St Patrick’s Cathedral (no longer a cathedral but Protestant church)
Friday 31st October 2014 – Dublin & Canal Dinner Cruise
After another great breakfast (we couldn’t fault the food in Ireland as it was still as great as it was through Scotland), similar to Edinburgh, we started our morning on our bus with a local tour guide. Our tour guide named Mary, who also had a wonderful Irish sense of humour, taught us a bit about Dublin and its history as we drove through it. Mary was one of thirteen children as her parents were good Catholics who didn’t drink, but didn’t have a TV. Therefore growing up in a big family surely would have helped her in becoming accustomed to all of the people in Dublin as it is a very large city with one-third of the population of Ireland living in Dublin. Mary informed us that a thousand years ago the Vikings came and raided and then it was the Britains who built round castle towers with canons on the top to defend against Napoleon (who of course never came and the castles are still scattered throughout Ireland). The English were invited over by an Irishman however apparently overstayed their welcome by over seven hundred years! (I’m sure we all know visitors like that who overstay their welcome). In 1973 Ireland joined the European Union as a poorer country (Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom). In 2008 the banks collapsed in Ireland (similar to everywhere in the world) and the Irish Republic nearly went bankrupt but it was Europe that saved them.
Georgian door (once painted black)
Dublin has a lot of Georgian architecture (which I explained how it got his name in another blog and is one of my favourite kind of building designs as I much prefer the smoothness of it over the sharp Gothic style) and with these buildings are nice old doors. These doors were ordered to be painted black once before when there was a death of an English Monarch so everyone painted their doors black. However when the men came home from the pubs (remember this is Ireland and there are 750 pubs in Dublin alone) being dark and all the doors black and looking the same they would get lost and not know their way home or what house was theirs. Therefore they decided to paint the doors different colours and there are a range of differently coloured doors including yellow, red, blue and still the occasional black door.
The Dawson Lounge
One of the 750 pubs in Dublin includes The Dawson Lounge which is the smallest pub in the world. It is so small you can fit only one person in it and you can’t fall down in it so as David said it’s not very good for Ireland. 😉 Oh and yes I managed to get a photo of it next to the jewellery store which may have been where a joke I have heard came from. A man was shopping with his wife when it all got a bit much and the man slipped away while his wife was busy in a store. When she was finished in the store and realised her husband wasn’t there she rang him to find out where he was. When she asked where to find him he replied “Do you remember that jewellery store where you saw that diamond necklace that you loved so much?”
“Yes!” his wife excitedly exclaimed. “Well I’m at the pub next door to it.”
Molly Malone a.k.a. The Tart with the Cart
We drove past the statue of and family home of Oscar Wilde the author of “The Importance of Being Earnest” ad “How to be a Good Husband”. We also drove past St Andrew’s church and the statue of Molly Malone. Now for those who, like my family, are fans of Mrs Browns Boys you will have heard of “The Tart with the Cart” well Molly Malone is who they are talking about. Molly Malone was a fish monger by day and I guess you can guess her profession by night be her nickname and there is even a song written about her although it is argued who Molly Malone actually was (you can read more about her and the lyrics to the song can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone)
O’Connell bridge
We drove over the River Liffey a few times which is a tidal river and is home to the widest bridge in Europe – The O’Connell Bridge (which is actually wider than it is long), that was built to compensate for the large amount of traffic that travels through Dublin. The bridge is named after Daniel O’Connell who was known as the Liberator or the Emancipator who through his knowledge of the legal system and laws campaigned for Catholic Emancipation and repeal of the Act of Union (which combined Great Britain and Ireland) as well as being a liberator of anti-slavery. O’Connell was greatly respected by Queen Elizabeth as he managed to liberate the Catholics without any bloodshed at all, which I think we can all appreciate in any century.
On one of our crossings of the River Liffey we came across the Spire of Dublin or the Monument of Light (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spire_of_Dublin) which is a is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument that is 121.2 metres in height. The locals have a few other names for this 4 million euro structure including: “The opinion poll” (due to everyone having an opinion on the structure including if it was worth the price); “The stiffy in the Liffey” and; “The Erection in the Intersection” (I’ll let you figure out where they may have devised the last two names from).
