It wasn't my fault that I couldn't get out of the door! I was glad to know that one. It seems like a nice neighborhood, but maybe there's some crime here. We have a lock that must be done with a key from the inside as well as out. I was able to leave the house shortly after my last blog entry.
Dave told me about an article he read by a city planner, calling Dublin an example of exactly what you shouldn't do while building a city. The way it's set up is pretty bizarre. It's extremely easy to get lost in, because none of the roads are straight. They wind around without you noticing, which can be very confusing after a pint. Especially since I don't drink very much at home, my tolerance is definitely worth mocking, and one pint is definitely the limit if I want to make it back to the right bus stop.
There's a river dividing Dublin, called the Liffy. It's fairly small--much smaller than the Willamette--it's probably about 30 feet across. Since it's so small, there's not as much of a sense of division on either side of the river as there is in Portland, but still, there is some. On the north side of the Liffy, there's a major road named O'Connel street. It's almost indisputably my favorite place in Dublin. It has a huge divider in the middle, with one way traffic on either side, and along the divider, there are six (I think) huge statues erected to important figures in Irish history. The first is O'Connel, after whom the street is named. There are several in between dedicated to people that I don't know who they are, and the last one, close to a mile from the Liffy, is a statue of Parnell. It was driving me crazy trying to remember who he was, until finally I realized, he's the political figure that Stephen Daedalus's' family argued about so fervently! About half way up O'Connel is the spire. It's probably 10-15 feet in diameter at the bottom, and raises up to the height of about 60 stories, all silver and ending at a point. Since the highest building in Dublin is around 15 stories, that's quite high. Apparently it was a millennium project, and the Dubliners don't think much of it. I saw in pictures or the revolutionary days, there used to be a pillar there. Dave said that it was a tribute to some British officer (named Nelson, I think), and the IRA blew it up in the 70's. O'Connel street merges into another street, where the Garden of Remembrance is located. It's a fairly big garden with a huge pool in the middle shaped like a cross. At the tip, there are stairs leading up to another pool with a statue of swans and men rising from the water, overlaying a huge pole with an Irish flag. The Garden is dedicated to the remembrance of those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom.
The nationalism here is pretty incredible. It's something that I was thinking about a lot before I left too, how absurd it seems to me. The nationalism here is no less absurd than in America, I think. I have to wonder, are the Irish people really afforded more liberties now than the Scottish people? I doubt it. Of course, it's a question of principle--that the English people should not have the ability to govern the destiny of the Irish people. But still, there's something very Camus-like about this whole thing. With an obviously distinct culture, why does the government seem that important. Not to mention that one of the first things that the Irish Parlament did after coming to power was pass a bill effectively censoring all major literature. The Irish people refused to fight in WW2, and since then, it seems, the government has been doing its best to show that they're not isolationists anymore. Joining the EU, hopping on the Eurail system, converting to the Euro when England wouldn't. But still, Irish people for the most part speak English, they drive on the left side of the road, and there are fish and chips joints every few blocks.
Another thing that surprised me was that the Irish Gaelic language is still very much alive. Apparently, they teach it in school, beginning in Kindergarten. Dave told me that very few Dubliners speak it, but that in the country side, it's often the predominant language.
Despite O'Connel housing the post office, the Spire, and the statues, there's not very much on it as far as stores or shops. It has three McDonals, 2 Burgerkings, a Pennys, and various other things that I could see in America. South of the Liffy is the Temple Bar district, and that's where things get interesting in that department. Dave turned me on to a pub called the Porterhouse. They have a huge menu of beers from all over the world. Yesterday I tried a Russian beer! It was kind of so-so.
I went to the Writers' Museum on the second day, which was great. I saw Yeats' autograph, and Joyce's too. The highlight for me was seeing James Joyce's piano, which I actually got to touch. It was a pretty neat experience. I had to chuckle though, there was a little note by it saying something like "One can tell that Joyce's priorities were not quite right, since he bought this piano new at a time that his family was in financial hardship." I really wished that my dad were with me to share that one, since I don't think it would seem as funny to anyone else.
The next day, I went to the James Joyce center, which was fairly mediocre. There's a museum a little south of Dublin, but it's only open April through September (NOOO!). They had a couple of short documentaries about Joyce's life, one of which was about Joyce and the National Library of Ireland. I hadn't really had any desire to go there, but after I found out that a major episode in Ulysses is set there, I was somewhat interested. When I found out that the reading room is the place where Joyce and Yeats were first introduced, I HAD to go. As soon as I was done in the Joyce center, I high tailed it down to the library. As I approached, there were huge signs with Yeats' face on it saying "A life's work" or some other mundane aphorism like that. It turns out that the library happens to be having a full on exhibit on the work of Yeats--for free! Inside, I saw a lock of his hair, his spectacles, and several handwritten copies of his poems; originals, not photocopies, with lines crossed out and other words put in. It was incredible. Also, his nobel medal.
After that, I preceded into the readers room, where Joyce and Yeats were introduced, and also where the Scilla and Carybdis episode of Ulysses takes place. That was pretty amazing too. After that, I had my first pint to celebrate one of the most amazing days of my life.
Since then I haven't done too much exciting, although just taking the city in is interesting. I'm going everywhere on foot, which makes for some nice little-things kind of sight seeing. I walked over to the "the beach", by which I mean not really a beach, but it was nice. I also saw the War Memorial Gardens, which were beautiful, but I would imagine they'd be a lot more amazing in the Spring when the flowers bloom. I think I've got a day in Dublin on April 4th or so, and I'll try to check it out then.
Today I'm headed to Dublin Castle, and to the National Museum of Decorative Arts. My feet are getting tired from walking everywhere, but they'd better get used to it...
