Filed under: Dublin
After the MOMA we went to visit the Science Gallery to see the TechnoThreads exhibit. I wrote about the exhibit a week ago (or so) when Patrick and I went – and forgot the camera. So I’m just going to let the pictures and video speak for themselves…
Filed under: Dublin
No, no more accidents for Aine – we went to the Kilmainham Hospital (home of the Museum of Modern Art) for a picnic. We took the bus into town and then walked past Euston station (and 10 miles in kid steps) to the museum. We were getting hungry, tired and crabby and then we finally came up on the amazing gardens of the hospital.
They are beautiful!
It’s kind of a hidden pocket of tranquility in the middle of a ton of buildings and construction. We had a great picnic because it was a beautiful day. And then we ran around the gardens. It’s not super maze-like but mazy enough for Aine.
Then we visited the art gallery. The art is very modern so I liked it. The big girls and I had a good game of “what would you name it?” We had fun helping Aine not touch anything. We really enjoyed the make-some-art room, which was really just a room full of art supplies. What a great idea! We spent about 30 minutes in there making our own masterpieces.
Filed under: Dublin
Yesterday we went to visit Dalkey Castle. The weather was beautiful so we took a bus to Dun Laoghaire and walked the mile (or maybe 2) to Dalkey. It’s a very nice area – like a mile away from Bono’s house nice.
We stopped in to see the Dalkey Castle. Actors toured us around the castle and I have to say that we maybe saw some of the grossest things we have seen in Ireland in the castle – but I mean that in a good way.
We had a few etymology-type lessons. Although I guess it was more history of signs and symbols rather than words.
We met a barber-surgeon. She had a pole that she used in her work. Around the pole she tied bloody bandages to dry. The effect was a red and white striped pole – just like a barber’s pole you might see today.
The cook showed us the plates for the gentry, which we pewter-type plates that looked fairly similar to what we have today. The hunters had square wooden plates – ensuring that they always got a “square meal”.
The archer taught us the history of the 2 finger salute, which is much bigger here than back home. The gesture is pretty much a backwards peace sign – and pretty much means the same giving someone the finger back home.
Well, when the archer told us that when the scavengers would come down from the hill to rob and ransack the castle the archer would show them two fingers, indicating that he was primed and ready with the bow and arrow. If an archer was ever attacked the first thing they’d do was remove their fingers so that they wouldn’t be able to shoot an arrow.
Other interesting facts – the cook hung the clothes of the gentry in the latrine because the ammonia in the urine was supposed to help with the cleaning process.
The barber-surgeon asked for a volunteer for some blood letting. Guess who quietly but forcefully raised her hand? Aine – but the blood letting did not change her humor at all. We learned a little bit about how the job of the barber is to keep the humors in the body balanced to keep everyone in good health. How did they test the humors? By drinking the urine of the patient. Also we learned that puss was very good for curing wounds. So, when they amputate a limb, they put dung in the wound before they cover it up with a flap of skin to promote faster healing. (I warned you – gross!)
The castle was attached to a heritage center that celebrated various authors from the area such as: James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Maeve Binchy, Joseph O’Connor, and plenty of others. Most weren’t from Dalkey – but we from the surrounding area.
Filed under: Dublin
Just wanted to proudly point to the article Kate and Lily had published in the recent edition of the Irish Gazette (Top 10 Places to Visit with Kids in Dublin).
Filed under: Boyne Valley
On Saturday we went to Drogheda. It’s about 30 minutes north of Dublin on the road to Belfast. (Well it’s 30 minutes on the fast bus, but on a Saturday it’s really only 45 minutes on a slow bus. We had the opportunity to check one on the way there and one of the way back.)
Drogheda was chartered in 1194 and is known as the Gateway to the Boyne Valley. (Yup, that name is familiar and it is the place of the Battle of the Boyne.) New Grange is in the Boyne Valley. There used to be a great wall surrounding the city – six feet wide at the bottom, 2 feet wide at the top. Naturally I can’t remember how high it was.
Back to the day… We actually were going specifically for the Drogheda Arts Festival. Well, that and I’ve wanted to visit since we passed Drogheda on our way to Belfast.
