Dublin—Friday

May 3rd

Our last full day in Dublin was spent at the Seamus Heaney exhibition. This may sound sacreligious but we enjoyed this one more than the W.B. Yeats exhibit. Enjoy the pull-quotes from his works (click to enlarge) and some of the other pictures we took at this exhibit.

His first book published in 1966.

 

Afterward, we took a longer walk through the neighborhood up Grafton Street where we listened to and purchased three CD's from Keywest. We strolled through St. Stephen's Green, and then a local market before stopping at O'Donahue's Pub for a beer, a cider, and cheese fries. 

In the early evening we headed over to The Voyager for a final goodbye, listen to some live music, and have dinner. We were surprised that everybody working greeted us and wanted to know what we'd done yesterday and asked when we were going home.

The place was hopping on a Friday and it was fun being part of the local scene and its good craic. Sean, our favorite barkeep arrived as we were about to leave and we were happy to see one another. He remembered we were flying home Saturday and we visited a bit and took a picture before he headed to another pub to listen to a friend play an acoustic set.

This sample of "Dream Stealer" is a song by Keywest about rapacious capitalism. You can listen to the whole song on YouTube here.

This guy stretches Saran Wrap between two light poles
and then spray paints a temporary mural. Tomorrow, he
will do a different one.

St. Stephen's Green.

This pic and the next seven were taken inside George's St. Arcade.

Sean, the best barkeep in Dublin.

Dublin—Thursday

May 1st and 2nd

On May 1st we went to the W.B. Yeats exhibit at the National Library of Ireland and then walked next door to the National Museum of Archeology. Both were well worth it but I've only added a few pictures from both, because there was just too much to cover. For the Yeats exhibit there were over 2000 items, and for the archeology museum, there was 7000 years of Irish history uncovered and on display. (Remember, you can enlarge pictures by clicking on them.)

This sculpture cracked us up. It's opposite the
entrance to the Yeats exhibit he's reading a book
of poetry.

There were several audio visual rooms
thematically decorated. This one had to do
with Yeats' scholarship. The AV room about
his contribution to The Abbey Theatre felt
like you were sitting backstage.

The Archeology Museum is as impressive

as the items in it. This is the rotunda at the

entrance and...

...this mosaic floor is under the rotunda.

At the entrance this classical architecture
is great preparation for the exhibits.

The pottery and the 45 foot long dugout canoe are 
from the Neolithic Period, 3700-2500 BC. This is
when hunter/gatherers began farming and settlements
were developed. Eventually, livestock was imported.

 

I hope I provided just enough information for the stunning gold artifacts and Neolithic Period to give you a flavor of this museum. If you're ever in Dublin, the museums (and the National Library of Ireland) are free and so are many of the exhibits.

Later in the day, we took a walk to the center of Temple Bar to check out Icon Factory (aka Icon Alley) where Irish sports figures, writers and poets, and actors and artists are represented. Some cool artwork is also painted on the alley walls.

These are worth enlarging and reading.

I found this excerpt particularly poignant

May 2nd—Today we took a walking tour that included the Book of Kells and Trinity College Library, Dublin Castle and gardens (again), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Teeling Distillery, and Guinness Brewery. All-in-all, we walked 7.5 miles. The good news is that it didn't rain and it wasn't windy so our walk between locations was pleasant and our guide Brian was knowledgeable and easy-going.

Here are a few of the gajillion pictures I took today.

Parliament Square at the entrance of the college.

Brian, our tour guide was great.

Read about The Book of Kells history here.

Pictures of the manuscript aren't allowed, but the
large replicas of some of the pages is.

Note the intricacy of the alphabet.

Trinity College Library—The Long Room.

  

The library is stunning just how we

remembered it from our 1996 visit.

Many of the buildings on campus are beauties.

This is a Calder sculpture.

Main entrance to Trinity College.

Parliament Square is what you'll see upon walking through the main entrance.

St. Patrick's Cathedral (1191) was busy but worth the visit. 

The floor tiles were as pretty as the knave and transepts. The
biggie for me was seeing Jonathan Swift's death mask and grave.

St. Patrick's coat of arms.

 

The primary pulpit. There's a mobile one

Swift used as well. His sermons could last

well over an hour and he would be wheeled

around the cathedral and use a long staff to

nudge parishioners who had fallen asleep.

 

St. Patrick's Choir.

Floor tiles.

The Teeling Distillery was the next stop.*

The phoenix is Teeling's logo.

We ended the day with a tour of the Guinness Brewery (1759). We headed to the top floor (7th) for a pint and then made our way down through the exhibits to the ground floor. The brewery is the #1 tourist attraction in the country and the Book of Kells is second. Not sure if there's anything significant about this. 

The 3rd floor is all about the Guinness
advertising strategy. Mostly, the campaign
using animals was a bit of luck.

We all know this famous quotation.

The above video was taken from the 7th floor Guinness Rotunda. Besides the loud music and the endless pint pours the 360 degree views of Dublin are not bad either.

*It should be noted that the Guinness family has been building affordable housing in Dublin for 200 years. The housing the family first built is still in use and Guinness continues this tradition today.