The Statue of Molly Malone in Dublin(Also Known As "The Tart With The Cart", and "Ireland's Treasure Chest")
A Patsy Stone Wannabe in Dublin...
The Martello Tower, Setting of the First Chapter of Ulysses
The Small Resort Town of Bray, Where Joyce Lived As A Child
On Your Marks, Get Set...
Rear View of the Powerscourt Estate
The Powerscourt Gardens
View of the Powerscourt Gardens
A Winged Horse
A Japanese Garden At Powerscourt
Ham Hocks And Coddle, With A Smithwick's Beer
A Patsy Stone Wannabe in Dublin...
The Martello Tower, Setting of the First Chapter of Ulysses
The Small Resort Town of Bray, Where Joyce Lived As A Child
On Your Marks, Get Set...
Rear View of the Powerscourt Estate
The Powerscourt Gardens
View of the Powerscourt Gardens
A Winged Horse
A Japanese Garden At Powerscourt
Ham Hocks And Coddle, With A Smithwick's BeerWe awoke on our own this morning without a wake-up call. It was 8:30 a.m., which I thought was very reasonable. We took our turns getting ready and got to breakfast for 9:40 a.m. Unfortunately, breakfast was a bit of a rushed affair on account of our wanting to take the tour of the region south of Dublin. We couldn't order the hot breakfast because it would take too long, so we had fruit salad, breads and hot beverages. It looks like the four whiskeys last night were just what the doctor ordered: my throat was no longer scratchy and sore; however, my cold has moved north and I am both congested and sneezy. But at least I am not feverish.
Before I continue the account of today's travels, I should tell the story the bus driver told us yesterday. In the city centre stands the statue of Molly Malone, peddling her wares. Molly sold cockels and mussels and oysters during the day, pushing her cart. At night, she alledgedly sold other wares. By all accounts, Molly was celibate. According to the bus driver, Molly would "sell a bit" here and "sell a bit" there... (Don't boo me, Nick. I just repeats them...)
Anyway, Troy and I rushed outside around 10:00 a.m., hoping to catch the shuttle bus about ten minutes away on foot, which was scheduled to depart 15 minutes from then. By the time we got to the stop, the lady in the tourist information centre informed us that we had just missed the bus by about 2 seconds. This was just the shuttle bus to get to our own bus, so I wasn't downcast. There was still the possibility of taking a 5-minute taxi cab ride to the right place to board the bus. Troy was a little out of sorts then, and I had to convince him that it wasn't a problem, and that we could still make it. In any event, I finally persuaded him to take the taxi ride, and I think he is glad that we did. We were able to meet up with the double-decker bus moments later, ready for our 11:00 a.m. departure. And, because we had taken the city hop-on hop-off bus tour this week, we were also granted a 7 euro discount on our tickets. Bonus!
So, we gradually made our way outside the city, following a course that brought us along the coast of the Liffey, on the north side. On our way, Troy saw me aim my camera outside the tour bus and snap a photo. He looked out the window and wondered why I was taking a picture of a woman. I showed him the photo I had taken: the spitting image of Patsy Stone from "Absolutely Fabulous", complete with a cut mini, a low-cut blouse, pearls, sunglasses and bouffant blonde coiffe. The resemblance was uncanny, and when I get back home, I will post it to this blog.
Making our way south of the city, in county Wicklow, we hugged the coast of Dublin Bay, getting a great view of Sandymount, the area where Leopold Bloom practices onanism on the beach in Ulysses, as well as the distant crag of Howth Head, which figures prominently in Molly Bloom's monologue. We also saw a house in which Joyce himself lived. As we got into the Victorian seaside town of Bray, we noticed some brave souls swimming in the surf, on this rather chilly late September day. Then we got a few shots of the Martello tower where the opening chapter of Ulysses is set. But despite all these Joycean associations, this tour was not exclusively of my choosing. The destination of the tour was Powerscourt Castle, where Troy was eager to see the site of the Celtic Women concert he has at home on his DVD. So it was a win-win situation. The bus driver also showed us Sinéad O'Connor's house in Bray, and declared that she was in at that moment because her car was parked in her driveway. We had a distant view of what he referred to as the Hollywood Hills outside Bray, where a number of prominent celebrities have homes, including Mel Gibson, Bono from U2, The Edge from U2, Enya, Maeve Binchy and a number of other American celebrities whose names escape me.
We got to Powerscourt around 1:00 p.m., completely famished. Luckily for us, they had planned for us to eat at the restaurant there. Troy sat down to a massive plate of chicken with peppers, tomatoes, parmesan, leeks, in a puff pastry, with a thick slice of double chocolate cake in heavy cream for dessert. I had the Guinness stew with puff pastry, which came with my choice of three side salads. I got the potato salad, the couscous salad and the fruit salad. Yummy stuff indeed. For dessert, the lemon curd cake with heavy cream.
That still gave us about an hour to explore the Powerscourt grounds, including the main garden and the Japanese garden. We took several breath-taking pictures and then came back for a quick trip to the gift shop where I bought my Mom a postcard.
We got back on the bus for our return trip to the city and arrived in Dublin around 3:00 p.m. We shopped for a bit and I bought a bunch of postcards for family and friends. I also got gifts for Dad and Jocelyne. At another shop I got gifts for my nieces. I am still shopping for more gifts, and there are tons of really cool souvenirs here.
Around 4:30 p.m., I told Troy that I couldn't go on like this, and I had to sit for a bit to rest and maybe have a hot drink. I was feely really clammy and miserable. So we stopped at a pub, where Troy got a Jameson whiskey, and the barman offered to make me a hot toddy. Man, was that ever good, and it helped with my stuffed nose. Meanwhile, Troy watched the news on TV (where we heard about the death of Tony Curtis, as well as the bailout for the Irish banks: $50 billion Euros). I took some time to write up some of my postcards. In fact, I got to write almost all of them by the time I looked at my watch and saw that it was 6:00 p.m. So, we got up and continued on our way. Troy still wanted to hit the book store we had seen this morning to try to find the Irish cookbook he has been eyeing for a while now. That one book shop was good, but the next book store we went to, Hodges Figgis, was absolutely stunning! We could have spent even longer in this store, but they were closing at 8:00 p.m., so we had to pay for our purchases and leave. Before I did, I took a photograph of a wall text inside the store that indicated that this bookstore appears in Ulysses. So cool.
As I was hungry, and it was late, we made our way to O'Neills pub, a quaint pub we went to yesterday during our pub crawl. I ordered the ham hocks with coddle and Troy got the leek and pork sausages. My meal, even by Dublin standards, was mammoth! The picture took was misleading: my dish was not a plate, but a bowl. Just keep that in mind when you see the picture! It consisted of a huge ham hock, the size of a small pork roast, with three scoops of mashed potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower with cheese, and the coddle: boiled potatoes, onions and sausage. It could have easily fed the both of us. I had a Smithwick's to wash it all down, and my meal -- as usual -- was absolutely delicious. But no room for dessert.
After dinner, we walked out into the pleasant Dublin evening, and Troy told me we were going straight to the hotel so that I could blog and then go to bed. I have a really hoarse cough, so I will do the Dristan thing and get to bed. Troy says he is too tired to blog tonight, so I will end here.
Good night all,
M.
Before I continue the account of today's travels, I should tell the story the bus driver told us yesterday. In the city centre stands the statue of Molly Malone, peddling her wares. Molly sold cockels and mussels and oysters during the day, pushing her cart. At night, she alledgedly sold other wares. By all accounts, Molly was celibate. According to the bus driver, Molly would "sell a bit" here and "sell a bit" there... (Don't boo me, Nick. I just repeats them...)
Anyway, Troy and I rushed outside around 10:00 a.m., hoping to catch the shuttle bus about ten minutes away on foot, which was scheduled to depart 15 minutes from then. By the time we got to the stop, the lady in the tourist information centre informed us that we had just missed the bus by about 2 seconds. This was just the shuttle bus to get to our own bus, so I wasn't downcast. There was still the possibility of taking a 5-minute taxi cab ride to the right place to board the bus. Troy was a little out of sorts then, and I had to convince him that it wasn't a problem, and that we could still make it. In any event, I finally persuaded him to take the taxi ride, and I think he is glad that we did. We were able to meet up with the double-decker bus moments later, ready for our 11:00 a.m. departure. And, because we had taken the city hop-on hop-off bus tour this week, we were also granted a 7 euro discount on our tickets. Bonus!
So, we gradually made our way outside the city, following a course that brought us along the coast of the Liffey, on the north side. On our way, Troy saw me aim my camera outside the tour bus and snap a photo. He looked out the window and wondered why I was taking a picture of a woman. I showed him the photo I had taken: the spitting image of Patsy Stone from "Absolutely Fabulous", complete with a cut mini, a low-cut blouse, pearls, sunglasses and bouffant blonde coiffe. The resemblance was uncanny, and when I get back home, I will post it to this blog.
Making our way south of the city, in county Wicklow, we hugged the coast of Dublin Bay, getting a great view of Sandymount, the area where Leopold Bloom practices onanism on the beach in Ulysses, as well as the distant crag of Howth Head, which figures prominently in Molly Bloom's monologue. We also saw a house in which Joyce himself lived. As we got into the Victorian seaside town of Bray, we noticed some brave souls swimming in the surf, on this rather chilly late September day. Then we got a few shots of the Martello tower where the opening chapter of Ulysses is set. But despite all these Joycean associations, this tour was not exclusively of my choosing. The destination of the tour was Powerscourt Castle, where Troy was eager to see the site of the Celtic Women concert he has at home on his DVD. So it was a win-win situation. The bus driver also showed us Sinéad O'Connor's house in Bray, and declared that she was in at that moment because her car was parked in her driveway. We had a distant view of what he referred to as the Hollywood Hills outside Bray, where a number of prominent celebrities have homes, including Mel Gibson, Bono from U2, The Edge from U2, Enya, Maeve Binchy and a number of other American celebrities whose names escape me.
We got to Powerscourt around 1:00 p.m., completely famished. Luckily for us, they had planned for us to eat at the restaurant there. Troy sat down to a massive plate of chicken with peppers, tomatoes, parmesan, leeks, in a puff pastry, with a thick slice of double chocolate cake in heavy cream for dessert. I had the Guinness stew with puff pastry, which came with my choice of three side salads. I got the potato salad, the couscous salad and the fruit salad. Yummy stuff indeed. For dessert, the lemon curd cake with heavy cream.
That still gave us about an hour to explore the Powerscourt grounds, including the main garden and the Japanese garden. We took several breath-taking pictures and then came back for a quick trip to the gift shop where I bought my Mom a postcard.
We got back on the bus for our return trip to the city and arrived in Dublin around 3:00 p.m. We shopped for a bit and I bought a bunch of postcards for family and friends. I also got gifts for Dad and Jocelyne. At another shop I got gifts for my nieces. I am still shopping for more gifts, and there are tons of really cool souvenirs here.
Around 4:30 p.m., I told Troy that I couldn't go on like this, and I had to sit for a bit to rest and maybe have a hot drink. I was feely really clammy and miserable. So we stopped at a pub, where Troy got a Jameson whiskey, and the barman offered to make me a hot toddy. Man, was that ever good, and it helped with my stuffed nose. Meanwhile, Troy watched the news on TV (where we heard about the death of Tony Curtis, as well as the bailout for the Irish banks: $50 billion Euros). I took some time to write up some of my postcards. In fact, I got to write almost all of them by the time I looked at my watch and saw that it was 6:00 p.m. So, we got up and continued on our way. Troy still wanted to hit the book store we had seen this morning to try to find the Irish cookbook he has been eyeing for a while now. That one book shop was good, but the next book store we went to, Hodges Figgis, was absolutely stunning! We could have spent even longer in this store, but they were closing at 8:00 p.m., so we had to pay for our purchases and leave. Before I did, I took a photograph of a wall text inside the store that indicated that this bookstore appears in Ulysses. So cool.
As I was hungry, and it was late, we made our way to O'Neills pub, a quaint pub we went to yesterday during our pub crawl. I ordered the ham hocks with coddle and Troy got the leek and pork sausages. My meal, even by Dublin standards, was mammoth! The picture took was misleading: my dish was not a plate, but a bowl. Just keep that in mind when you see the picture! It consisted of a huge ham hock, the size of a small pork roast, with three scoops of mashed potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower with cheese, and the coddle: boiled potatoes, onions and sausage. It could have easily fed the both of us. I had a Smithwick's to wash it all down, and my meal -- as usual -- was absolutely delicious. But no room for dessert.
After dinner, we walked out into the pleasant Dublin evening, and Troy told me we were going straight to the hotel so that I could blog and then go to bed. I have a really hoarse cough, so I will do the Dristan thing and get to bed. Troy says he is too tired to blog tonight, so I will end here.
Good night all,
M.
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