Anna Does Ireland, March 21-28

I had a wonderful week in the Land of U2/The Cranberries, when I went to visit Jen, my former roommate from Toronto who is now doing med school in Dublin. March was a crazy month, first Belgium, then France, and a few days later, Ireland. But I've been wanting to visit Ireland since I got into The Cranberries (over a decade ago) so when I finally got to go it was one of the most exciting holidays ever! I flew Aer Lingus (who thinks that sounds dirty?) to Dublin and arrived in the evening. I found Jen without a problem, so the journey was rather uneventful. But I was in Dublin!

Day 2 - March 22
Jen was very busy with school, so I did my own touristy thing during the day. I ventured out into the city equipped with a map, which did me no good since I ended up in St. Stephen's Green when I wanted to go to Temple Bar. If you know Dublin, you know why this is funny. They're in opposite directions.

St. Stephen's Green...
















and the Oscar Wilde memorial that's there...
















...because Oscar Wilde's house is just across the road from St. Stephen's green. The building is now some school and not a museum; there's a plaque on the building saying that Oscar lived there but that's about it. The receptionist was really cool though, she said I could walk around and pretend I was there to see the exhibition (I think it's an art school).
















The James Joyce statue near O'Connell St.
















Some of the weird buildings on the streets of Dublin
















It would appear that every group, no matter how random, has a society.




















Dublin Castle. The tower used to be a tax office, and Bram Stoker wrote Dracula here while he was working for the blood sucking vampires.
















Jen in front of the Castle's main gates. In the background you can see a statue of justice, but there are a few things wrong with her. She's not wearing a blindfold (because the artist thought she was too pretty to blindfold), her scales tip when it rains, and she faces the Castle courtyard, which means her back is to the Irish people.




















On Grafton St., Dublin's famous shopping street.
















Day 3
Armed with the map (although by now I had a good grip on Dublin), I headed off for another day of Dublin's finest.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, dedicated to the patron saint of Ireland, Bono.




















In the afternoon I decided to take a tour of the city. The tour of choice was one of those ex-military vehicles that drive on land, float on water (like Toronto's hippo bus). The theme was a Viking tour, to see old Dublin (the Vikings are responsible for naming Dublin). Recently archaeologists uncovered the remains of the largest Viking settlement outside Scandinavia in the city centre of Dublin. The city built a bloc of monstrous, modern buildings on that site. No country's perfect.

No explanation required.

















Bono owns the penthouse.




















What's the difference between Bono and Christ?
Christ doesn't think he is Bono.

U2's recording studio. The word on the street is the studio's busy these days...
















At the Royal College of Surgeons where Jen does med school. The whole week she wanted to give me a tour and show me corpses. I refused. She didn't understand why I didn't want to see corpses on my holiday in Ireland. I guess when you're surrounded by something you become so blase to it you don't understand why others might think it strange. I feel that way about hookers, drugs and bicycles.
















Day 4 - Weekend in Belfast!
We decided to go to Belfast for the weekend, since it's only a 2 hour train ride away. I was very impressed that Jen was brave enough to venture to a city with such a turbulent and violent past, and stay in a 10 person hostel room on top of that! We had a blast though, and learned loads about Irish history.

To get to the train station in Dublin we had to cross the famous Ha' Penny Bridge, because it cost half a penny to cross it back in the day. It was restored by Harland and Wolff (the company responsible for the Titanic) so it's good to go for years to come. Comforting.
















Our lunch spot.
















Belfast's beautiful city hall...
















and we got a free tour. Even prettier on the inside.




















A few Black Cab drivers do tours of West Belfast and the peace line, so Jen and I decided to go and see where all the action took place.

This is the peace line; it's a huge wall dividing the Catholic/Protestant neighborhood. The two groups do not mix in this area at all. The wall is still in use, and the gates are shut every night so angry individuals don't go to the other side and beat the crap out of someone. The gates are automatic and can also be closed from any police station immediately. I was shocked to see this. I asked Patrick, our driver, if there was any talk of taking the wall down at some point, since everyone's part of the EU now. "Not at all".
















People get together and paint these murals throughout the neighborhood, a true community event. This is a special mural with a neato trick; the riffle follows you around no matter where you stand! Isn't that fun? What should we paint next week.
















The backyards that run directly along the peace line have covered backyards; people still throw things like homemade bombs at each other.
















More murals. My stunned face says it all. Patrick also made the point that you can get used to anything really. It's just another way of life.
















But despite its turbulent past, Belfast is a great city. The ceasefire was only broken once, in 1997, and now it's a very safe city to visit (statistically you're safer in Belfast than London). And despite the troubles, the people are lovely; very friendly and helpful. If you ever get the chance to go to Belfast, I highly recommend it. Coincidentally, we were there the day Northern Ireland go their own government, which was really cool. I'm happy for the people. But it was funny talking to the locals about it. Before the decision was announced they were really skeptical about it happening, especially since this has been in the works for a long time. Most people were pretty unenthusiastic because they just didn't think it would happen.
















Belfast's Big Fish, which is covered in tiles depicting scenes from the city's history. Jen and I decided to kiss the fish, and we started a trend. People who were taking pictures after us started doing the same thing. If you ever kiss Belfast's Fish, you know who started it. It'll be like making out with me, indirectly.
















Dinner time.
