Taking the bus was very painless. We got into town and headed to lunch where we had the worst hamburgers ever. We walked by St Mary’s Church to get there – and Patrick remembered that in the church was the head of Oliver Plunkett. (I hope the picture turns out.) So, naturally we had to go see that. It was creepy in a cool way. Patrick, who is nightmare-inducing told the girls that his eyes open once a year. So I spent the next hours asking them if they really through that a head that has been dead since 1680 or so would really be winking at them.
Just a quick tie in while I’m talking about morose topics – Oliver Plunkett was hanged at the Tyburn in London. We saw it while we were there and we learned that the term hangover comes from the Tyburn. They used to do a lot of hangings there. People used to party around the hangings and the next day would talk about the hangover.
Back to Drogheda … we walked around and you could see how old certain parts of the city were –especially wall remnants and churches. Finally we found the art festival. There were lost of booths, a jumpy castle thing, a band, jugglers, and lost of action like that. It was very nice. There was an 80s band playing – and I have to say that I prefer the Irish version than the American as there are fewer power ballads and more Madness and the Undertones.
So we hung out there and then decided to walk down the river to the Martello tower. The river is nice and they have built up a lot of shopping areas. Then we trekked up the hill to the tower. We were a day late for the festival to have moved there (as today they are having a lot of reenactment stuff) but we knew that. But I have to say that the staff who were there were super kind to show us around – despite the fact that I’m sure they had a billion things to do for today.
They showed us these great silk tapestry type things. They were actually union banners – but there were beautiful. They are painted with designs to match whatever union/industry they represent. They are painted on both sides. One had an Adam and Eve scene on the back and you could see that originally they had been naked that (upon the church’s behest) someone had painted clothes on them.
The coolest part was touring the tower. It had actually been bombed in 1922 – but was repaired 8 years ago. The view was amazed – but inside the tower was cool too. Two floors were above ground, one was below. The fire exit on the lowest floor led into a secret passage back to the site. The guide told me that there are loads of secret passages in the tower and the barracks.
So pretty much, that was our day in Drogheda. We had a great time!
Filed under: Dublin
Poor Kate has been sick all week. Lily, Aine and I left Kate at home to recover on Saturday and we went into see Block Party, a show in the Dublin Dance Festival.
In typical Dublin fashion the show was relocated at the last minute – so we hiked to the Grand Canal Square to learn that we needed to go to George’s Dock. We caught the last 10 minutes of their first show. We had to sit behind the drummers – but that was OK. It was fun to watch the drummers.
After the show we talked about whether we should stay to see the show again (it was only about 30-40 minutes long) or go have lunch. Aine made the decision. She really wanted to stay.
The dance was fun. First it met my new rule for dance, where the dancers must all appear to be fitter and younger than I am. (A rule created after a not-so-great dance experience.) They jumped around very aerobically around huge blocks. They also worked with the blocks to create various shapes. The dancers had a lot of energy and were actually dancers who could move well and while there was a playful chaos to the dance it was clearly choreographed. The drumming was great too.
The very fun thing is that I knew one of the dancers. Well had met him before anyways – and I thought he was one of the better dancers. Also this kind of renewed my interest in dance and the girls really enjoyed it too.
After the dance we headed out to lunch and shopping. I won’t pretend that I got any bargains – but I did get some clothes!
Filed under: Dublin
Friday night Patrick and I went to see Krapp’s Last Tape at the James Joyce Center. The Center is of O’Connell Street in an area we rarely visit at night – so that was fun.
Krapp’s Last Tape is a play by Samuel Beckett, who is kind of a favorite of mine. He does short, theatre of the absurd type shows. In this show, an older guy is listening to tapes he has made 30 years earlier talking about his life and loves gone by. During the show the actor uses an old tape player – forward, rewinding to get to the bits he wants to hear.
The actor was excellent. He looked the part, his timing was perfect, and his facial expressions were great. And then coup of coups for anyone who has seen this show – the tape machine broke. It was kind of like Godot jumping on stage and saying “I’m here! You can quit waiting.” I think Beckett would have loved it and the actor handled it in character.
