii). We next hear of it at the cathedral of Kells (Irish Cenannus) in Meath, a foundation of Columba's, where it remained for a long time, or until the year 1541. In the seventeenth century Archbishop Ussher presented it to Trinity College, Dublin, where it is the most precious manuscript (A. I. 6) in the college library and by far the choicest relic of Irish art that has been preserved. In it is to be found every variety of design typical of Irish art at its best.

The book is in fact the work of four main scribes and, though some debate exists still exists on this matter, three different artists. The decoration, or illumination, though incomplete is still impressive. The pages on display while I was there are folio 202v, 203r, 308v, and 308r. In the Kells protective case is portion of a Codex Usserianus Primus dating from the 5-7 century and an 8th century Book of Mulling displaying folios 35v and 36r. They also have a fragment of a 9th century Coptic lectionary. Do not miss these treasures and do take your time strolling through the Long Room of the Old Library as you exit with it it's exquisite barrel-vaulted ceiling, marble busts, and 200,000 volume collection of books that are currently being painstakingly repaired and preserved on site.

We arrived just in time for a Monday viewing. By the time I reentered the gift shop the last Monday quest had already been admitted to the display. We left the Old Library and made our way across the street to Kennedy & McSharry's manshop to find a suitable hat for me. One made, preferably, anywhere but China. They had them in spades. After making a selection we asked our salesman for dining recommendations. For pub eating, he said Davey Byrnes was a cut above the standard. For a dining, he wholly endorsed Rick Steves' recommendation of Trocadero. We were pretty hungry by that time so we went to Davey's place because we knew it's location immediately and made plans for Trocadero on Tuesday. Byrnes didn't disappoint. The atmosphere was calm, the clientele local, and my open face salmon sandwich good.

Although our bellies were now full, everything below our knees was waterlogged. We were not walking back to the Hilton. Down Anglesea to Wellington Quay we went and crossed the street to hail a cab. Wow! Traffic was really heavy and moving very slowly. Looking into an oncoming taxi for passengers I stuck out my hand not noticing the light on the roof was off. He stopped anyway telling us he'd just gone off duty but felt sorry for us standing there in the rain. Though it may sound cliche his name was Kevin O'Shea and he was into body piercing. Kevin said the traffic volume looked like Christmas eve and was probably due to city wide flooding. He was very friendly and talkative. After discussing some options as we crawled west along the Liffey he said we may, if lucky, get to Kilmainham by another route. I agreed that it couldn't be worse than what we were experiencing so off to the left we went and sure enough, Kevin was right. The garda and fire brigade were out in force blocking flooded streets and aiding stranded motorists. The meter continued to run. Then, without prompting, Kevin turned off the meter and said that's as high as our fare would go. When we got close to the Hilton, we were happy to walk the short distance remaining to our hotel. We didn't want to impose upon Kevin any more than we already had so we generously tipped him and hopped out. Job well done, Kevin.

The rain continued into day 4, Tuesday morning. Somewhat discouraged by the previous days rain, we decided to stay in the room for a while to see if the rain would let up. Denise went downstairs to the check-in desk to ask where she could buy some waterproof boots. The young lady at the desk suggested Penny's and advised Denise not go out right away because of the lingering weather conditions that had already cost the life of 25 year old garda Ciaran Jones who drowned in the Liffey river while trying to assist motorists. She went on to say they have a tumble dryer in which Denise could put both her boots and coat. Again, the Hilton staff was ready with a solution.

The rain finally subsided so we collected Denise's dry clothing and headed back to the city center.

While Denise went in search of her boots, I took the opportunity to find a section of the old city wall on Cook Street and go back to St. Stephen's Green to find the small Huguenot cemetery that I'd missed on Monday. I found them both, stopped by a travel agent to look at some day tours for the following day, then reunited with Denise. We may arrangements with Paddywagon for a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher for our last day, Wednesday. Then stopped at M. J. O'Neill's pub for a Harp and a Budejovicky. Our bartender was Fabian, he was from Brittany (France). Fabian suggested the Budvar for Denise from 46 different beers O'Neill's has on tap.

