Day 129: Late night with the London lasses!

“You don't stop dancing from growing old, you grow old from stopping to dance”
-anonymous

Last night Violaine and I met up with Genevieve and Christina to go to the Cobblestone on the north side. One of our teachers said it was the best place to hear traditional music, and from what I heard last night, he's right!

The pub itself feels like a bar in Brooklyn, not extremely clean, dark, black lights, and lots of random things hanging on the walls. Also they had some unique drinks, I tried Cashel's cider on tap and it was delicious. I think it's brewed by Guinness.

The London Lasses played last night, they did a mix of traditional reels, jigs, slip jigs, etc. and also sang some really beautiful ballads. The harp player sang two songs in Irish, really great.

The best part? Towards the end of the night, eight of the fiddle player's relatives did a group ceili dance! They were probably in their 60s, and had some great moves! One of the men even had hard shoes!


Genevieve, Me and Violaine.


The London Lasses!

Also I tried a new recipe the other day, red pepper egg-in-a-hole.



Served over wholewheat toast with some melted mild chedder, yum!

Day 126: Mod Squad

“The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.”
-Jackson Pollock

Went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art today with Genevieve and Christina, and Jackson Pollock is right, lots of the art was quite strange. Actually one of his pieces was one of the most tame in the collection. We took a tour of the museum which shed some light on the pieces, I couldn't even begin to understand some of the works on my own.

One of my favorites was a room full of sand and gravel with two beds. Next to the beds were ipods and when you put the headphones on you heard the artist quoting lines from Waiting for Godot with the ocean in the background. I don't really get it, but I like any exhibit that actually encourages me to lay down and take a rest. There were origami, photographs of nuns, paintings that slide off the canvas, pretty interesting stuff.

Of course no pics inside, but I snapped some of the building, the former Royal Hospital, and the beautiful surrounding garden.


A view of the main chapel building from the main courtyard.


A rabbit statue in the courtyard, it reminds me of a children's book character. The old rabbit that said "Winter's a comin' its time for bedding down," I hope that book is still laying around somewhere.


Me with the hospital gardens in the background, its like a mini Irish Versailles. Soldiers were kept in the hospital after they retired, probably wheeled out a couple times a week to look at the perfectly trimmed shrubbery.


Overview of garden.


Outside view of the Royal Hospital/ Modern Art Museum.


I tried to think of some mythology this statue would fit into, but I guess its just your typical woman with severed head.


Gen and Christina, we were hoping there would be a hedge maze.


Drinking in the lilac.

Another nice day in Dublin, glad I got to do lots of walking and site seeing. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a break from tourism, or at least give my walking legs a rest.

Day 125: A bit of the macabre

By means of the Mummy, mankind, it is said, Attests to the gods its respect for the dead. We plunder his tomb, be he sinner or saint, Distil him for physic and grind him for paint, Exhibit for money his poor, shrunken frame, And with levity flock to the scene of the shame. O, tell me, ye gods, for the use of my rhyme: For respecting the dead what's the limit of time? --Scopas Brune

All the touristy things I do are either for toddlers (the zoo) or ridiculously morbid (Glasnevin). Today was a creepy day. To prepare for St. Michan's I read the Cask of Amontillado, one of my favorite Poe stories, and a couple chapters of the most recent Dexter book. I actually didn't purposefully read creepy stories before, but it made the experience all the more terrifying.

St. Michan's on the north side is the only church still surviving with a Viking foundation. It's built on the remains of a church from 1095, but the actual structure I was creeping around in is from 1686. I think the guy said its the oldest church on the north side of Dublin at least.

I took these pictures while waiting for the tour in the main part of the church.


Plaque to commemorate the Sheares brothers who took part in the disastrous 1798 rebellion. I saw their caskets in the crypt, they were drawn and quartered in the streets, such a pleasant form of capital punishment.


The organ of St. Michan's where legend has it, Handel composed Messiah. I'm pretty sure its just that, a legend, even the tour guide questioned its validity. He may have practiced here however.


