Saying Goodbye to Fricot Before I Leave for My Trip to Ireland
And Saying Goodbye to Sarriette Too...
My First Lunch In Ireland: Bangers And Mash
Entrance to the Joyce Family Home Where James Joyce Lived in 1902
Keel, My Guide for the James Joyce Walking Tour,Standing Next to a Statue of Joyce (1882-1941)
View of O'Connell Street, Dublin, On My First Night In Ireland Well, I am safe and sound in Ireland.
I got to the airport with three hours to spare (as recommended), and then boarded my flight to Philadelphia at 6:00 p.m. When I got into the States, I had two different songs playing in my mind: "Philadelphia Freedom" and "The Streets of Philadelphia". I tried to get my Mom a postcard, but they wouldn't take debit, only cash, and I had no American money. The connecting flight at 9:05 p.m. was a little delayed, otherwise no problem. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but that wasn't possible right away because they decided to serve us dinner at 10:30 p.m. (which, in Dublin time, was 3:30 a.m.). I did manage to sleep 3 hours before we arrived in Ireland around 8:30 a.m. local time. The flight was the most turbulent one since the one to the ACA conference in Fredericton. (I am sure a lot of my readers from LAC who were at the ACA will remember that flight!)
I waited forever for my luggage at the caroussel, and it was among the last pieces to arrive. I was relieved to see it finally show up. At the gate, the tourist information officer did little to answer my questions, and instead just presented me with dozens of more options of things to do in Ireland, passes to buy, etc. So in the end, I didn't buy the Dublin Pass right away and simply bussed my way to the hotel. She actually dissuaded me from buying the Dublin Pass, saying that nine days in Dublin was too much, and that I really should get out of the city to see the "Real Ireland". I had my doubts, because I think there is too much to do in the city...
I got to the airport with three hours to spare (as recommended), and then boarded my flight to Philadelphia at 6:00 p.m. When I got into the States, I had two different songs playing in my mind: "Philadelphia Freedom" and "The Streets of Philadelphia". I tried to get my Mom a postcard, but they wouldn't take debit, only cash, and I had no American money. The connecting flight at 9:05 p.m. was a little delayed, otherwise no problem. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but that wasn't possible right away because they decided to serve us dinner at 10:30 p.m. (which, in Dublin time, was 3:30 a.m.). I did manage to sleep 3 hours before we arrived in Ireland around 8:30 a.m. local time. The flight was the most turbulent one since the one to the ACA conference in Fredericton. (I am sure a lot of my readers from LAC who were at the ACA will remember that flight!)
I waited forever for my luggage at the caroussel, and it was among the last pieces to arrive. I was relieved to see it finally show up. At the gate, the tourist information officer did little to answer my questions, and instead just presented me with dozens of more options of things to do in Ireland, passes to buy, etc. So in the end, I didn't buy the Dublin Pass right away and simply bussed my way to the hotel. She actually dissuaded me from buying the Dublin Pass, saying that nine days in Dublin was too much, and that I really should get out of the city to see the "Real Ireland". I had my doubts, because I think there is too much to do in the city...
The hotel Troy is staying at is the Jury's Inn on Parnell Street, the same hotel where my colleagues Lorraine and Marcelle stayed at in 2008, but (as I discovered later) a different branch. We will stay at this hotel two nights only. Then, Troy's training will be over, and we will head out to the Schoolhouse Hotel, south of the Liffey river.
When I opened the hotel room door, I was startled to see that Troy was still in his room, and Troy was surprised to see me arrive so soon. His training session was only scheduled for 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, and it was about 11:00 a.m. by the time I arrived. It was good to see him again, even though he was going to be in his training session all day until 10:00 p.m. tonight. And needless to say, with only 3 hours sleep, I wanted to sleep away my jetlag, which is a definite no-no. So, we both got ready, he went to his work, and I slowly made my way to a restaurant for a bite to eat. My breakfast only consisted of a turnover on the plane, so I was more than a little hungry by lunch time.
I went to a sports bar near the hotel and ordered what I thought would be traditional Irish fare: bangers and mash. This was two huge beef sausages on a large bed of mashed potatoes, smothered in beef gravy with onions. Yum! I made sure not to have any alcohol or sugar because the jet lag is making me tired enough as it is.
After lunch, I successfully located the James Joyce Centre on North St. George Street. When I inquired when the Joyce walking tour would begin, they said it was in 5 minutes. What perfect timing! Our tour guide was Keel, a young PhD candidate with a heavy Irish accent. Turns out he is from Louisiana and has only been here 4 years, but there is no trace of a Southern accent at all. He says his family and friends constantly tease him. (Funny, I've been in Gatineau for 12 years, and I don't think I picked up a Québécois accent). Keel said that we would soon begin the Dubliners walking tour. I said that I was hoping it would be the Ulysses walking tour because that was the novel I had reread recently. Although I had read Dubliners, this was some 20 years ago, and I hardly remember it. In any event, since we were only two participants -- me, and a 50ish man from Arkansas -- Keel added a lot of the Ulysses tour into our Dubliners tour. It was incredibly informative and I had an absolute blast. The tour, which usually lasts 75 minutes, lasted 120. Along the way, I saw the Jesuit school Joyce attended as an adolescent, the house the Joyce family lived in in 1902, the house on Eccles Street where the fictional characters of Leopold and Molly Bloom live in in Ulysses, the hotel that appears at the end of the short story "The Dead", a statue of Father Matthew which had its fingers blown off during the Easter 1916 uprising and a statue of James Joyce. At the end of the walking tour, I made my way back to the James Joyce Centre (which I found on my own without a map), and bought a few items from the gift shop: a copy of the one play ("Exiles") and the poems that James Joyce wrote, and a mug that quotes part of Molly Bloom's monologue: "and yes I said yes I will yes". When the cashier rang in my purchases, it took her forever to find the pricetag for Exiles and Poems. "I'm sorry," she said, "No one's ever bought this book before." I had to laugh!
I came back to the hotel and brought my purchases to the hotel room. I still have about 4 hours to kill before Troy gets back from his training, and I think that with my jet lag, I will have been in bed for a long time by then. So, I am going to go out for dinner and call it an early night. Troy is still out for training tomorrow, this time from 8:00 to 1:00, so I may decide to visit my dead people tomorrow. Most famous Irish people were expatriates, so there are very few famous Irish people buried in Ireland, but I will try to visit the tombs of Saint Valentine, Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels), Gerard Manley Hopkins (Catholic poet), Michael Collins (Irish rebel), Charles Stewart Parnell (Irish politician), Sheridan Le Fanu (Victorian Gothic writer), Sean MacBride (founder of Amnesty International) and John Millington Synge (author of "Playboy of the Western World").
When Troy is free some evening, we would both love to do the "Evening of Food, Folk and Fairies", the "Dublin Literary Pub Crawl" and the evening of music at the Cobblestone Pub.
So, that's it for now and I am off for dinner and a pint before bedtime.
Cheers,
M.
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