Ireland: A Weekend in Dublin

IRELAND!

It’s my seventh week in France and my second week of holidays! Lots of students are going skiing for the week, as Grenoble is in Rhone Alpes (right next to the Swiss Alps). Some of the exchange students are going to Spain and Switzerland and Italy. I decided to go to Ireland. Most student’s reaction to that was, “Why!?” Hopefully the next few blog entries do a good job at answering that question!

Friday, February 10, 2012

DUBLIN

It was an early start, walking down the mountain at 5:45 am to make my shuttle for the airport. I flew Ryanair, so cheap! You can get tickets from Grenoble to Dublin for 19 euros (less than $30).

because my first thought when we're about to crash would be: well, I better take out my earings! and dentures.

It’s kind of hard to see in these next pictures, but look towards the top. The mountains are peaking up over the clouds. It was beautiful!

On our descent, I was a little startled by the bump from the landing because I thought we were still in the clouds. It wouldn’t be a true Irish experience without the thick fog.

It reminds me of a Canadian spring at home so much! The green, green rolling fields are beautiful! It’s 10ºC here right now.

Haha, this made me laugh. Aunt Gail told me to get ready to see people that look like my Uncle Joe and her and Dad everywhere, especially in Cork (where my family is originally from). Well on the flight here, there was a man that looked just like uncle Joe, giving the flight attendant a hard time in an Uncle Joe sort of way. Then on my bus to the hostel, a tourist tried validating his receipt and the bus driver (who reminded me of any middle-aged man from Ennismore) was like, “Noooo, ye don’t do dat! Si’down.” Then under his breath, “Well, der all out t’day, must be a full moon or sum-din.” That’s when I officially felt like I was in Ireland.

I arrived at my hostel (“The Kinley House”) just before 1PM, locked up my stuff quickly, and ran off to do a free, 3.5 hour walking tour. It was a fantastic way to see the city in such a short period of time.

Kinlay House Hostel, Dublin

Kinlay House Common Room

Our German-CANADIAN guide (with an Irish accent?) was very informative, especially with the history of Ireland. You can just look at the pics of the next section if you’re not really interested in the history behind them. This is some of what she showed us:

That was a prison with 4 foot thick walls. Only 1 person ever escaped from it, I forget his name, but he was an “important man’s” son. At 15 years old, a British man on the road (Ireland and Britain weren’t on great terms at this point) offered him a glass of red wine, then a few more. He got him drunk and then kidnapped him, bringing him to this prison where he was tortured for 5 years. He and another Irish man managed to dig their way to the sewage system that lead to the river and escape (Shawshank Redemption anyone?). It was the middle of January though, so the other man died in the cold and the now 20-year old son lost some toes. His dad was super happy to have him back.

Unfortunately, he didn’t learn his lesson though. One day, another British man offered him a glass of red wine. This time, it was poisoned. He died.

I can’t remember why they added onto this castle recently, but the architect thought that this would be a nice design. When questioned about it, his response was, “I liked the colours”…

This is Christchurch Cathedral and Dublina. Christchurch was a Catholic church, now it’s protestant. She talked a lot about the history of religions in Ireland, it was intense. Dublina had to do with medieval Ireland (not sure exactly what).

Christchurch and Dublina

We walked down a lot of cobblestone streets, particularly in Temple’s Bar area.

Dublin has a river that runs through it (like many European cities). This was one of the first bridges built across it. It used to be privately owned and cost a half penny to cross it (which was significant enough at the time). They have many other bridges now, including one that’s just about as wide as it is long. There was a plaque on it for a priest who died a long time ago as his carriage fell into the river. Recently, they did some research on him and noticed that his remains were never to be found. In fact, it seemed he never even actually existed. The city took the plaque away. The people didn’t like this, leaving candles and flowers where his plaque was in memory of the fictitious character, and so the plaque is back!

This is the Spire of Dublin (back in the distance, left of the big lamp post). I don’t remember why it’s important, but it used to be a statue of a woman, then a fountain, and now it’s this.

Spire of Dublin

Wikipedia's Spire pic was a bit nicer.

This is Trinity Collage. Oscar Wilde went here, as well as many other famous dead people. Now I’m started to sound like my Dad, I guess I should say “historical figures.” This is a statue of George Salmon, an influential man at Trinity college. He said, “Women will enter this college over my dead body.” In 1904, George Salmon died. In 1904, the first women were accepted to Trinity College.

Trinity College

George Salmon

Go Canada!

Ireland, European Union and Canadian Flags!

Check out those uniforms. Thank you St. Pete’s.

This made me so happy! I found my roots!

During the tour, I made friends with 2 Americans and a Canadian. We went to the Guinness brewery together!

Patrick, Nicole and Kelly at the Guinness Brewery

Old Brewery

I don't drink. But after this tour, if I did, it'd be Guinness.

After, we went for dinner. I had these delicious chicken skewers.

That night, I wandered through Temple’s Bar, the main strip with all the pubs and shops and restaurants. What I enjoyed most was listening to a group playing on the side of the road.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

This morning, I woke up early to wander around the town. That’s something I enjoy most when I travel, just seeing what I stumble upon. (Plus my directional sense wouldn’t allow me to actually get where I was trying to go, so I just see whatever shows up in front of me.) So, this is what I saw!

The River Liffey

Near St. Jame's Brewery

A nice garden?

I ended up at the National Museum. It was cool! I couldn’t take pictures, but I was at an exhibit on High Crosses from Ireland, coins, past Irish clothing and jewelry, country furniture, etc. There was a chair called “Adam and Eve’s Chair” from a Tavern called Adam and Eve in Dublin. Some Franciscan Friar’s would go to a back room of the tavern to secretly celebrate Mass in the 1600s when it wasn’t allowed. So it’d look like they were going to the tavern instead of going to pray. When the (British?) police found out, they came to arrest them, but the women at Mass attacked the police and allowed the Friars enough time to run free.

Next stop: “Kilmainham Gaol” = jail. Okay, I couldn’t find it. So nevermind. Found the church though!

Temple Bar

At Temple Bar

I caught the bus that afternoon for a 2.5 hour (and only 9 euro!) bus ride across the country to Galway. It is SOOOOO beautiful here! I love it! Galway blog to come! For now: