10 Questions About…

We started the day with big plans to get to several art galleries: Hugh Lane, National Gallery, Irish Modern (in the old Kilmainham Hospital). On the way to Hugh Lane, we noticed that Penney’s (cheap and cheerful clothes) was open. So we had to stop and Kate got a few things, including a much needed jacket. Then off to Hugh Lane – by way of the Garden of Remembrance. It really is a gorgeous park and it was so sunny.

At the Hugh Lane we saw my favorite stained glass art and the walking video. (When the walking video first opened there were videos all over town supporting the show. I loved it!) We also the Plundered Planet show by Mark Dion, which was thoughtful and yet beautiful. It does make a statement on the impact of people on nature. After that we got caught up shopping for shoes at the ILAC Shopping Center. If you see Aine in her new creepers, you’ll know where she got them.

Then we made a stop by the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College – mostly because it’s part of the short cut to get to the National Gallery – but they had some out there stuff that I really liked. Poor Kate – the only artist in the group – is not a fan of modern so she sat outside.

Then folks were hungry so we got some food and Marks & Spencer’s and headed to Stephen’s Green and had a little picnic outside. Picnic is always a good idea in Dublin because as much as it rains, there’s usually some sunny spots too. And it’s easier when you have someone who is vegan plus (That’s plus more restrictive.) with someone like me who doesn’t really like vegetables.

Post picnic we stopped by the History Museum to see the bog bodies (bodies preserved in the bogs for centuries) a long time favorite attraction for us. Finally we headed to the National Gallery. We saw a few things – mostly French Impressionists and Jack B. Yeats. We also saw a cool collaboration between the Gallery and a nail salon called Pop Tropical (or something like that). They did nail-based art. It was very cool, each manicure represented a different work from the Gallery.

Then the girls got tired. SO they went for a nap and I went for a walk. I walked from the Ha’Penny Bridge to the Grand Canal Docks and back. I saw a lot of street art – including the Lane of Icons in Temple Bar. I saw some kids taking swimming lessons. I walked by Google and Facebook. All in all a pleasant day!

At night we walked around. Saw some buskers. Checked out the Whitefriars Church were St Valentine is buried. (Not really, but they do have a St V relic.) We saw checked out a pub with some traditional music.

The girls and I finally had a day in Dublin to do anything we wanted. (OK anything I wanted.) We started with the Fail Better exhibit at the Science Gallery. It was a collection of failed experiments. Here are explanations from my favorite two failed experiments…

1. In 1965, George and Charlotte Blonsky, a married couple living in New York City, were granted US patent #3216423 for an “Apparatus for Facilitating the Birth of a Child by Centrifugal Force”. When a woman is ready to deliver her child, she lies on her back on a circular table. She is strapped down. The table is then rotated at high speed. The baby comes flying out. This is intended to “assist the under-equipped woman by creating a gentle, evenly distributed, properly directed, precision-controlled force, that acts in unison with and supplements her own efforts”.
2. It was trumpeted as “the building with more up top”, a swollen pint glass of a tower that bulges out as it rises to pack in more offices at the lucrative higher levels—all topped with a Babylonian sky-garden. What the developer of 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London had not bargained for was, that like every Bond baddie lair, the Walkie-Talkie building would also come with its own lethal death ray. In the summer of 2013, the concave south-facing facade of the 34-storey tower was found to channel the rays of the sun into a concentrated beam down on to the street below, so hot it melted the bumper of a car, scorched shop carpets and bubbled their paintwork. One passer-by even managed to fry an egg in its heat.

After that we trekked around town visit lots of shops and checking out favorite places like George’s Market. Aine and I checked out the Maker Shop, where she got to solder a homemade flashlight and we got a few minutes with the National Gallery. The older girls got in a little shopping – or maybe just hung out at a coffee shop, we’re not really sure. But everyone had a nice break from bubble wrap and each other!

Irish Grandma died quite suddenly. The good news is that Patrick and most of his brothers were home for Christmas. We got the call mid-February saying she was sick. She died February 20. The girls had never really been to a full funeral before. I hadn’t been to one in Ireland. The greatest difference is in the removal the night before the funeral. We went to the funeral home where we went to see the body in the open casket. The crowd is kept to pretty immediate family. Everyone prays a little and then they cover the casket (some of us left the room) and move the body from the funeral home to the church.

Then there was a nice service at the church and a small dinner, again for immediate family at a local restaurant. We rode up to the events in the limo – not the most comfortable place to be although the driver was very nice. (The limo was comfortable, just the idea of it was uncomfortable.)

The following day was the funeral. Patrick gave the eulogy. Kate and Aine brought up the gifts. Lily and I each did a prayer of the faithful. It was funny to see Patrick and his brothers squish into the front pew. Let’s just say they may have fit into one pew back in the day – they’re a little big for it now.

The burial was different from home too. First the coffin is pared down – not the huge not-coffin-shaped coffins we have back home. Second, it is lowered down (more by hand than machine like at home) during the burial. It seems a lot closer. The girls did a good job holding it together for the whole event.

After the burial was a very nice luncheon at a local hotel – no church lady hot dish deal. This was fancy. And after lunch the crowd shifted to the bar. We were there (with kids) until about 11 pm. It was the first time I had met any of Patrick’s family outside of his brothers and their families. I’m including the pictures from the luncheon so that the family can access them.

Mary and I spent the final days of her holiday in Dublin. We met up with some of my old friends. And over the next week or so I visited lots of places by myself. I’m just going to include all of the pictures here. The weather was great. It was so much fun to spend time with old friends. I got a ton of walking in, which always makes me happy.

On Saturday Patrick went with his mom to London to visit his brother – so the girls and I hit the town. We went to the Science Gallery to the Mini Maker Faire. The focus is on learning how to make things – especially for kids. It sort of echoed a main theme from the TED conference – the whole idea of being able to make things, to invent, to innovate is very strong. It’s always fun to meet folks who do make things – because to me making something is so far out of my field of scope. I’m much better at writing about things getting made.

The coolest thing we learned about was a product called Sugru – it’s like play dough that hardens like plastic. So it’s amazing for fixing or improving thing. So for example you could easily attach a video camera to a helmet with Sugru.

We also saw tons of masks and crafts and musical inventions. And we learned about some of the sessions the Science Gallery has been having where interested residents can talk about, plan and implement ideas to make the city better. One idea I loved was the idea of co-cooking. Taking cooking stations to different communities to teach people how to cook healthy meals. How smart!

We also walked all over the city. Lily took loads of pictures. We ate at some fancy-ish place where Lily ordered a super foods salad. It had to be really good for you because it tasted disgusting. The truffle chips on the other hand were quite good.

We did the free walking tour of The Liberties. Pat Liddy gave the tour – his a tour guide of some note. There were more than 100 people on the tour – all Irish and all with blue hair. It was an interesting route. Well Patrick and I found it interesting. The girls not so much. And I think it was made less interesting with bad weather about every 15 minutes it would absolutely pour. One really nice thing was that the Viking Splash tour people saw us in the rain and gave out free rain ponchos for free. So that was really nice.

So here are snippets from the tour –

The Liberties are a series of areas in Dublin that in the 12 century were made regulation-free area. Or at least there were left to create their own regulation and structure and were absolved from regular Dublin regulation and taxes. Subsequently the areas and people from the areas are generally considered to be pretty independent, take care of it ourselves kind of people. The liberty we walked was West of St Patrick’s Cathedral – near Kevin St, Thomas St and Newmarket. It was an area of weavers. And has always had an industry focus.

We also stopped by The Coombe – former location of a big hospital. There is a memorial of sorts from the hospital – the old front stairs I think. The stairs now contain etched names of the characters from the day – such as Stab the Rasher, Bang Bang and others. Many people on the tour remembered the characters named.

Famous people from the area: Brenda Flicker and Imelda May. I think Patrick was very sad that we didn’t run into Imelda May on the tour.

We lived sort of near this area near Christchurch 20 years ago and have a couple of friends in the area. It is a very Dublin area.

Maybe I’ve mentioned – but the weather has been terrible this summer. But Lily and I finally decided that we’d had enough. We took a monster walk to Dalkey. Dalkey is a high end, seaside community. It’s a couple miles away – I suspect we probably had a good 6-mile or so walk. The views as you can see from the pictures below are beautiful. And we had a fun lunch. Sadly the restaurant that Lily really wanted to visit had closed. But we found a vegetarian-friendly place for her. (Which meant it wasn’t really the best for me.)