Trinity College
Dublin is home to three Nobel Prize winning authors and with its 750 pubs and Trinity College it is quite the popular destination for writers to visit and live. If you want to learn a little more about Dublin’s Literacy history and places to visit you can read more about it here: http://www.visitdublin.com/pdf/literaryguide.pdf. We did in fact visit Trinity College which was founded by Queen Elizabeth the first and when it was built four hundred years it was in the countryside however now it is in the middle of the city as Dublin has built up and around it. You’ll notice in the photos there is quite a slope that clearly shows it was built on a bit of a hill and is sloped to prevent flooding.
Trinity College
We arrived at Trinity College and were introduced to our Irish guide Joseph who is a professor at the university. Now I seemed to be one of the few who noticed that our Irish guide had an English accent (a very high class accent that actually sounded quite put on). I later got to ask Mary if Joseph was Irish and she explained that he was born in Ireland but his mother had high hopes for him and so sent him to finishing school which cultivated an English accent. He wasn’t quite as entertaining as our other guides and gave the impression that he thought he was a ‘cut above the company’ and certainly didn’t answer kindly when an American asked if Trinity College had sororities and fraternities similar to the ones in America. No they don’t and students have tried to start them but have been unsuccessful in their attempts as the university doesn’t want to be associated with such organisations. Nevertheless Joseph did tell us the story about the shooting of a professor at the oldest building “The Rubrics” in 1734. Edward Ford was then Fellow of the College and a few students after being out drinking one night came through the Front Gate, beating the porter stationed there, being quite boisterous and got a strong scolding from Ford. They went back to their rooms and made a plan to go back at midnight and break Ford’s windows. However Ford responded with a pistol and shot at the group, injuring one, and then ordered two undergraduates to summon a porter. The students quickly dispersed and returned to their rooms only to gather their own firearms and return to Ford. A Scholar urged Ford to remain in bed, but he refused to listen, and he went to the window in his night-dress to admonish the students further. The crowd fired, and Ford received shots to the head and body. He was then moved downstairs, and a surgeon was summoned. After two hours of agony, he died and in his last words, asked that the students be forgiven.
“I do not know, but God forgive them, I do.”
The court ruled that because it was a college prank gone bad the four students were not charged of murder (especially as it was hard to determine what actually happened from contradictory evidence and reports and because the Front Gate porter had also been drinking). However they were expelled from the college. Joseph mentioned that he was sure a few students, and hinted even he himself, would probably like to do that to some of his colleagues (and I am sure my university friends will know which lecturer of ours immediately came to my mind).
The Old Library
We also got to go into the Old Library where we learned about and saw two parts of The Book of Kells. Now I had heard about Trinity College before but never The Book of Kells.
The Book of Kells is celebrated for its lavish decoration. The manuscript contains the four Gospels in Latin based on a Vulgate text, written on vellum (prepared calfskin), in a bold and expert version of the script known as “insular majuscule”.
The place of origin of the Book of Kells is generally attributed to the scriptorium of the monastery founded around 561 by St Colum Cille on Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland. In 806, following a Viking raid on the island which left 68 of the community dead, the Columban monks took refuge in a new monastery at Kells, County Meath. It must have been close to the year 800 that the Book of Kells was written, although there is no way of knowing if the book was produced wholly at Iona or at Kells, or partially at each location. (http://www.tcd.ie/Library/bookofkells/book-of-kells/)
Basically the Book of Kells is a very early version of the bible (four books to be exact) written by monks in Scotland on calf skin (a little different to the leather that we know and they always used calves – about 400 of them). It is very lavishly decorated with pictures all throughout the text and two of the books are on display in the Old Library opened up to view (but of course no photography allowed). We got to see the library that houses hundreds of thousands of books however most students don’t use it (as of course most are irrelevant and outdated now. I once got reprimanded my a lecturer for using an article that was ten years old {the same lecturer who quoted from a text fifteen years old – hypocrisy at its best} and so I am sure they wouldn’t be impressed with students using books housed in the old library). There are also interesting things in cases that show the history of Ireland and Great Britain and some famous figure heads that I am sure you would recognise such as Shakespeare.
