For the past five days, I've been exploring Dublin and its immediate surroundings with my Irish literature class! I literally just got home an hour ago, so I'm still digesting some of the 
subtleties, but I wanted to get a post written about what I saw...
subtleties, but I wanted to get a post written about what I saw...We left from Heathrow airport on Wednesday afternoon, and basically just got ourselves to the hotel. We had a little free time, and so we went to a pub for dinner, and I had my first of many pints of Guiness, or "the black stuff" as Dubliners call it.
Thursday, we had an early start. We all got three-day DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) passes, and so we went from our 
hotel on Lansdowne Road to Tara Street Station. First, the group went to an exhibition on the life and works of William Butler Yeats at the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street. The exhibition was really great, and featured many of Yeats' original handwritten and typed copies of his famous poems, like "Easter 1916" and "Sailing to Byzantium". After the Library, we went on a guided walking tour of the city, focusing on the events of 1916. Our tour guide was called Lorcan Collins, who seemed to know every single person in the city of Dublin. He took us walking down the River Liffey, showing us the Liberty Building where the republican rebels set up camp during the 1916 rebellion. In this picture to the right, the Liberty building is the "tall" one... it's only 16 stories and it's the tallest building in Dublin. On our tour, he also took us walking down 
O'Connell Street, which is the high street of Dublin. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been converted to stores in an attempt to draw tourists.
hotel on Lansdowne Road to Tara Street Station. First, the group went to an exhibition on the life and works of William Butler Yeats at the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street. The exhibition was really great, and featured many of Yeats' original handwritten and typed copies of his famous poems, like "Easter 1916" and "Sailing to Byzantium". After the Library, we went on a guided walking tour of the city, focusing on the events of 1916. Our tour guide was called Lorcan Collins, who seemed to know every single person in the city of Dublin. He took us walking down the River Liffey, showing us the Liberty Building where the republican rebels set up camp during the 1916 rebellion. In this picture to the right, the Liberty building is the "tall" one... it's only 16 stories and it's the tallest building in Dublin. On our tour, he also took us walking down 
O'Connell Street, which is the high street of Dublin. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been converted to stores in an attempt to draw tourists.We saw the General Post Office building, though, which the republican rebels also took over in 1916. We saw the bullet holes that were still left in the marble exterior, although the building itself was all but totally destroyed in the fighting. Inside, we saw one of the 12 or so remaining original proclamations of the Irish nation. We also saw a statue of Cuchulain, a mythical Irish warrior who strapped himself to a rock when fighting, even after he couldn't stand up. That's him over on the right. Birds plucked out his eyes, apparently, but he kept fighting!
After some free time for lunch, we took a bus to the outskirts of the city to visit Kilmainham Jail, where the Easter 1916 rebels were imprisoned and executed. The fourth picture is from the basement of the jail. Interestingly, the bodies of the rebels were not given proper funerals, because the English realized that if they allowed the rebels to have proper graves, the Irish people might make martyrs of them. Instead, they were buried near the jail, in unmarked graves with quicklime thrown over their bodies. We saw the yard in which they were executed by firing squad for high treason. It was really moving, especially in light of a movie we recently watched for class, "The Wind That Shakes The Barley", which talks about the problems with the rebellion and the subsequent War of Independence and Civil War.
Friday, we started off with a trip to Prospect Cemetary in Glasnevin, which is on the outskirts of the city, as well. There, we saw the graves of the rebels (after public opinion changed and they were given proper funerals a few years after the rebellion). This cemetary is once of the oldest and largest in Dublin, and unlike many of them, is not segregated by religion. After lunc
h, we went to the Joyce Tower in Sandycove, which is on the southern part of Dublin Bay. In Joyce's "Ulysses", this is the fictionalized Martello Tower on the sea where the first scene of the novel is set. The curator gave us a talk and a tour, and told us of how Joyce lived here for a short time, and ge drunk and went swimming in Dublin Bay at the Forty Foot Pool. Myself and two of my classmates decided that if it was good enough for a drunk James Joyce, it was good enough for us, sober. We stripped down to our underwear and dove into Dublin Bay in December, and it was all I hoped it would be and more. Picture at the right.
h, we went to the Joyce Tower in Sandycove, which is on the southern part of Dublin Bay. In Joyce's "Ulysses", this is the fictionalized Martello Tower on the sea where the first scene of the novel is set. The curator gave us a talk and a tour, and told us of how Joyce lived here for a short time, and ge drunk and went swimming in Dublin Bay at the Forty Foot Pool. Myself and two of my classmates decided that if it was good enough for a drunk James Joyce, it was good enough for us, sober. We stripped down to our underwear and dove into Dublin Bay in December, and it was all I hoped it would be and more. Picture at the right.After, we went to Trinity College Library to see the Book of Kells, Ireland's oldest Celtic manuscript, c. 800 A.D. It was truly stunning, and we also got to see the huge Trinity College Readin
g Room where nearly every Irish luminary studied. I included a picture of a college building on the right. After that, I walked through St. Stephen's Green, which is a famous Dublin landmark. Later that night, the group went on a musical pub crawl that included more Guiness and a "Noble Call", for which members of the audience are invited to sing, a capella, a song from their home county (or country, in this case). A few of my classmates sang some folk songs and Bob Dylan, and I was sorely tempted to sing a verse or two of Lady Gaga, but decided to refrain, as I thought I'd had enough alcohol to properly do it justice. The live musicians were great, and sang and played traditional Irish folk songs. It was a lot of fun!
