Thursday, November 24th – No Turkey for You!

A couple of things I will miss while I am Dublin – Thanksgiving and bar soap.  I knew I was going to miss Thanksgiving so I had no expectations for turkey.  However, I had forgotten about Europe’s fascination with “body wash”.  Essentially, squirt soap.  I guess this is ok when you are washing your hands in the public restroom but when I am taking a shower I want a bar of soap.  Maybe it’s just me…

After hitting the ATM to refresh my stack of Euros, I headed south to cross the Liffey.  Wow, what a different vibe on the other side in the Trinity College and Merrion Square area.  The streets are tighter; the people are bouncing around a little faster; it generally looks like business is happening.  Which it probably is.  Since it is a Thursday.

I passed by the Bank of Ireland which did not look so much like a bank but rather a temple with the money changers set up out front.  There were all sorts of weird stands propped up hawking indulgences and treats.  The Bank used to house Ireland’s Parliament but in an act of self-immolation (more specifically, the 1801 Act of Union) they voted themselves out of existence.  The building was sold and was to never be used again to house an Irish government.  I did not actually go inside, but supposedly the smaller House of Lords chamber survived renovations.

From browsing the Bank and peeking into Trinity College campus, I went down to the National Museum of Ireland – Archeology.  The National Museum of Ireland – Archeology traces Irish history from the dawn of man up through medieval times.  Apparently, all Irish history stops here as I cannot find any museum devoted to anything between medieval times and the age of Irish writing.  Also, apparently, I picked the day to hit the museum when every primary and middle school was here.  Ah the days of screaming school trips…

Leinster House IS where the Irish parliament meets.  Like visiting the US Congress, you can get a free, advanced ticket to sit in one of the galleries and watch one of the houses while they are in session.  Instead, I choose to watch the stream of protest processions gather outside the gates.  Much like the Occupy movements in the states, I couldn’t quite figure out what they were for or against.  But, to their credit, no hacky sack was happening.

I wanted to do the walking tour of Trinity College.  The Lonely Planet guide recommended it as good way to see the place.  However, as we are in winter season, walking tours are only available on weekends.  But I was here now.

Trinity College in Dublin was established in 1592 by Elizabeth I to stem “popery”.  I could not understand what she had against those floral-smelling wood chips but Trinity went on to produce Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, and Samuel Beckett, among others.  Besides a fine education, the big attraction there is the Book of Kells.

The Book of Kells is one of the oldest books in the world.  Produced around 800 AD by monks on the remote island of Iona, it survived looting Vikings and the ravages of history.  The Book consists of the four main gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Gabe).  However, you only see two pages.  Bummer.  The viewing set up is like the crown jewels in London but without the people mover.  Since I did not have a wait to see it, I was not disappointed.

The Book of Kells “tour” dumps you upstairs into the Long Room.  This is what a Library should look like – two floors of books shelved to the ceiling.  You should recognize the Long Room from Star Wars Episode II:  Attack of the Clones.  Yeah, I don’t remember it either.  I think it’s the one with Jar Jar Binks.  Anyway, the Long Room is the background for the Jedi Archive.  Alas, there are no Jedis here.  Just a copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which was read out loud by Padraig Pearse to kick off the 1916 Easter Rising, along with two hundred thousand books all probably older than the United States.

Since I did not do the walking tour, I missed a lot of the items inside the campus buildings.  However, I could not miss the Campanile – the campus bell tower.  Unlike Texas, no one has scaled this tower to pick off fellow students.   But, superstition holds that if you walk under the tower while the bell tolls you will fail your exams.  Who needs a bell tower for that?

After reaching a higher education, I swung back to the National Gallery.  The building itself is supposed to be a work of art.  Except that it is missing its roof.  That was the bad news.  The good news is that they crammed three floors and multiple rooms of art onto one floor and a few rooms cutting out all that filler art.  The gallery has a whole boat load of W.B. Yeats and other Irish artists.  It also has Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ.  While it is an interesting piece using various shadings of light, the only thing I noticed is that the Roman centurions were wearing medieval armor.  I guess this is called artistic license.

In my continuing effort to knock off every museum in one day, I walked around the corner to the National Museum of Ireland – Natural History.  But first, I ducked into Merrion Square.  It’s a nice little park.  Dublin has a number of green spaces including this, St. Stephen’s Green, and Phoenix Park.  I plan to visit Phoenix Park another day.

The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History smells like my grandmother’s attic did.  Everything that can be killed, stuffed, and mounted has been killed, stuffed, and mounted in here.  The only thing scarier than the rotting Basking Shark hanging from the ceiling is the excited German tourists bouncing enthusiastically from one display to the next saying, “Ya! Ya!”  Paging Dr. Mengele, anyone?

So, before anyone gets their undies in a bundle over this lovely hall of death, it really is interesting to have so many animals side-by-side.  despite the whole dead thing.  Birds, fish, lizards, lions, elephants, oh my.  The building includes two floors of taxidermy and bones including a human skeleton or two.  On my way coming back downstairs I passed an old codger going upstairs who could have easily been part of the exhibit.

I had forgotten about the travel drag you can get when you spend an entire day traveling.  I hit so many museums and sites in the first thirty six hours that my head hurt and my eyes were crossed.  The only cure for that would be a pint of Guinness.

I wanted to go to one of the traditional Irish pubs and I found O’Donoghue’s.  This pub is known for its traditional live Irish music.  The Dubliners started here.  Thin Lizzy played here.  Alas, there was not live music tonight.  Instead, we got Rihanna and her road crew.

On a rookie mistake note, I followed tradition and bought the guy next to me a pint.  He returned the favor.  His name was Ken.  We met Shelia who was with the Irish Times (this is how we found out Rihanna was there).  A few more friends showed up.  The rounds increased.  The stories got louder.  The rounds got faster.  The hours started to slip away like minutes.  We bounced out into the street and three pubs later we all collapsed into the Ha’Penny just before closing time.  Somehow, it only cost me 50 euro.  And rather than creating the international incident that I threatened to, all I appear to have done is spread more American good will.  The State Department should hire me.

I closed the night out at Subway.