The Old Library
Shakespeare
Tiny children’s Bible
Presents to soldiers from Princess Mary
Soldier’s medals
Old Library
Missing windows
We then continued our city tour including seeing some buildings that clearly were affected with the window tax and stopping to take a photo of what once was known as St Patrick’s Cathedral (pictured at the top of the blog). The Catholics were suppressed for many years in Ireland and the Protestants took over a lot of the main cathedrals and eventually the Catholics were allowed to build new Cathedrals but they had to be small and out-of-the-way outside of the cities and towns. The Protestant congregation that now uses St Patrick’s cathedral is quite small. We were asked to guess just how big the congregation is and there were guesses from thousands to a few hundred (which I would have guessed) however there are now only 50 people as part of the Protestant congregation that use that large church.
Guinness Factory
It was then onto the Guinness factory! Now Guinness is also known as liquid viagra and seeing as Arthur Guinness and his wife had 21 children (10 who made it to adulthood) I think it’s quite possible there’s a truth to the nickname. Arthur Guinness inherited some money from a relative who passed away and invested in a brewery outside of Dublin. A few years on he went to Dublin and set up his own business, taking out a 9,000 year lease (yep nine thousand years) for an annual rate of 45 pounds! (Now that’s a smart businessman) .
Wooden barrels that were once used and made by coopers
We learned about the ingredients and the brewing of Guinness (such as we did in the whiskey distillery) and we also learned a little about the cooper trade. A cooper is the person who makes the wooden barrels or goes around and smells for foul barrels and repairs them. It used to take seven years to be a cooper and when you finally finished your apprenticeship they stuck you in a barrel you made with some Guinness and rolled you around in it.
We were given samples of Guinness and taught how to drink it properly (including how to breathe as you drink (gulp) it – I’m not kidding). Now I’m not a beer drinker and I liked it better than what I usually do but I couldn’t finish the small portion but I must admit it was good and tasted a bit like beer, coffee and chocolate mixed together. Guinness is known as the black liquid but it is actually a rosy red which you can see if you hold it up to the light.
Rosy red Guinness
Learning how to drink Guinness properly
Taste test
We were allowed to explore the many levels of the Guinness factory after the tour and given a voucher that entitled us to a free pint of Guinness (or softdrink). We went up to the top bar which had a panoramic view of Dublin with information about what buildings you are looking at printed on the glass. However it was packed full and it felt more like a club with the crowds, Guinness and music and we quickly decided to go down to one of the quieter bars. You could take a class on how to poor Guinness properly and get a certificate but we were more interested in getting our drink and then going somewhere in the city for lunch during our free time. As Bill and I waited for the drinks and asked the bartender if we could take Bill and Mary’s stouts after they were poured and settled we got a free lesson on Guinness pouring. It was very nice of the bartender to share this with us as other people were paying for it and lining up to do it themselves. He poured the Guinness first as you would a beer (tipped on the side to prevent too much froth and too big a head) pulling the tap handle towards him. The Guinness came out very pale looking as the two gases nitrogen and CO2 reacted and caused a lot of bubbles. Once it was settled (and this is when we asked why we couldn’t take them) the bartender then pushed the Guinness tap handle away from him to top up the drinks and they fizzed again as they were filled to the brim. The bartender explained that when he pulled the tap it added the Guinness and the two gases but when he pushed it away it added just pure Guinness and it simply reacted with the gases that were already in the glass. By the time he finished explaining this we could take the drinks (which had now settled twice and had the black look) and thanked him for his lesson.
Top Bar
Info. printed on the windows
There was plenty of other things to see in the factory including the Guinness monument that is made from Ash wood from America and topped with Irish lace to look like a pint of Guinness. This monument took five artists 600 hours to complete and tells the story of Guinness. The harp is a trademark of Guinness and Ireland wanted to use it on their money but had to have it backwards due to copyright on the harp already belonging to Guinness. Within the factory there is a harp in a glass case that will play if you touch the glass (clearly the glass is attached to music as the strings themselves don’t move as yes of course I tried it).
Guinness Monument
Guinness Harp
Now please don’t laugh at me, as I am sure I am not the only one, but I never made the connection with Guinness the drink and the Guinness World Record books before this trip (please tell me I’m not the only one?!). Apparently the idea for the Guinness world record book came around when a few men were talking over some drinks (Guinness of course) and wanting to know things such as ‘What is the fastest bird in the world?’. They soon came to realise there was nothing to help tell them this information (especially as this was well before the Internet and search engines such as Google) and thus the idea of the Guinness World Records Book was born! They have a display in the Guinness factory of the Guinness World Records books and other merchandise.
