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Published: February 4th 2007
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This entry is long overdue (writing it as of 02/04/07). The trip to Ireland was wonderful. My mom, while planning the whole trip (England, Bahrain, Ireland), found out that the cost to stay over a day in Dublin didn't add any to the price of the airline ticket. So, it was a great opportunity for us to drop in and visit cousin Thea and for mom to see Dublin.
We arrived on an overcast day, but the approach of the plane was close enough to the ground to see the shoreline, some Irish countryside, and parts of Dublin. After arriving at the airport we stopped by the ATM to get some Euros and then took the 476 double-decker bus to St. Stephen's Green (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen's_Green). We sat on the top deck one row from the front, which is usually a lot more interesting than the bottom deck. By this time the weather was vacillating between rain and drizzle.
Our first stop was by Thea's office... however she wasn't in at the time. So we walked around trying to find the hotel. After asking a few people along the way, we arrived at the Hilton next to the Grand Canal. The
hotel looked well designed, clean, and comfortable. Typically, though, it overcharged for Internet services (I think around 15 Euros/day) -- however, I recently found out that gold and platinum members will now have complimentary Internet access at Hilton and Doubletree hotels -- which is long overdue 😊.
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/DUBDUHN-Hilton-Dublin-hilton/index.do
We then walked back to St. Stephens Green. Along the way I showed my mom some of the colorful and heavily brassed doors. As Damien explained to me on my last trip to Dublin, the Irish take pride in the design and color of their doors and particularly the brass on them. It is kind of a status symbol. Maybe the way we Americans obsess about our lawns.
This time Thea was in her office, and she was surprised and happy to see us. We were also very happy to see her. We spent some time talking and catching up and then she gave us the grand tour of her office building, which was a Georgian house (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_architecture) built in the mid-1700s and is, I think, five stories high. We even ventured up into the attack and had a pretty good view over the Green.
Thea had to
Somewhere Over Ireland
Between Dublin and Shannon stay late for the day to host of meeting of the Irish Historical Society, so mom and I toured around Dublin for awhile. We first walked to the Green, but it had been closed for the night as it was getting dark. We then walked up Grafton Street, we is a pedestrian street and shopping district. It was very lively with a great atmosphere. We then walked to Trinity College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College%2C_Dublin) -- I love the name and it has a great campus. While there, we went to see the Book of Kells (http://www.tcd.ie/info/trinity/bookofkells/) at the Old Library Building. They were interesting, and more interesting when reading about the history of them and how they were made. As part of the charge to see the Book of Kells is a trip through the Long Room (http://www.tcd.ie/Library/heritage/longroom.php) which is just awesome and wonderfully designed.
After visiting the Book of Kells and the Long Room, we were pretty hungry and started looking for something Irish. We eventually found Bruxelles Pub right off of Grafton Street. We ordered some traditional food... I think I had lamb. Whatever the case, it was very hearty and good. A perfect meal after milling around in drizzle
and cold for a good portion of the day. The atmosphere at the pub is great and, as all Dublin pubs, there is no smoking. 😊 😊 😊 So, we sat and enjoyed our dinner.
http://www.dublinks.com/index.cfm/loc/11/pt/0/spid/728B0368-1A03-496B-83D99B737D38C5C7.htm
It was then close to the Irish Historical Society meeting and so we heading by to Thea's office. She had invited us earlier to attend the meeting if we were interested. Mom and I both were... the topic for the evening was Nineteenth- and early Twentieth-Century Missionaries. Ireland has been active in missionary work for centuries... traveling Irish monks (men of the peregrination) were instrumental in spreading Christianity across Europe back in the 5th and 6th centuries. But this was about the 19th and 20th century missionaries, both abroad and within Ireland. However, this time there were political issues related to Home Rule, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
One of the discussants was Irish and the other was English. The respondent, I think, was Irish. The society itself is made up of some of the top Irish historians and professors in Ireland.
Interestingly, Presbyterians were brought up often at the meeting. They co-ordinated with Scottish and other Presbyterians around the world in a
worldwide mission effort... sending out missionaries far and wide. Often, the single female missionaries were afforded equalities and respect that were not necessarily given at home in Ireland. It was also a great outlet for both men and women with wanderlust. The external missionary efforts, based on what I could gather from the presentations, discussions, and a little lively debate, were more or less for good reasons.
However, the internal missionaries, particularly the protestant street missionaries, really stirred the pot and their motives were questionable at best. There was a lot of tension between the Home Rulers and the Unionists (the Home Rulers wanting independence from the British Empire and the Unionists wanting to stay under the Crown). The Home Rulers were mostly Catholic, though there were a good number of protestant Home Rulers, while the Unionists were almost exclusively Protestant.
Well, the Protestant street missionaries were apparently a little confrontational and vocal. They probably attacked the Catholic Church (maybe the way some evangelicals here in the U.S. still, unfortunately, do) and were a little bothersome. And, of course, the motives of these street missionaries was in question since Unionists and the British Empire for centuries had tried
St. Stephen's Green
From the outside looking in. to convert the Catholics over to their side (partly as efforts to gain control of all of the Irish).
During the meeting, mom was nodding in and out of sleep as we had gotten very little sleep in the past 24 hours.
In the end, it was a wonderful experience. Even in college, I enjoyed going to meetings where the professors would go deep with their discussions and, if lucky, debate with each other about them. This gave me both and was related to Irish history, which in my previous travels and studies had already gained and introductory knowledge.
After the meeting Thea, mom, and I walked to the Hilton's own little pub, where Damien met us for pints. We talked for quite awhile about home, family, Ireland, Damien (this was the first time mom had met him), and other things. It was a great evening.
The next morning we left the hotel early, but as you can read in my mom's blog entry of the experience, we forgot our passports and I had to run a mile or so back to the hotel to get them. We did make it to the airport in time.
Probably the saddest part of this trip was that, either at the Dublin or Shannon security, Duckie got accidentally confiscated by security. They do thorough carry-on bag searches and in the process removed Duckie, Paddington, and Avis. It looks like they forgot to put Duckie bag and I didn't notice him missing until I arrived back in the States. I did send an email to the Lost & Found of both airports with no success. 😞
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Celeste J.
non-member comment
Poor Duckie
The only effort you put into finding duckie were two emails? I thought you loved duckie enough to at least make a phone call or stage a sit in until duckie is recovered! :)