Dublin

Dublin

Given that I couldn't open a portal onto 1974, the year my family left Dublin, I did the best thing I could  and opened a window onto 1916. Same century..

Our coach took us to Dublin, where we had to stop at Phoenix park to use 'the portaloos at the Papal cross'. That sounded  profane to me, so I wandered off into the nettles instead. The Papal cross is some height! Pope JP II visited Dublin in 1979, that's what the cross is about. Also taking place in Phoenix Park was Bloom, something like the Irish equivalent of the Chelsea Flower show, now in its 18th year. 

In Dublin centre, I stayed on the coach for the orientation tour. We saw both cathedrals, St Patrick's and Christchurch.  I remembered some places, such as St Stephen's Green, a large public park where our mother would sometimes drop us off to play when she went for appointments. (Clearly it was ok to do so back then. I don't remember any dodgy strangers. All I recall was playing with sculptures).  There was so much I'd have liked to do and see in Dublin, but we had so little time, because the majority of travellers wanted to leave early for our final night at a hotel outside the city centre.

I chose, when we were stopped at last, to walk through the quad of Trinity College (TCD) and over O'Connell bridge to O'Connell stree. The GPO is still a post office of some magnificence, as well as housing a permanent exhibition commemorating the Easter Rising of 1916, when Rebels took over the post office, and held their position for several days. (They did not achieve their aim of establishing a Republic until the late 1940s, and they weren't all singing from the same hymn sheet to begin with, but that's for another day). The leaders were rounded up and executed at Kilmainham Gaol by the British, which turned the tide of southern Irish opinion against the British.I found it a very good exhibition, with photos, audioguides, original artifacts, and so on. There was a film shown in the round, with the camera angles zooming in an out, which was somewhat disorienting, but I wasn't going to close my eyes! I must have spent about two hours there, followed by a drink in the cafe. I'd say that this was another sobering visit, but made easier by the fact that I had time to absorb all the information and didn't have to discuss it with anyone else. 

Afterwards, I popped into Easons, the bookstore which is still there, in the same place as it was in January 1974, when I went in to buy a red leatherette autograph book for seven new pence. I wish I'd had time to visit the other bookshop, Hodges Figgis, but no, I trotted back through TCD to Nassau street and the coach. Kitty had been to the National Gallery, which she loved, and had made it along to Grafton Street, a shopping street. I'd wanted to get to Arnott's department store, where the escalators used to impress me by going down as well as up, but there wasn't time! Managed a quick shot of the Halfpenny bridge from O'Connell bridge. 

Then we were off to Tallaght, and our hotel, which tuned out to be much lovelier than expected. How I wished we could have had an extra day to take the tram or bus into Dublin on Saturday, and explore the city at our leisure. Still, there will be other occasions for that.