10 Questions About…

We’re on day number three of rain. Sadly we’re also on day number four of the girls six-day vacation. (We’re also on the bus to Wexford to stay at a hotel with a pool so we no longer care about the weather.)

We went into town yesterday and it was a complete bust. I rarely write about our bad luck here so I thought I’d give a glimpse of the other side. We went into town for the Shakespeare Festival. They were doing readings on the hour in Stephen’s Green, which seemed kind of funny because Monday was also a big mini-marathon on town. I think they said 40,000 participated and it ended near the Green. SO it seemed like a strange place for a Shakespeare reading – but we had a brochure that we had picked up on Saturday.

Well it turns out that they had moved the Shakespeare events but the Festival people didn’t post signs or try in any other way to let the potential audience know. We figured we were just late for the first reading – and the specific directions given were, well not so specific – “central area, Stephen’s Green”. So we blamed ourselves for missing the first reading. The next reading was at the Yeats memorial – which is actually specific. So we were kind of annoyed when we got there and found only about 6 other people waiting for the show and one funny couple making out. We were annoyed enough to call he number of the brochure and they told us (in the pouring rain) that the events had been moved. Arragh. We tried to ease the pain with hot chocolates at Cafe En Seine. (Sad that hot chocolate would hit the spot in June!)

So we did kind of soak up the mini-marathon atmosphere, which was fun. Until we realized that we couldn’t get the bus home from the regular stop because it would have the bus going through the runners. So we followed the instructions for the alternate stop – but after 45 minutes (in the pouring rain) we realized that maybe the bus wasn’t coming. So we went to another alternate location – same thing. Eventually after walking about 30 more minutes (in the pouring rain) we got a taxi. The tricky part about getting a taxi we’re a group of five and most taxies can’t fit us in.

So that’s kind of why we decided to get the heck out of Dublin and we’re on the bus to Wexford.

This weekend is the Bank Holiday weekend in Ireland. Luckily we made the most of Friday because it rained the rest of the long weekend. But Saturday was beautiful.

We started by going to the Bloom Festival in Phoenix Park. It’s a collection of flowers, landscaping stuff and Irish food. The best part of course was the food. We got free samples of everything – from chocolate covered marshmallows to soup. It was a little bit like a mini State Fair. There were a ton of people.

After Bloom we went to the Maritime Festival on the other side of the city center. Luckily I had scored us free LUAS (metro-train) tickets for the weekend. SO we only had to walk about 30 minutes to get to the LUAS and then hope on to get to the docklands.

The Maritime Festival is much larger – happening on both side of the quays. So it didn’t seem as crowded. We walked by tons of booths. We tried brats and mini-donuts and Chinese food and the girls had ice cream. We went on board the Jeanne Johnson Famine Boat (aka coffin ship). It is a replica (or maybe refurbished original) boat just like the boat folks would have taken to America during the famine. You could see how cramped and terrible it must have been. It almost made flying seem more bearable.

There was a very cool looking naval ship – but I was the only one interested in waiting in the long queue to tour it. We took a side tour around the Grand Canal Docks, which is an area that’s been built up over the last couple of years. It’s a nice area that I hope will thrive despite the recession.

From the Gradn Canal Dock we hiked up to get the bus in Ballsbridge. I mention that only for the few folks who would be impressed with the length of that walk.

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Patrick still has some time on his hands these days. Last week we took a big walk around the Grand Canal. We started in Ballsbridge and ended up (accidentally) in Ballyfermot. I tried to take some pictures along the way.

We know the canal around Ballsbridge fairly well since I used to live in Ballsbridge. It’s a very high brow part of town. If I were ever thinking about moving to Dublin I would start by looking aorudn the canal, not necessarily in Ballsbridge but nearby. Being much more accustomed to the Mississippi, I like how narrow and calm the canal is.

We walked past the statue of Patrick Kavanagh and had to snap a picture. I took the same picture when we first met, maybe 18 years ago so it will be fun to see the differences. We walked by the birthplace of George Bernard Shaw. We walked through Baggot Street, Leeson Street, through Harold’s Cross to Dolphin’s Barn. Some neighborhoods are nice, some are mixed.

