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Published: June 20th 2006
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Heeeeere's Mother!
The rendezvous went off without a hitch. 3 days in Dublin, Ireland.
I haven't updated this blog in forever, mostly due to the lack of proper internet connectivity. Right now I am back in Krakow, in my favorite internet cafe, and I am going to attempt to catch up on the blogging.
So. Should I start with the complaining or write about something fun? Ok, something neutral, more like a comment.
Being in Dublin Ireland after 3 months of traveling in non-English speaking has been REALLY strange for me. I hear English on the streets when just a week before folks were speaking German, and before that Polish, Estonian, Finnish...
I see signs in the streets in English and there's a teeny tiny split second when I am turning the words around in my head trying to figure out the "English meaning". This is automatic; the English words don't register immediately as English because ever since I left California, everything has needed a translation.
And then there is the driving on the left side of the street business... What a pain in the ass.
The above are the neutral comments. Ok, the last one is a bit judgmental.
Dublin Castle
View out the window, through mesh curtains. * * *
Mother and I purchased the "Dublin Pass" for 3 days for our stay in town. It cost approx 53 Euros and I am sad to say that we did not get our money's worth. It's just too difficult to go see enough of the attractions because they are all open for the same business hours (9 or 10am until 5 or 6pm) and most of them are guided tours, meaning even when we arrive early, it may mean waiting until a big enough group has formed. We wasted a lot of time walking from one place to another (and getting lost) and waiting for tours to start.
I feel slightly ripped off and I would not recommend that card. It's just too stressful to try and squeeze in all these things to earn back that money, and in the end, feeling lame that we didn't reach the goal. Oh, and another thing, the 3 day pass is NOT based upon the 24 hour clock but rather calendar days. So we began our first day in the afternoon of the 15th but we did not get to use the card until the afternoon of the 18th
Traditional Irish Dinner
or so they tried to tell us. but rather midnight of the 17th. Blah.
So what did we see in Dublin?? I am listing them in order of "worthiness" here:
1. House 29,
2. Jameson Distillary,
3. Dublin Castle,
4. The Guiness Brewery,
5. Natural History Museum,
6. Archealogical Museum,
7. The famous Jail (forgot the name!) and last and least,
8. The Chinmeny Observation Tower.
House 29 is a house that's restored middle class merchant's house which had 4 or so floors and we heard explanations of each room, what the servants did, what the owners did, why they had certain furnishings, etc. It was rather interesting!
Did you know the origin of the term "Bell boy"? In the old days, the owners of the house would ring bells to summon the servants. When there are a lot of noises going on during dinner time or when there are parties, the servants might not hear the bell as they are running around and doing their work. So there would be a little kid (boy) sitting in the kitchen near the bells and listening for which ones are ringing and relaying that to the servants.
I don't know if
that's true, but that's what they told us on the tour.
A bunch of other tidbits, such as why there was a shelf hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen. It's for storing left over meats and keeping it away from the rats.
And do you know what you can do to preserve eggs? (NO, not the Chinese way of buring them in lye and horse manure...) You can boil fish bones until the gelatin comes out and then coat the eggs with that to preserve them for up to a year! That's pretty darn smart.
So that was house 29. It's one of those things that perhaps I would not have thought to go had it not been free with the Dublin Pass..
The Jameson Distillary was the next cool thing. The tour guide there had a lot of gags he had to tell (I'm sure he was sick of them) but we got a lot about the history of the place and we even got free samples. *burp*. Mother bought a glass, I bought 3 little bottles for giving away to friends when I come back.
Then the rest of the list
Jameson Distillary
Sitting in front of a big copper... thing. was so-so. The castle was alright. I have to admit, I wasn't so prepared for the serious Irish history lessons so it was a bit overwhelming (and in one ear out the other). All I remember was the room that we were in and the guide said, here is where was brought to after he was seriously wounded in the Easter uprising. What was Easter Uprising? My bad, I didn't know at the time, but it has to do with their struggle for independence from England. When the authorities realized that couldn't be nursed back to health and walk himself to in front of firing squad, they decided to carry out the execution anyway by driving him to the jail (#7 of the visited list), tying him to a chair, and shooting him dead that way. Brutal.
The Guiness brewery tour... It must be like Disneyland for the drinkers, the line stretched all the way out the factory door, went for 50 yards, and turned the corner. I don't drink, it was so so. And besides, I've already seen a brewery tour, back when I worked, so this wasn't so much new and interesting.
The museums... I think if we hadn't been so tired, they would've been great. But Mother and I were running around ragged trying to catch all of the attractions that by the time we got to the museum, more walking just didn't seem like fun anymore. :-/
Then the Jail. Getting to the jail was a pain in the ass. The map I had showed a dot representing the jail on this one street, but it was actually on another! WTF. And going to this place almost got mother run over by a bus. She was jaywalking and crossed in front of the bus. They drive on the "wrong" (left) side of the street and she thought she was passing BEHIND the bus when she was actually stepping out in front of it.
The Jail wasn't as fun as Alcatrez. And they weren't selling pieces of it off as souvenirs either.
And the chinmey. Boy, that would just be the biggest waste of money if you had to pay to get up there! Basically a tower with an elevator that you can ride up and look out from. But the glass up there was dirty and the whole
thing was enclosed and hot and the guide sounded so unenthused about the whole thing... 5 minutes and we wanted to come back down.
* * *
I have mixed feelings about Dublin. I really really wanted to like it but it turned out to be a bit of a painful experience. Some cool stuff, but nothing soo spectacular that I would say, ohyeah I had such a great time, I'd love to come back to Dublin. Maybe it's best for folks who like to drink. Maybe it would be different if we didn't have to walk so much. Maybe it's different in the low season when there aren't so many tourists. Maybe if I stayed longer and got to know the ins and outs better...
On our 4th day we packed up and came back to Krakow, Poland.
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Wendy
non-member comment
clarification for your readers
Judy, you didn't explain how come you are travelling with Mother now. I know, but your adoring readers might not.