Dublin!
This past weekend the London Center took us on a subsidized trip to Dublin. It was an awesome experience. Ireland has loads of history and culture and Dublin is the literally and symbollic center of it all. We arrived Friday afternoon from our Aer Lingus flight and got on the bus to our hotel. I love the Irish accent. And the Irish people -- they are just so friendly. Earlier today before our flight home my friend Iris and I were going through the Irish National Gallery and a small, older Irishman started talking to us about the Vermeer painting we were looking at. He ended up giving us his own guided tour of the museum and then invited us to see his own paintings that he was selling along with all the other artists around Merrion Square. I was glad to finally meet a leprechan.
Anyway, after we checked into our hotel on Friday we headed over to the Temple Bar area of central Dublin for dinner. We settled on a pub called The Auld Dublin and I had the best fish n chips I've had since I've been here. Still wasn't as good as Friendly's but it was mighty close. A quick sidenote on English fish n chips: I know the traditional and most favored way to eat fish and chips is to douse the cod and chips with salt and vinegar. I have given this approach several stabs, and every time it had been just ok. The ketchup and tartar sauce is just better. Bottom line.
Anyway, after dinner it was about time for our musical pub crawl. We followed around 2 professional Dublin musicians from pub to pub and listened to them talk about traditional Irish music, then play their guitar, fiddle, and drum to our delight. Towards the end they explained that in traditional Irish culture there would be pub "lock-downs" and anyone who wanted could come up and play a tune of their own. So, after my flatmate Sari played guitar to a Foofighters song, my friend Jamie and I went up and I sang Jimmy Cliff's River of Babylon while Jamie played guitar. It was quite fun.
I slept in the next morning but got up in time to go on our leader Bill's tour of the Sandycove part of Dublin to see James Joyce's Tower museum. This was where the first scene in Ulysses took place. I was pretty exhausted after that so I hopped a train back to the hotel and took a shower and nap for the next 2 hours. Around 3 I got up to go to the world famous Guinness factory. Guinness pretty much controls Dublin, and for good reason--it's a damn good beer. The factory tour was kinda dissapointing. I was expecting a Hershey's World style tour, where we would hop in a ride car shaped like a Guinness pint glass and ride through the Guinness making process. Instead, it was a self-guided tour that culminated in a "free" pint. There were 7 floors of Guinness related facts and fun, including info on the life of Arthur Guinness and how it's not really made from the water of the Liffy (thank God). There was also a part where we stared at a videoscreen set in a wooden cask showing how a traditional cask is made. Bizarre. We grew tired of the strange self-guided tour and opted to head straight to the Gravity Bar to claim our free Guinness. It was poured perfectly, with a shamrock sketched with the drizzle on the top of the head. And it was quite tasty. I would have bought another but did not feel like spending money yet.
After a quick nap at the hotel we walked to a nearby Irish pub where they were playing traditional Irish music. From then on the party just kept getting better, as I was able to get the authentic Irish experience of friends, Guinness, and music.
This morning I woke up at 8:30 in time for the hotel's Irish breakfast. It was ok, but all I wanted to do afterwards was go back to sleep. We decided it would be best to take a quick nap before heading out to Dublin center one last time. We woke up and watched Ninja Turtles on the TV, then took a train to the city center, where I went to the National Gallery. Probably the most memorable part of the Gallery, besides meeting the Leprachan, was walking through the Yeats Museum. I need to do a project on Irish culture for my Irish lit. class so I figured it would be best to do a powerpoint presentation on early 20th century Irish artists, such as Jack B. Yeats and Lavery. Good stuff.
Even though I doubt I'll ever make it back to Ireland, it definately left a good impression on me. I found many comparisons of Ireland to Israel-- they are both extremely rich in culture, and also had been or are involved in a greusomely bloody religious conflict due, in part, to British imperialism. Because of this I have a newfound appreciation and love for the small country and would highly recommend anyone visitng Europe check it out.
Anyway, after we checked into our hotel on Friday we headed over to the Temple Bar area of central Dublin for dinner. We settled on a pub called The Auld Dublin and I had the best fish n chips I've had since I've been here. Still wasn't as good as Friendly's but it was mighty close. A quick sidenote on English fish n chips: I know the traditional and most favored way to eat fish and chips is to douse the cod and chips with salt and vinegar. I have given this approach several stabs, and every time it had been just ok. The ketchup and tartar sauce is just better. Bottom line.
Anyway, after dinner it was about time for our musical pub crawl. We followed around 2 professional Dublin musicians from pub to pub and listened to them talk about traditional Irish music, then play their guitar, fiddle, and drum to our delight. Towards the end they explained that in traditional Irish culture there would be pub "lock-downs" and anyone who wanted could come up and play a tune of their own. So, after my flatmate Sari played guitar to a Foofighters song, my friend Jamie and I went up and I sang Jimmy Cliff's River of Babylon while Jamie played guitar. It was quite fun.
I slept in the next morning but got up in time to go on our leader Bill's tour of the Sandycove part of Dublin to see James Joyce's Tower museum. This was where the first scene in Ulysses took place. I was pretty exhausted after that so I hopped a train back to the hotel and took a shower and nap for the next 2 hours. Around 3 I got up to go to the world famous Guinness factory. Guinness pretty much controls Dublin, and for good reason--it's a damn good beer. The factory tour was kinda dissapointing. I was expecting a Hershey's World style tour, where we would hop in a ride car shaped like a Guinness pint glass and ride through the Guinness making process. Instead, it was a self-guided tour that culminated in a "free" pint. There were 7 floors of Guinness related facts and fun, including info on the life of Arthur Guinness and how it's not really made from the water of the Liffy (thank God). There was also a part where we stared at a videoscreen set in a wooden cask showing how a traditional cask is made. Bizarre. We grew tired of the strange self-guided tour and opted to head straight to the Gravity Bar to claim our free Guinness. It was poured perfectly, with a shamrock sketched with the drizzle on the top of the head. And it was quite tasty. I would have bought another but did not feel like spending money yet.
After a quick nap at the hotel we walked to a nearby Irish pub where they were playing traditional Irish music. From then on the party just kept getting better, as I was able to get the authentic Irish experience of friends, Guinness, and music.
This morning I woke up at 8:30 in time for the hotel's Irish breakfast. It was ok, but all I wanted to do afterwards was go back to sleep. We decided it would be best to take a quick nap before heading out to Dublin center one last time. We woke up and watched Ninja Turtles on the TV, then took a train to the city center, where I went to the National Gallery. Probably the most memorable part of the Gallery, besides meeting the Leprachan, was walking through the Yeats Museum. I need to do a project on Irish culture for my Irish lit. class so I figured it would be best to do a powerpoint presentation on early 20th century Irish artists, such as Jack B. Yeats and Lavery. Good stuff.
Even though I doubt I'll ever make it back to Ireland, it definately left a good impression on me. I found many comparisons of Ireland to Israel-- they are both extremely rich in culture, and also had been or are involved in a greusomely bloody religious conflict due, in part, to British imperialism. Because of this I have a newfound appreciation and love for the small country and would highly recommend anyone visitng Europe check it out.
posted by xdredd at 4:20 PM
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