Patrick’s plan was to walk down the canal to the Kilmainham Hospital (Irish Museum of Modern Art) – but we missed the turn. Or rather he missed the turn and I foolishly followed him. We went farther than we should have and ended up in Ballyfermot, which is a rougher part of town. I kind of wish I had taken a picture, but it seemed like pretty bad form.

We’ve walked by load of council flats in the past and while I’m glad I don’t live in them they never really struck me. The flats in Ballyfermot struck. To start there’s a terrible eyesore that looks like a burned out apartment building – except people are still clearly living in there. Then the rest are better – but the area is so bleak.

Written in graffiti across several of the walls was “This is the Promised Land” in big, black letters.

It was midmorning when we walked through so I wasn’t actually scared or even very nervous – mostly I just felt terrible for anyone who had to live in that area every day.

We did run into a very funny pair. One guy walked into a wall and immediately blamed his friend for not giving him the heads up. He wasn’t holding anything, blind or busy – just walking. And the wall wasn’t hidden, it was attached to the just of the apartment building.

So after Ballfermot we did make our way to the Art Museum. I love that place. They had a new exhibit called something like “Not Waiting for Godot” that consisted of a gravelly ground, two sleeping bags with iPods; both with sounds of the beach and a woman talking. The speech is kind of Beckettian – but I don’t think it was actual quotes or anything – although I hardly know the play or Trilogy by heart.

Last Saturday it rained, which was OK since we planned to spend the day at the mall anyways. Aine was invited to a party at Dundrum shopping center so we all joined her. Dundrum is a nice mall – but it sort of looks like any mall anywhere in the world. That being said, Aine had a great time at Build-a-Bear, and the rest of us got some clothes.

On Sunday we ventured out to the Point Village. There’s a new market there on the weekends. The Point Village a ways from the city center but the walk there is along the quays so we didn’t mind. On a sunny day it’s beautiful. Also we got to see the Samuel Beckett Bridge in action. The bridge is new; it crosses the Liffey – so any bridge crossing the Liffey has to be able to let ships pass. This bridge does that in the most unusual way – it moves. Not up or down, it rotates to a 90 degree angle so that it eventually is perpendicular to the original direction. I tried to get it on video. I did not move much while recording the video – keep that in mind for the first 30 seconds. The movement is the bridge, not me.

We read the next day that this was the first time the bridge had opened. It was just completed in December 2009.

Next we hopped down to the market. It’s pretty good actually. There were bands playing as part of the Dublin Soul Festival. (Side note, Patrick and I saw a few bands playing at Meeting House Square for the Dublin Soul Festival too after amazing appetizers at the Port House.) There was plenty of food and various other stands.

Eventually we made our way to a wonderful dinner at the Winding Stairs.

So Patrick is done with his dissertation and he’s finding that it can be a little boring to sit around Cabinteetly all day. So we’ve been going on adventures. (And then I spend all night working to catch up with work.)

One day last week we headed up to the Black Church. The Black Church (actually St Mary’s of Ease) was built in 1830. Legend has it a person walking anti-clockwise with one’s eyes closed, two or three times around the church at midnight, reciting the ‘Hail Mary’ backwards will meet the Devil. We weren’t there at midnight. And somewhere Patrick heard that if you walk around three times clockwise that it’s good luck. We walked it – but so far I’m not feeling the luck.

The church as you can see from the pictures is black. It’s no longer used as a church. It’s now offices – and they’ve painted it very white inside. It looks pretty nice.

On the way to the to the Black Church we stopped by the King’s Inn on Constitution Hill. It’s a very old part of Dublin. In its day it was a very fashionable area – but not it’s all but derelict. You could see the former elegance of the buildings in the detail – when you could see around the boarded up windows. King’s Inn is designed by James Gandon – yes Patrick has dragged me to enough of these buildings that I actually recognize the names of the architects. I think the builds are still a law school.

After the Black Church we went to Trinity to see some dinosaurs. Apparently they’re in the geography building. We didn’t actually see dinosaurs – but we did see a giant moose-type skeleton. And as you can see from the pictures, we found the largest working door.