Altar and stained glass windows.




How do you prove that you're really sorry in the 17th and 18th century? Confess in front of the church in one of these handy public confessionals. I think that kind of defeats the purpose of the priest...but it beats going to the cinema!


Pulpit


The keyboard from the old organ.


A cabinet of curiosities it seems, complete with skull!


The graveyard around the back of the church, still in use.


The crypt entrance, I've never actually opened a door in the ground and climbed on in. At first I felt like Dorothy getting ready for the twister, but I'm pretty sure Auntie Em and Uncle Henry were alive and well.


Ok, I caught a sneaky no flash picture of the crypt when the guy left me alone. Don't tell on me or I'll never be invited back! Oh, did I mention I was the ONLY PERSON on this tour? The guide was fantastic, he could have easily worked at the haunted mansion at Disney World, he had the best creepy voice.

I'm not gonna lie, at first I was pretty freaked out, I mean I had just read the Cask of Amontillado, I knew how this could end. Also, he and I were the only people that knew I was down there in the crypt, but it was kind of thrilling! I felt very brave, even when he was describing different torture and murder techniques.



I didn't take this picture, I found it online. Here are the four mummies in the first crypt. One is a nun, one is a man without feet and a hand, another woman, and then the warrior in the back. The warrior in the back is 800 years old, the others about 300. The mummification is natural, kind of like at Glasnevin, the conditions underground are just right for preservation.

Apparently it used to be good luck to come down and shake the hand of the warrior, so people have been visiting this crypt for awhile. After the guy was done telling me this, he waved me closer and said "Well, since its just you down here, why don't you have a go." I was taken aback, he expected me to go inside that crypt and shake that mummies hand??!! So what did I do? Well, I shook its hand of course. I'm still a little surprised at myself, I'm sure I'll have a disturbing dream about it soon.

Day 124: Remember

The glory of the old Irish nation, which in our hour will grow young and strong again. Should we fail, the country will not be worth more than it is now. The sword of famine is less sparing than the bayonet of the soldier.
Thomas F. Meagher

I don't go up to the north side of Dublin often, but when I do I cut by Merrion Square, over the Liffey and past the Famine remembrance sculpture. The first time I encountered it was at night, I found it very moving and a bit eerie at the same time. Its a lot like the Korean war memorial in DC, the effigies are on street level which is actually very rare.

My teacher said that it was made for another city, but they found it too depressing, so they shipped it off to Dublin. Not sure how true this is, but I can attest to the fact that its depressing. However, I think its fitting at the same time.














I thought this graffiti was interesting, kind of like a Banksy piece. The briefcase says Thug Life and there's a recycle sign that says Karma.


The bridge in the distance is the millennium bridge, the pirate ship is right in front of where Abby used to work. She told me that a guy actually lives on it.

Another beautiful day in the Dub, only about 60 today.

Day 121: Mr. Catwoman Dr. reporting for duty!

I love acting, but it's much more fun taking the kids to the zoo.
Nicole Kidman

Katy, Norah and I made the excellent decision to go visit the zoo last Friday! Unfortunately I wasn't dressed as Mr. Catwoman Dr., the superhero alter-ego that Ben made up for me that likes to visit zoos in safari gear. I had to settle for jeans and a t-shirt, but at least the weather was beautiful and the animals were lively!

I don't know what they do to the animals at the Dublin zoo, but they are all about human interaction...maybe they're actually workers dressed in gorilla costumes? Also there was virtually no one there, unlike at the Cleveland zoo where I'm usually fighting a toddler rather than a wallaby to get through the walkabout.

We took the bus to Phoenix Park (the biggest city park in Europe), saw the President's house and the "wild deer." I'm not sure where the deer originally hail from but there are about 500 of them that have free range of the park, and they are quite different than the type you'll find in the Ravenna arsenal. I saw a woman literally pet one. I feel like that might be a health risk?

