10 Questions About…

Our friend Lisa has come for a visit. Lisa, really from Colorado) is a nanny in Cork but she is visiting for a week. On Saturday the girls and I went into town with Lisa. We went to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College. The Book of Kells is a beautifully illuminated copy of the four gospels. It was transcribed by Irish monks around 800 AD.

I have to say that the detail is amazing. There are some pages that are all illustration and they’re beautiful – but my favorite part is the first letters and mini pictures drawn right into the text. You can see how so much of Celtic art and design stays true to the design in the Book of Kells.

An interesting thing the exhibit pointed out was design through the ages, they showed drawings that were precursors to the Book of Kells and drawings that came after and you could see the main themes that survived.

The Book of Kells is housed in the Trinity’s Long Library, quite frankly that is as impressive as the books. I’ve added some pictures. The room is filled with old books. The girls couldn’t believe that people would have ever gone through the books. Also we got to see many pictures and the Proclamation from the 1916 Easter Rising. One item I liked was a postcard from a girl at Trinity at the time. She had written home to say that while the rumors of the rebellion was true that she was safe in her dorm. Kind of helped you imagine the general reaction and environment for the Easter Rising.

After Trinity we ended up at lunch at Bewley’s. Then we walked around. Then we ended up at the National Gallery of Photography where we saw more pictures, not from the 1916 rising but rebellion efforts from 1921-22. While there we saw notice of the free films at the Irish Film Institute. My friend Sheila had clued me into the day of free films, but not being a movie fan I completely forgot about it.

Anyways most of the films were booked out but we got to see 3 old and very cheesy Irish tourism films. One was in black and white. All include shots of Nelson’s Pillar, which was destroyed by a bomb in 1966 and replaced by The Spite in 2003. (Careful readers will remember that we saw the head from Nelson’s Pillar at the Pearse Street Library.)

It was fun to see the refurnished cinemas.

At night Patrick, Lisa and I headed to the local pub.

We still don’t have all of the girls’ uniforms – but I thought I’d add a quick snap of what we have. This is how they leave for school most mornings.

We went to see a play Wednesday night. The play that I wanted to see was sold out. So we went to see Faith Healer by Brian Friel – again. We saw it about six weeks ago at the Guthrie with Joe Dowling as Frank – the Faith Healer. It was interesting to see the difference in the show and in the reaction of an American versus Irish audience.

There is one character named Teddy, the cockney agent (of sorts) for the faith healer. It was interesting to see how alike the portrayals of the character were. He is in many respects the comic relief is a very dark show. Fun to see how much of the comedy must have been written into the script (which I would have read years ago but of course forgot those kinds of details).

On Thursday I went to book club at Hughes and Hughes. It was fun but here’s a glimpse of our life here you don’t always see, I had to wait 20 minutes for the bus in the pouring rain and cold wind. I had an umbrella – a real sign of how bad it was – but even with the umbrella my legs got soaking wet.

Aine wanted to send a message to her class back home:

The Temple Bar Trad Fest has been going on this week; it celebrates traditional music. We haven’t done too much – but we did make it to the parade today and the outdoor ceili. The parade wasn’t too long, but it was very good. It was a little cold so we had front row seats. We were even able to follow the parade for a while. (I took a quick video.)

The super score of the day was that kids ate for free at the Tea Room today. It’s a restaurant in the Clarence Hotel. I think U2 still owns the hotel. It’s very nice. Definitely not the kind of place you expect for kids to eat free on a Sunday. I suppose that’s a reflection on the recession as much as anything else. Anyways we got a much nicer lunch than planned so we’re not complaining.

After lunch we went to the outdoor ceili, which was fun. I took another quick video. It was a little chilly but there were plenty of people watching and dancing. Next we headed on to the North side.

I’ve added a couple pictures of local art – one if just a graffiti mural from Smithfield; the other is a statement with the walls covered with pages from the recent report on the Catholic Church in Ireland and child abuse. We’ll see how long that stays up. (Could be down by next week; could be up a long time.)

So it gets to a point where the kids feel like they’ve seen *everything* because they have seen an awful lot of Dublin. So I decided we would go to Clontarf, which is really just in North Dublin – but somewhere we wouldn’t normally go. This doesn’t really fit into our day – but Bram Stoker, author of Dracula is from Clontarf.

One fun thing about heading to the North – especially near Dublin Bay is that we spend so much time looking at the Bay from the Southside. It’s fun to see everything in reverse and to see Dun Laoghaire and Bray in the distance. We started our trip at the Clontarf Castel, which is now a hotel. We had lunch. We saw suit of armor. They’ve done a good job making the hotel and restaurant nice and retaining glimpses of the old castle.

After lunch we headed to St Anne’s Park. It’s huge! I bet it’s really beautiful in the spring but if we wait until spring to see everything we’ll be watching a lot of TV. There are a lot of sport fields in the park, a playground, rose garden and some fun animal statues. There’s a market near some stables too – but sadly we weren’t there early enough to check it out. So we’ll have to visit again.

We walked down the coast road on the way home, looking out over Bull’s Island, a long island not far from the coast. You can actually drive to it.

I have to mention that the girls are amazing walkers. I’m sure we walked a few miles today – and no complaints. Really we rarely get complaints when we’re out until we get on the bus home. And my the time we get on the bus home we’re all tired and cold and sometimes hungry. We will love our car when we get home.

We (Patrick and I) have been on a big kick for walks since Patrick was jealous of my walk to Dun Laoghaire. I don’t know that he could have actually made the walk but he was jealous anyways. So Friday we walked through the Killiney Golf Course (straight up hill) and down to the beach. I don’t think it was really all that far to walk – but it was honestly uphill both ways. Actually it was fun. But you have to know where you’re going or at least be a good guesser. The closer you get to the beach the closer you get to some really, really nice homes. In fact we crossed the Vico Road (where Bono, Enya and others live) going from catwalk to catwalk to get to the beach. Sadly we didn’t have a camera.

I did bring a camera the on Saturday. We walked through Cabinteely Park (well that was out of the way but for folks who have visited us that will at least give you a general direction), through Brennanstown to Foxrock to the house where Sam Beckett grew up. It is a fancy walk. We saw horses, stables, the house where they have a dolmen in the garden, several embassies and some amazing homes. This time I did bring a camera.

In fairness to Patrick – Beckett’s house is not marked. Patrick had looked it up in advance. I took a picture of Patrick in front of the house – although I’m the one who actually read Beckett’s Trilogy. (Just had to fit that in.)

One of the things that always amazes me is how much work they do on the parks here. They have been working on the park across the street forever. The last time we were here they put in benches and built up a new soccer/rugby pitch.

Since we’ve been gone they’ve really been working on the steam that runs through the park. It used to be overgrown with brambles and litter – but they’ve cleaned it all up. It’s really quite pretty.

Aine and I feed the ducks there sometimes. Well, we try to feed the ducks but the seagulls are a lot faster and scrappier. Let’s just say we feed our feathered friends.

There are times when I wish I was a better photographer because all around the park you can see the Wicklow and Dublin Mountains. We can see Bray Head, baby Sugar Loaf, big Sugar Loaf (aka Poop Loaf – and if you’ve ever climbed it you know why) and others. Patrick tries to get the girls to remember the names whenever we’re waiting for a bus on the other side of the park.