g Room where nearly every Irish luminary studied. I included a picture of a college building on the right. After that, I walked through St. Stephen's Green, which is a famous Dublin landmark. Later that night, the group went on a musical pub crawl that included more Guiness and a "Noble Call", for which members of the audience are invited to sing, a capella, a song from their home county (or country, in this case). A few of my classmates sang some folk songs and Bob Dylan, and I was sorely tempted to sing a verse or two of Lady Gaga, but decided to refrain, as I thought I'd had enough alcohol to properly do it justice. The live musicians were great, and sang and played traditional Irish folk songs. It was a lot of fun!Saturday, we were up and out early again. We went to the National Museum of Ireland to see an exhibition of the Iron Age "bog bodies". These bodies were discovered in Co. Offaly and Co. Meath in 2003. Research suggests that these human sacrifices were often tortured and sacrificed to the gods, and were placed on significant kingdom boundaries in ancient Ireland. Most of the bodies were incredibly well preserved, though I was thinking mostly about mortality during the exhibit. The National Museum had many other artifacts from around this time, including lots of gold jewelry and metal-on-wood crosses from the 8th through 13th centuries. It's easy to see how a museum like this, showcasing Ireland's rich history, would have given the average person a greater sense of pride about their country.
After lunch, we went to Newgrange, in Co. Meath. Set in the Bru na Boinne Valley, this Neolithic passage grave was built over 5,000 years ago, before the pyramids in Egypt and before Stonehenge. The exterior was re-built in the 1970s, but the inside of it has held up so well, no stone breaking, no rain. When we got inside the tiny chamber, the guide turned off the lights and simulated the sunrise on the winter solstice, when a tiny shaft of light comes in through the entrance in just such a way to light up 
the entire inner chamber. We couldn't take pictures inside the inner chamber, so I included a picture of the exterior and of the highly decorated entrance stone. The entire experience was pretty magical, and it was one of my favorite activities on the trip.
the entire inner chamber. We couldn't take pictures inside the inner chamber, so I included a picture of the exterior and of the highly decorated entrance stone. The entire experience was pretty magical, and it was one of my favorite activities on the trip.That night, we went to a play at the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The play was Conor McPherson's "The Seafarer". Although the original Abbey Theatre was rebuilt in the 1960s, this is Ireland's National Theatre, founded in 1903 by Yeats and Lady Gregory. Its early productions were often radical; in 1907, the premiere of Synge's "The Playboy of the Western World" provoked riots.
Sunday, we went on a bus and walking tour of the Wicklow mountains, south of Dublin. We saw Lough Bre and Lough Tay (more commonly known as Guiness Lake), as well as the Glenmacnass Waterfall, just north of Laragh. We stopped for lunch in a little village near Glenmacnass, and then continued on to Glendalough, to see ruins of a 6th century monastic city founded by St. Kevin, who was actually a member of the royal house of Leinster. The scenery was unbelievable. It felt a lot like Scotland, especially the pronunciations of all the Gaelic names of lakes and valleys. On the tour, our guide was really interesting. His name was Eamon Murphy and I managed to sit in the front seat next to him the entire time, and we talked about everything from bilingual education in Ireland 
to music and movies. He's lived in Dublin his entire life, and had a lot to say about the Easter 1916 rebellion. He comes from a family of Irish republicans from "rebel County Cork" and Co. Wexford in the South. He was a blast to talk to, and he was definitely one of my favorite tour guides, because he knew a lot but was able to tell me things in a casual way, without being too academic or stuck up about his knowledge of the country. That night, the professors took us all out for a pint and dinner, and I had a traditional Irish Boxty, which is basically a potato pancake that you wrap meat and vegetables in, burrito-style. This was a traditional Irish restaurant, very expensive and not like a pub at all. For dessert, I had bread and butter pudding, served hot with homemade custard and rum raisin ice cream. I don't think I'll ever forget that meal.
to music and movies. He's lived in Dublin his entire life, and had a lot to say about the Easter 1916 rebellion. He comes from a family of Irish republicans from "rebel County Cork" and Co. Wexford in the South. He was a blast to talk to, and he was definitely one of my favorite tour guides, because he knew a lot but was able to tell me things in a casual way, without being too academic or stuck up about his knowledge of the country. That night, the professors took us all out for a pint and dinner, and I had a traditional Irish Boxty, which is basically a potato pancake that you wrap meat and vegetables in, burrito-style. This was a traditional Irish restaurant, very expensive and not like a pub at all. For dessert, I had bread and butter pudding, served hot with homemade custard and rum raisin ice cream. I don't think I'll ever forget that meal.So, that's about it for specifics of the trip! Once it all sinks in a little more, I'm going to write about my impressions of the place, specifically compared to London and all that. It was an incredible five days, and now I have to write a four page "field trip response" paper before tackling a seven to nine page final paper. Less than two weeks until my arrival back in the States. It's going to be so surreal being back after having been gone living in a fancy European city for four months. More soon...
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