Once we got into the actual zoo all the animals, except a few rogue peacocks, were safely out of petting range.


Tiger! Later it came right up to the glass and had a moment with Norah, but I'm not a good quick draw with my camera. Still, this is pretty active for a big cat!


Orangutan buddy! Seriously, we stood with this guy for about 20 minutes. First he was shaking the milk out of the bottle onto his hand, then he used his finger to scrape out more, and when that wasn't successful he used carrots and sticks to get the remainder. Too smart? His eyes were very human like, and he kept giving us semi-mocking expressions. When we would laugh he would do whatever he did again, he was either mocking us or trying to impress us. At one point he watched Norah cross her arms and copied, safe to say that was definitely mocking.


Silver back gorilla! He had a posse of young male gorillas that followed him around the enclosure. He stood up and they followed, staying behind him when he sat down. He was a bit terrifying when he stood up, massive and so powerful.


Katy in front of the seals!


These guys are true entertainers.


There's a lot of limitations at this zoo.


Warthogs, not the most attractive creatures, even with little Mohawks.


White rhinos!


Zebra! Another really social guy, the zoo keepers were cleaning their outdoor area, so the safari animals were taking a break indoors.


A very sleepy red panda!


Monkeys! Not sure what kind exactly, but they had a baby and they were picking bugs out of each other's fur.


Ok, these little babies weren't at the zoo, they were at Herbert Park yesterday. Herbert Park is further into D4 and I actually just went there for the first time. Such a peacful place, very special. It was 75 degrees, so I took a towel and my ereader and just relaxed for a couple hours.

Another nice day today, it almost doesn't feel like Ireland!

Day 120: Diabolical plots

We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. ~David Sarnoff

On Thursday I went with Katy and Norah to Glasnevin cemetery outside of Dublin on the north side. It's the biggest cemetery in Dublin,not sure how many people are buried there but its somewhere in the millions. This is mostly due to the pit graves for Cholera and the famine, who knows how many people were thrown in there?

The cemetery is still very much in use, my roommate's grandparents are buried there and plots are available. We took a tour of the place which was great since it was overwhelmingly huge! The cemetery was established by Daniel O'Connell in the 1830s as a non-denominational cemetery, also one of the few places where unbaptized babies could be buried. The cemetery ended up becoming a great history museum!


Here's O'Connell's tower which simply dominates Glasnevin. It was nice of him to establish this place, not very modest when it came to his own burial place!


Celtic high cross, this was my favorite one that I saw in the cemetery.


Inside the O'Connell tower, the casket is Daniel's, but the tower also serves as a family crypt. They're hoping to have the steps in the tower restored in time for 2016 to commemorate 100 years after the rising. Someone put a bomb in here a while back, so climbing the tower is currently off-limits to visitors.


Stacked coffins in the O'Connell crypt.


Maud Gonne's grave. She was married to one of the leaders of the uprising, but is mostly known for being the one that got away from W.B. Yeats.


This is apparently the "go-to" grave design in Ireland.




As you can see there's lots of refurbishing still to be done before 2016. Some of the graves have sunken completely into the ground, to the point where you can't even see the tops.


I actually forget whose grave this is, a republican revolutionary with an Irish name, I remember that much! Very interesting design.


Michael Collin's grave, the most visited in the whole cemetery.


Parnell memorial. This is actually the cholera pit, Parnell was buried right on top because he was afraid of grave robbers. He figured the threat of cholera would be enough to deter them. Norah also said this monument makes a guest appearance in Joyce's Ulysses.


Tomb of an arch bishop of Dublin, it reminded us of Lord of the Rings!


Fancy tile work.


Another archbishop, I think this one was actually a cardinal. Either way, fancy last digs.

So, today is kind of sad because Norah went home this morning. I know she'll be happy once she's there with her family, but Dublin doesn't feel the same! I'm lucky I have some extra time, I'm making the most of it!