Rick was absolutely right about the Trocadero. We went for the early bird special which consisted of French onion soup, a salad, and cannelloni followed by a piece of pecan pie. Dude, that was so good! And a classy looking place with red velvet interior. Strongly recommended but perhaps not for the overly cost-conscious diner.

Back to hotel in a taxi drove and quickly into bed we dove because our date with Paddywagon was at 8 AM.

Wednesday, the sky cleared though the temperature was not as high as Tuesday which was quite fortunate for us since the whole Cliffs are not always visible during damp weather conditions. Our driver was Mark. a former soldier in the Irish army. He was likable with a sense of humor though he seemed a bit down on Ireland's political scene which seemed to focus primarily on the fact that one of the top three candidates for President (Martin McGuinness) was a former leading member of the IRA and Republican Sean Gallagher, the clear poll preference leading up to the vote was hosting political dinners at 5000 Euros a plate. (The actual election result was a spectacular last minute collapse for Gallagher who's lead evaporated like a fart in the wind thus handing the election to Labor candidate Michael Higgins.) Election results aside, what interested me about Mark's story is his kids go to an Irish speaking school. Although Mark knows only a few words of Gaelic he says he sometimes hears his bi-lingual children speaking Irish to one another while playing in the neighborhood.

Although the primary goal of the tour was the Cliffs, the bus made frequent stops for leg stretching and sightseeing along the way. Among the stops are two in The Burren at the remains of Corcomroe Abbey and the Poulnabrone portal tomb, also known as the "hole of sorrows." The return leg included a stop at Bunratty Castle. After a lunch stop at Fitzpatrick's Restaurant where I enjoyed a bowl of Doolin Bay chowder we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. They are quite spectacular and fully visible although the sun was so low on the horizon that south-facing photos are a little over-exposed. North-facing photos turned out fine. Recommended. Though visitors would be well advised to check out the weather forecast so they don't reach the Cliffs only to discover the vista has been socked in with mist and/or rain.

When we returned to Dublin, it was back to the Hard Rock Cafe for heavy metal wings, french fries, and a triple platinum margarita (Mmmmm!) before catching a cab back to our hotel.

Thursday morning we took at early cab to Heuston Station, boarded the bus, and arrived at the airport for the recommended two hour check-in window. Our seats were economy class on the return and the flight was about two hours late leaving though this had no lasting impact on us because our connecting time in Chicago was sufficiently long that we still arrived with time to spare. Your results may vary.

I haven't taken an international flight from Chicago in many years so there are a couple of items that stood out on my trip. One is small, the other large. The coach class meal of rice and chicken was better than I expected although I think a packet of soy sauce would be a good, inexpensive addition to the menu. More importantly however, was the immigration and customs experience. We actually cleared immigration and customs in Dublin rather than complete it upon arrival in Chicago. What that means is the airplane arrived at the same terminal as the domestic flights thus making a connection very easy. Experienced travelers who previously arrived at the international terminal and transferred to the domestic side will knowingly nod in approval at that positive development.

In conclusion, our trip was a great success. Almost everyone we met was friendly and helpful. (The one exception was the young drunk guy who got into a kicking and punching match with a trash can on Westmoreland Street. I'm pretty sure the trash came out on top.) We got to see and do a great many things despite the dreary weather. On the other hand, we didn't get to the National Museum's archeology and history wing. Nor did we go on the Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl. Outside of Dublin there's still Cashel, Cork, Galway, Connemara, Skellig Michael, and the Ring of Kerry to visit. Perhaps next spring or summer we'll return to Ireland and check off a few more items on our do list.

:thumbsup: :silly:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. One of my favorite places on earth

Apparently someone(s) unrecced this...I recced it and it is still 0

[TexasProgresive]

2. If it were possible I would retire to Ireland

I would love to love in West Cork near Clonakilty. Dublin would be a place to visit as we are rural people. Thanks for a horrible story (we always say that about things that remind us of Ireland; music, food, art and Guinness)