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Published: June 22nd 2008
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Dublin Post Office
Note the bullet holes in the column. Saturday, June 21
Dublin & D’Arcy
As I mentioned earlier, we started the day with rain. What’s the best thing to do when it rains? Wash clothes. That’s our new routine. So, we drove back to the launderette that Jackie had spotted as we approached the hotel Friday afternoon. We’ve gotten pretty good at this over the last several weeks. It is a great feeling to start another week with clean clothes.
When we returned to the hotel it was still raining. So, we rested a bit, uploaded the last blog and waited for a break in the storm. Finally, it slowed enough by 2:00pm to drive into Dublin for a look around. Since we had rooms booked in the downtown area for Sunday-Monday, we set that for our first destination.
We walked around and found some interesting, historical sites. One is the Dublin Post Office, on O’Connell Street. This is the site where Padraic H. Pearse proclaimed Independence for Ireland from Great Briton, in 1916.
Padraic and a few others held out in the post office for about five days and then surrendered. Later he was executed for this rebellion. His execution ignited the Irish to rise up and fight
The Dublin Spire
Some call this Spike in the Dike, others call it the Stiletto in the Ghetto. for their independence. The post office columns still show the marks of the bullets where the battle took place.
We took in a few of the other sites like the statures along the main boulevard. Plus, we discovered the Millennium Spire. This is a 390 ft stainless steel spike in the median. It apparently has little meaning and was meant to be built for the year 2000. But, it was not completed until 2003!
We tried to find the Old Jameson Distillery, which appeared to be a short walk in town. But, as we walked we realized that all of Dublin is not rich. It got seedier the farther we walked. We decided to visit the distillery from the tour bus on Sunday instead.
We returned to the hotel and took a world-class nap. It was good idea since we had planned to attend an Irish performance at the hotel later. It was called the “Celtic Nights.” The stars are well known Irish performers.
The main character was a singer that has performed on Broadway. With him was a renowned, old comic name Joe Cuddy, Ireland’s funniest man. There were also eight dancers and a fiddler. For us it was
Padriac Pearse
This is where he surrendered. the best entertainment that we’ve had since we arrived on this long vacation.
After the performance, we headed into the hotel bar where they had a good singer doing American and Irish tunes. Everyone was dancing, drinking and having a good time; including my little lassie, Jackie and me.
That’s it for Saturday.
As a special feature for this blog I am adding a few photos of the D’Arcys that we have discovered along the way. Once I checked the phone book and found a page and one-half of listings for D’Arcy or Darcy. We have clearly made our mark here. In most cases the name is associated with businesses, such as restaurants or law offices.
And finally, Saturday was the longest day of the year. We took a photo of the sky at 11:00pm on Friday night that proves how light it was.
That’s all folks, Tom & Jackie
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