Guinness World Records
After a little while we were then let loose for some free time in the city for a little bit. We were in search of a pub for lunch and actually struggled to find one (not sure how they hide 750 pubs) and found a coffee place to have lunch in instead and found it remarkable that we came across two young homeless men in a matter of a couple of blocks (Dublin city has one of the highest homeless rates in the world). Bill and I wanted to find a camera shop for a few things (Bill forgot his camera charger in America) and luckily we had topped up my English phone that had free Internet and using the GPS we soon found one close by. We had an added bonus of coming across Frozen characters in the window of a Disney shop which Mary took some photos of for the little girls she babysits. We then did the tourist thing and had a look in the shops for any bargains and of course I had to get my keyring (I have quite the collection already from all of the places I have visited on my trip) and I found a good luck shamrock to help try to change Carrie’s luck (the one who not only had her bags lost but also had a trip to the hospital in Scotland). We managed to get back to the bus early and missed the pouring rain that the others got stuck in. It was then off to our canal dinner cruise. We cruised along the canal and went through many locks and under bridges in a former Guinness barge through Central Dublin. We had a wonderful singer singing Irish music and some American cover songs (Billy Joel seemed to be a favourite of Irish singers throughout Ireland) while he played the guitar and he also played the Irish flute for us (videos on facebook). I am sorry to say I don’t remember the singer’s name but I did remember he said he was from a big Catholic family and had 6 brothers and 3 sisters as he informed us “I never knew what it was like to seep in my own bed….until I got married!” Haha I did have a good chuckle at that one!
Our ‘restaurant’
Irish flute
Irish singer
We had a three-course dinner while we listened to the music and also went on the deck to enjoy seeing Dublin from the canal. Marissa reminded me before I went out to duck if we come up to a bridge (they are quite low and most people would indeed have to duck). When I went up, there were already a few up on the deck including Eric who coincidently enough has the last name of Foster and so is hoping when I get back to Australia I can send him a t-shirt with it on (or an Australian flag). After I replied that I’d be happy to send him something if he sent me something (rather than money) I took some photos of the approaching bridge and turned around to go back downstairs so I wouldn’t have to duck. Now Eric is quite a bit taller than me but was clearly looking at the bridge as we approached it so I didn’t think I had to remind him to duck but I should have as staring right at it Eric smashed his head right into the stone bridge as the boat went under it. We were moving very slowly so I knew it wouldn’t have done too much damage and so I laughed out loud at poor Eric and his pain (sorry Eric!). The singer was great and had us singing and clapping along (although his timing for the clapping song wasn’t the best and he had an intermission while we were in-between courses instead of perhaps when we were being served our meals). We had good craic (pronounced crack) and I was glad to finally know what craic was! If again you’ve ever watched Mrs Browns Boys you will have heard them say that they had good craic at a party (craic means fun or can mean funny depending on the context). We continued on until the bus picked us up and we watched everyone in their Halloween costumes out-and-about in the city and viewed and heard fireworks on our way back to our palace like hotel (photos in the next blog I promise). Ireland always have fireworks for Halloween however not for New Years (so one of the wait staff at the hotel informed me). I think England celebrate Halloween with fireworks too, however one night makes it special and worth it but when I got back to England it was still going constantly every night at different times for two weeks (obviously it is legal for people to buy them and release them safely at their discretion and they have some miserable weather conditions to deal with). However it is safe to say we all slept well that night and were looking forward to Blarney Castle and watching working sheepdogs the next day.
Guinness stew as one course
Back of the boat and captain
Front of boat
The bridge Eric hit his head on
Heading home on the bus
Some of the songs the singer sang:
Wild Rover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_4KboYi40I
Whiskey in the Jar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBcRDln6I7A
Sweet Sixteen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonYt3wOLcE
The Old Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNL_wGZgV5Q
(The Irish music and songs reminded me quite a lot of Slim Dusty and his style of music and then I remembered his grandparents were Irish and his Dad was born in Ireland but moved to Australia when he was a baby but still sang and played a lot of Irish music which would have influenced Slim Dusty).
Coll's Travels 