Belfast's Hotel Europe has the dubious honor of being Europe's most bombed hotel. The IRA decided they would bring the bombs to the journalists so they wouldn't have to leave their hotel.
















Day 5 - Giant's Causeway (Northern Ireland)
On our second day in Northern Ireland we decided to check out the Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's on the northern coast of the country, and we drove through many small towns on our way there. One of the towns we passed had a population of 600, and 14 bars. Another tiny town had two churches, but the biggest building of all was a pub. Another town had Ireland's smallest church, big enough to hold only 3 people. Apparently the groom didn't care about a church wedding, but the bride was so set on it that the groom built one just for the occasion (big enough for the couple and a priest). It's still licensed to do weddings.
















We also stopped in Carrick-a-Rede...
















and crossed the famous rope bridge, so much fun!






























We finally made it to the Giant's Causeway, seen in the background.
















It's a bunch of hexagonal shaped rocks, stacked together. Back in the day, the Irish giant Finn McCool built the causeway to walk over to Scotland and fight the giant Benandonner. When he got there, he saw that Benandonner was much bigger than him, and quickly went back to Ireland. Still, Benandonner decided to chase McCool, so to protect him, McCool's wife covered him in a blanket, put him in a crib, and pretended that he was a baby. When Benandonner saw the size of the infant, he was terrified of how huge the father must be, and ran back to Scotland, smashing the causeway as he went. That's why the same rock formations exist across the water in Scotland today. If you're a skeptic, you can chose to believe that lava made these, but then you're boring.













































The giant's organ
















Find Anna
















On the way back we stopped at the ruins of the Dunluce Castle, Ireland's most famous wedding pic destination; 2 year waiting list.
















Back in Belfast we grabbed a drink at Kelly's Pub (oldest pub in Belfast). The dude standing outside started talking to us when he saw we were tourist and gave us the history of the pub. This is where the United Irishmen first met (the group that eventually morphed into the IRA). His arms were covered with tattoos, and it was clear he hated the English and probably did a few jobs with the IRA himself. He told us how he was a professional thief, or "socialism at work", but when we were inside he came and sat and talked to us, and when we had to leave and catch our train, he walked us out and showed us the quickest route. As we were leaving he shouted "May you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows your dead!" Lovely chap.
















Day 6 - Back in Dublin
I went to see the Book of Kells, an illustrated manuscript of the four gospels produced by Celtic monks around 800AD. It's now kept in Trinity College. I can see where UofT's Trinity got it's name.






























In front of the famous Molly Malone statue, based on the song that is Dublin's anthem.
This guy was great. He saw me taking a picture of the statue, and sat me down beside him, put the hat on me, and gave me the drum. Then he told me where the best place for lunch is (Abbey Hotel; Jen and I went there for dinner the next day). All the locals passing by knew him and would stop to chat.















In Dublin's fair city,
where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive alive oh!"


Off to Ireland's #1 tourist attraction






























I decided to keep the theme alive, and after my pint of Guinness at the brewery I headed off to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery...















... where I was selected to be one of the tasters. So: 1 pint of Guinness, 5 shots of whiskey, and for my trouble, I was given a glass of my whiskey pick.
















Then I walked home along the River Liffey. The tallest building in this pic is the Bono owned Clarence Hotel.
















Ha' Penny Bridge...















and by night
















In front of Temple Bar in Temple Bar (Dublin's pub district)
















Sadly, this was my landmark most of the time.






























Day 7 - Day trip to the County Wicklow
I decided to see some of the Irish country side, so I signed up for a day trip to the Wicklow mountains. On our way there we stopped by a small fishing town with wild seals! They were wild enough to bite your hand off, but tame enough to know that people bring food. They just stared at us as long as we were there to stare back at them.
















Glendalough, an ancient monastery founded in the 6th Century. It was destroyed in 1398 by the English.

















































This man was 106 when he died




















The oldest Celtic cross on the site



































The glacial valley in the area
















The Guinness family estate in the Wicklow mountains. The beach was made for the film Saving Private Ryan; loads of others were shot here as well e.g. Braveheart






























Day 8 - Last day in Dublin
My flight didn't leave until the evening, so I got up early and decided to visit the Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) for another history lesson. The prison was located outside the city centre, so I had to take public transit (double decker bus!). But because they drive on the wrong side of the road, I kept getting confused about which side of the road I should be waiting on; the fact that I didn't know exactly where the prison was didn't help either.

There are 100 cells in the prison; during the great famine the population reached a peak of 9000 in 1850. People were committing random crimes just so they would end up in prison and get fed. Eventually the criminals were sent to Australia to ease the problem. Others moved to Toronto (the population of the city was 20 000 at that time; then 35 000 Irish showed up).
















The men who played a key role in the fight for Ireland's independence from English rule and responsible for the 1916 Easter Rising, including Patrick Pearse, were held in these cells.
















They were executed in the courtyard. Their execution directly led to the mass revolts and Ireland's independence.
















The central post office. Patrick Pearse read Ireland's declaration of independence from its front steps before being arrested by English troops. The giant spike in the middle of the road is modern art. Dubliners call it the stiletto in the ghetto.
















The seat of the Irish parliament, before it was forced to vote itself out of existence by the English. Now it's the Bank of Ireland.















That was my trip to Ireland. Jen, Guinness, Whiskey, Bono stalking, mountains and history. Where will I end up next?