Greetings,

When I left off last time, we were eagerly awaiting our trip to Dublin on the train.  Well, unfortunately fate and the U.I.R.S.D. (That's the Union of Irish Railroad Signal Dudes) had other plans.  At 5:00 Monday evening, we heard that starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, the signalmen were waging a one-day strike.  Hence no trains were running anywhere in the country.  After much deliberation amongst ourselves we decided, yes indeed, we will all pile into the Punto and take the trip anyway.   The trip was good except for 4 things: driving there, finding parking for Tuesday afternoon and evening, finding parking for all day Wednesday (the worst part of all, I'm afraid) and navigating our way out of Dublin at 5:30 Wednesday in the rush-hour, rainy, darkness.  We arrived home about 9:30 last night, only slightly the worse for the wear.

We did have a nice time sightseeing.  We headed first to the Dublin Zoo, and finally located it.  The guidebooks indicate this is an 1850 Victorian zoo.  Perhaps when the guidebooks were printed it was, but it is becoming quite less so by the minute, including those minutes we were there.  There's nothing like having them build the path under your feet.  The animals are the standard zoo fare,  {but they were pretty well-done, I must say} and many of the exhibits are new, and for the most part somewhat smaller than those in the Seattle zoo, bringing the visitors generally on a more face-to-face level with the critters.  There are also countless climbing structures along the pathways, which did help with certain members of our party after 3 hours in the Punto.  {She means me but is too nice to say so.   After three hours in the Punto, holding a squirming 4 year-old on my lap, I was really ready for some climbing structures.}

After the zoo, we found our hotel, O'Neill's, a pub directly across from Trinity College.  It was a cute place (Andie even had a fireplace in her room) and would have been perfect had we been car-free train travelers.  However, as small as the Punto is, it still was slightly too large to park in the closets.  We spent a good deal of our time feeding meters, moving the car from one spot to the next, and so on.  But we checked in and then Mark, Andie and the kids went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells (I saw it last time in Dublin) and I went back to the National Library to try once again to find the Limerick Chronicle for 1849.

And I succeeded!  I even found a piece about what went on the in the Rathkeale Sessions, regarding recent convictions, including a mention of James Ahern convicted with 4 other  lads of cow-stealing and sentenced to 15 years transportation.  (Sometime between the conviction and his departure, it must have been reduced to 7 years.)  Another group of cow-stealers, apparently brothers,as they shared a surname, was sentenced to 9 months in prison.  Another single thief was sentenced to one year, so I'm not sure why James and his mates got 15 years.  I had hoped for a "James Ahern of such and such a town" kind of reporting, but unfortunately all I got was a name, so I still don't know if it's my James.  But it was interesting to see the old news.

We had a nice dinner and turned in early after a bit of WWTOAM (Irish version).  Wednesday we saw a lot!  It took 2 inordinately long periods of time to park the car (once Mark by himself, the other with the whole crew).  We finally found a car park near Dublin Castle, so that's what we saw first.  Not so much of a castle any longer.  It is no longer a residence but has rooms for official state functions and meetings.  The kids got to sit in a throne brought to Ireland by William of Orange after the Battle of the Boyne.  A second part of the tour takes you down under the current ground level to see what remains of the castle wall and the city wall, a portion of which was blocked to stem the spread of the plague.

We then headed to Grafton Street where we saw the statue of Molly Malone.  She pushes the obligatory cart of cockles and mussels but given the low-cut neckline of her blouse, one is not quite sure of what she's selling.  I read she is known as "the tart with the cart."  A visit to Grafton Street, of course, necessitates more shopping.  Much more shopping.

That accomplished we went to the National Museum.  We saw more bog butter, some bog shoes (leather still intact), a bog shawl (yes, the bog will even preserve woolens) and last but not least a bog body, who met his untimely demise via strangulation and was preserved for several hundred years in the lowly bog, prior to reaching his final resting place in the National Museum.    In addition to its vast collection of bog objects, the museum also houses some serious amounts of gold (bracelets, clothing fasteners, necklaces, and a gold hubcap) as well as the Tara Brooch and several croziers and chalices.  It is currently highlighting the acquisitions made in the last 10 years and has an outstanding presentation of where objects were found and how they were acquired by the museum.  Some of the stories are fascinating.

Around the corner from the National Museum is the Museum of Natural History.  Not terribly large, but appears to have kept numerous taxidermists gainfully employed for years.  In addition to the displays of stuffed critters, they have 3 or 4 skeletons of the Irish Deer, extinct for the last many eons, but it stood 2 meters high at the shoulder with an enormous pair of antlers.

I think we'll have to get back to Dublin once more before we head home, however, as there are still too many things we want to see.
 
 

Friday. 17 November

Well, I have begun to prepare for Thanksgiving.  And it was quite an eye-opener.  Last night I called my art teacher, a 60-ish mother and grandmother, life-long resident of Limerick.  Just the sort of person you call when you need advice for domestic activities like holiday gatherings.  I wanted to find out where to find disposable aluminum bakeware (pie pans, bread pans, etc).  However, first I had to explain what a pie was.  She didn't think I would be able to find disposable pans but did offer to lend me a few pans that she thought would work.

So today I headed off to Tesco with my list.  Some items (canned pumpkin and cranberries) I did not expect to find, but when I asked about them, it was easy enough to communicate what I wanted and learn that, indeed, they were not carried by the store.  Other items, however, took considerable explanation as to what one would use the item for and then search various aisles to ascertain whether some suitable product was available.  For instance, shortening is not a product the Irish have much familiarity with.  I tried to explain that you would mix it with flour and water to create a pie crust which you lay in a pan and fill with a filling.  Again, back to the pie concept.  I received nothing but a blank stare.  { I can relate; I used to get the same look from students in my 7th grade math classes in Texas.}  I was working with 2 store employees, a stock clerk and someone a bit higher {A tall store clerk}.  Their hearts were in the right place but their product selection just wasn't.

However, I was heartened, because while I am excited to invite some of our Irish friends to share Thanksgiving with us, I feared that the fare wouldn't appear as exotic in their eyes as I might hope, and that they would somehow leave disappointed.   However, given the blank stares to my requests at the grocery store, I think I will be serving at least a few novelties.  And I think I did manage to find something akin to shortening, on the butter aisle.  We'll find out Thursday evening, the proof being in the pie crust.

Other things they don't know about:  corn syrup, corn meal (although the grocers suggested the health food store, which did have it), construction paper, and poultry seasoning.  {Which one does not belong?} But I have a wonderful solution.  My brother, Dick, and his wife, Suzanne are arriving from Houston on Tuesday so I have given them a grocery list.    But, being the good sister-in-law that I am, what I have really done is given Suzanne that much more room in her suitcase to bring home sweaters and linen and crystal. You're very welcome, Suzanne. {I suggested that they should bring a smallish nuclear device in their suitcase and then leave it with the customs officers.  Mary thought this was a poor idea but would not say why.}

Happy Thanksgiving.  Talk to you later.

Slan,
Mer