I nearly forgot our bonus lunch. We went to Cleary’s on O’Connell Street for lunch. Cleary’s is actually a department store but I had heard that the rooftop restaurant was kind of fun. Well as soon as we got there, they were giving away some vegetable slicer. Patrick was thrilled and sat through the whole State Fair-esque pitch. He received a free slicer and juicer for his efforts. And the lunch was pretty good. It was cheap (by Dublin standards, which doesn’t really mean cheap by MN standards) and good.
 

Saturday night Patrick’s advisors was kind enough to invite us for dinner. We had a great time. They give some of the best dinner parties ever – but it was a late night so we were glad to have an easy plan for Sunday. And what could be better than relaxing at the beach.

We headed down to Monkstown for lunch and then to the beach at Sea Point. This is very near to where we stayed last summer for a few weeks so the girls know the area well. It’s really a beautiful area – although maybe a little less beautiful when the tide is out, which it was.

When the tide is out the beach is very mucky – but Lily and Aine didn’t seem to mind too much. Even Kate got into the swim eventually.

Last weekend we went to the Natural History Museum – aka dead animal zoo. The Natural History Museum has been closed for a few years because (sadly) a staircase collapsed while some teachers were taking a tour. So that was a sign that maybe they should fix up the place a bit.

It’s kind of a funny place. It’s home to a ton of stuffed animals – real taxidermy animals. The first floor is filled with Irish animals – that where I got the great picture of the basking shark. (I have a whole new interest in basking sharks after hearing someone speak about them at the Science Gallery a couple months ago.) Upstairs are animals from all over the world.

I was in the Natural Science Museum years ago – I remember it being very dusty – but I have to say it’s not dusty at all after the big clean up. It’s still kind of a funny place. I’ve tried to include some typical poses. We wanted to include a few of the more gruesome for Grandma and Molly. Its’ definitely the stuff of nightmares!

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So there’s a new thing in Dublin – the Tuesday evening protests. It started when I was in Minnesota. Apparently the first one got a lot of publicity because someone got hurt.

The protest is kind of a hodge podge of people who think the government stinks. I think the main theme (if there is one) is the Right to Work. So it’s the labor union types that are attending. They have the protest in front of the Dail (where the legislators meet). The funny thing is that while the Dail has plenty of security, they seem to be resistant to close the gates during the protest. So the first week there was a minor storming of the Dail, which ended up with some woman getting hit – and injured. (She featured prominently in the speaker list of protestors on the day we went.)

So anyways, we hadn’t really planned on attending the protest – but we sort of walked by the scene of the incident just as they were getting ready. We weren’t sure of the time – but I was able to call Lily and she could do an easy search on Twitter to find out that the festivities started at 7:30. So we went into Buswell’s for a pint while we waited. (Buswell’s is a pub right across from the Dail.)

So it was kind of fun. I ran into a woman in the bathroom dressing up as Marie Antoinette. She was one of the speakers. She sat in the pub for a while and kindly let me take her picture. In fact after I asked a hoard of folks got their phones out for photos. (I think that picture was probably a highlight.)

The police were ready for the protest. There was plenty of security – some on horses. But is wasn’t say as outrageous as the Republican National Convention – so machine guns or storm troopers.

So we stayed and watched. It was kind of interesting. There were two woman protesting police brutality – I think they were just trying to stir up trouble (Not that I’m pro police brutality.) but when folks were marching away they tried to get people riled up enough to take some kind of action – like storm the Dail like the week before.

I think Patrick needed a day off once I got back from Minnesota. So on Tuesday we voyaged out to the North side of Dublin. We went to Marino Casino. (Not a real casino – casino being Italian for little house.) It was designed by William Chambers for James Caulfield. It’s kind of a cool house – but I have to say the best part about it is how much the staff working there seem to love the house. Patrick may have been inherently interested in the house – but it was the enthusiasm of the tour guide and groundskeeper that got me into it.

One of the cool things is that the house is symmetrical. From the outside it looks as if it would be one giant room – but really it’s split up into four floors and there are several rooms on each floor. The original owners would have had a big house not far from here, more in town. So it wasn’t a place to sleep so much as a place for day trips and to show off artifacts he would have collected touring through Europe. The hardwood floors are striking. They aren’t ornate so much as just patterned.

The funny thing about the people was that when we left the groundskeeper was super encouraging about the job situation. I suppose he thought that we were making the most of our unemployment.