The theater was very small – a room actually. So the audience all had to leave the room so that they could fix the technical difficulties and then we returned for the end of the show. The show was sold out – and everyone returned after the snafu.
Patrick got a picture of the stage and me at the James Joyce Center.
Filed under: Dublin
Earlier this week we brought Aine to the hospital – to St Columcille’s Hospital. She is fine – in fact her big head injury doesn’t seem to bug her at all. Despite the fact that the glue holding her head togehter is glumpy and stiff.
Sadly, her hospital made the news today:
Dr Kieran Geraghty has called for urgent intervention at St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, following the death of 16 people with hospital-acquired infections at the south Dublin hospital over a seven-month period in 2007. (Read the whole article.)
So we’re keeping an extra eye on her and holding off on all other ailments and injuries until we go home!
Filed under: Dublin
Yesterday we had two girls home with the flu. But it wasn’t either of them that got to have the unscheduled tour of the Emergency room. It was Aine. (Shocker!) She was standing on the kitchen chair when apparently it flipped backwards and she smacked her head off the floor.
She cried for a few minutes and bled all over the $25 shirt I bought her in Kilkenny when she threw up on us – but she rebounded pretty well. I wasn’t afraid of a concussion but I did worry that she needed stitches. So, we took the bus to the hospital. They looked at her head. And I have to say that once they really looked at it I could see that she really had cracked her head open. It was very gross in a cool sort of way. In the gross theme I will say that I could have poked my finger into her head and touched her brain – if I had wanted.
Luckily they were able to glue her head together, which again was kind of gross/cool. She didn’t cry or fuss at the hospital, which was pretty impressive. We stopped for an ice cream on the way home – luckily the bus stop is near a convenience store.
I asked Aine to talk about her adventure on the video below – but as you’ll see she preferred to talk about her life here in Cork. (Not sure where that came from.)
Filed under: Dublin
Gulliver’s Travels is the book selected for the One City One Book program in Dublin this year. So this weekend we have been celebrating Gulliver’s Travels.
One Friday night Patrick and I went to see Eamon Morrissey do a performance on Gulliver’s Travels and Jonathan Swift. It was great. I forgot how very funny Gulliver’s Travels is.
I described just one scene from the show to the girls the next day and they are both looking forward to reading the book now. Here’s the quickest, cleanest take I can give. Gulliver travels to lots of lands. He starts with Lilliput, the land of the little people. He is a giant, they capture him, but eventually release him on his own recognizance. So he tries to help around town by doing many tall people deeds.
Well, he was out one night and there was a fire in the castle. He was sad to see that the castle might be destroyed. So he decided to step in. Unfortunately it was a big fire. Water saw too far away to fetch and the fire was too big for him to just spit it out. Fortunately he had been drinking and had a very full stomach. SO I won’t finish it but I’ll leave it to your imagination to figure out how he put out the fire. I will add that I was not surprised to hear that although the castle was indeed saved, the queen did not want to move back into it after the incident.
(Another terrifically gross work by Swift – A Modest Proposal. I made Patrick read it to the girls – they thought it was very gross.)
After the performance Patrick and I went to a tapas bar for yummy appetizers. Eventually I dragged us to Bruxelles – the pub with the best music (not live) in the city and we stayed there too long but had fun.
On Saturday we were back to our travels for Gulliver’s Travels. We went into George’s Dock to see the giant sand sculptures of Gulliver. They were great. You can see them in the pictures below.
After the Gulliver exhibit, we walked down the docks to the port, a walk I had never done before. Along the way we took a few pictures or statues (famine memorial and eternal flame), I took a picture of everyone across the Liffey from where U2 will be building a huge hotel. I think that will be a fun picture after they have renovated this area, which is already starting. I also took a picture of U2’s recording studio while we were on the U2 trail.
The girls were great walkers! (Well except for Aine who was in the stroller.) We ended up popping into the Pearse Street Library, where they had another Gulliver exhibit.
They also have Nelson’s head. There used to be a controversial, large, granite pillar topped by a statue of Horatio, Lord Nelson, located in the centre of O’Connell Street in Dublin. It was destroyed by a bomb in 1966. (You can learn all about it on Wikipeida.)
Nelson’s Pillar was replaced by the Spire in 2003.
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