Dublin can be Heaven - Afternoon Delights around Powerscourt Town Centre

Lunch in The Pepper Pot - Warm Goat's Cheese Salad

Last Friday hubby Jan and me headed off to Dublin for my cousin's birthday party which I've blogged about here. As Jan had a business meeting in the Alliance Francaise for the afternoon I said just drop me off in shopping heaven, the Grafton Street/St. Stephen's Green Centre area. With no pressure to shop till I drop like I might  be in the run up to Christmas, for example, or be on the lookout for something special like an outfit befitting the mother of the groom (help! I dread having to face that at some stage before July!) I was in a mellow place and found an equally mellow place to match my mood. 

That happened to be the Powerscourt Town Centre, on Clarendon Street off Grafton Street. I dashed into Dunnes' Stores in the Stephen's Green Centre first, to see what I might need, and bought a nice ribbon yarn loose cardi, which I could upcycle if I hated. I then dropped into the Westbury Hotel to powder my nose and allow myself a twinge of nostalgia for my last visit, when Martin was still working there before he headed to Australia. Then I cut across the Westbury Mall and emerged at the Powerscourt Town Centre. It used to be the town house of one Richard Wingfield, the 3rd Viscount Powerscourt, and serendipitously there are Wingfields to this day at Salterbridge  House over the road from Lismore near Cappoquin. 

This is Knit - Dublin's coolest shop!

Sign of the times @ This is Knit

The best shop  in Powerscourt by my biased reckoning has to be This is Knit - a haven for knitaholics anonymous and otherwise. It's got amazing yarns and a selection of the best top quality silks and alpacas and cashmeres and merinos and it's just as addictive as any good bookshop. I just browed the shelves and felt the wonderful tactile yarns, and got a ball of DB Andes, which is so soft and sensuous. I couldn't resist a booklet of Noro patterns, which opened up a  whole new world of colourful yarns and patterns made with these beautiful Japanese yarns. I already love working the Sekku and seeing the lovely pattern emerge with the colours melding together. 

Lunch with a view in Powerscourt Town Centre

A late Book Token Christmas Pressie!

Noro and more Noro (Sekku Scarf WIP)

After I'd sated myself in the yarn shop, it was time to eat - and where better than on the balcony outside. There are a variety of cafes and I decided on The Pepper Pot - they had friendly staff and lovely food - I had a delicious warm goat's cheese salad with lovely brown bread, and a nice cuppa tea. I sat there tweeting and reading the Irish Times while soaking up the atmosphere and thinking what it must have been like back in the day of the big house when it was in use as the town house for the toffs from Wicklow. 

Improv Instruments - Upcycled Oilcans on Grafton St.

I should really get out  more if a Friday afternoon mooching around the shops in Dublin's Grafton Street can be so enjoyable - or else I'm just easily pleased with simple tastes! After lunch and a few photos of my table with a view I wandered off to look for Waterstone's in Dawson Street nearby. Grafton Street is Dublin's Ramblas - great buzz and full of buskers and human statues covered in toxic glittery body paint waiting for a few shekels to fall into their hats before stirring into motion. I love the fact that Captain America's is still the same as it was in my student days back in the '70s.

I took this pic of a busker playing a mean electric guitar made from a Castrol GTX Oilcan as it reminded me of the improv instruments beloved of the roadside sellers in Tanzania and our first watchman in Mishamo who played a  unistring guitar made from a margarine tin and a stick with a piece of wire stretched from one end to the other. I spent a few confused minutes looking for Waterstone's to be told they'd closed - and Hodges Figgis was the only bookshop on the street. Lucky for me they are honouring the Waterstone's book tokens, and I continued to feed my insatiable craft book habit with this lovely Weekend Knitting book. I still have enough credit to cut loose in Waterstone's in Cork one of these weekends. This is some of the pattern selection in the book. I can't wait to get going on some of them!

Stephen's Green Centre

By now I'd met up with Jan and Paul, their meeting in the Alliance over, and was given a conundrum - where in Dublin will you find monkeys playing billiards or snooker? I certainly didn't have a clue - and I'm going to leave you pondering that one for a while before revealing all! That's your Pub Quiz question for today - food for thought over the weekend.

Powerscourt Town House

This was beside the Pepper Pot - a tad OTT!

A night to remember - Clapton in Concert and Dublin's Docklands

The O2/Point Depot

A couple of weeks ago we had a real treat as we went to see rock legend and guitar hero supreme Eric Clapton in concert in the O2/Point Depot (can't use these commercially driven sponsorship product-placement names without a ton of cynicism and the original name) in Dublin. It was hubby Jan's birthday treat as he has been a fan since forever, and has some of his old vinyl LPs (remember those?!) which must surely be collectors' items by now.

Birthday boy and me!

We went up to Dublin in the early afternoon as we had some business to attend to - and then we called out to see middle son Martin in Drumcondra. We had a lovely early bird meal at the best pizzeria in Dublin - in my humble opinion - The Independent Pizza Company on Dorset Street, beside Drumcondra Railway Station. This was my first time in its current location as it used to be a few doors up the road above Quinn's pub, an iconic landmark, along with nearby McGraths pub, particularly for punters going to Croke Park to the hurling and football All-Ireland qualifiers and finals. I had a delicious Caesar Salad and Chorizo pizza while Jan had a Calzone closed pizza, something I first encountered on our Italian honeymoon almost thirty years ago! Along with a few glasses of house red, we were ready for the road.

Martin and Mammy

Scrummy Caesar Salad

 Chorizo Pizza

We walked over to the venue at the end of the Dublin Docklands at the old Point Depot which has undergone a transformation in recent years to become the O2, a nod to telecoms sponsorship and an anodyne ubiquity which irks me as I loved the uniqueness of the old Point - it meant something and referenced its original incarnation as the depot at the point where the River Liffey meets the sea and where goods were offloaded and stored.

We walked down long-familiar streets which were a trip down memory lane in itself as we lived in Dublin many years ago, at the start of our lives together. I spent six happy carefree student years there, living in flatland Rathmines and Rathgar, as well as the house in Drumcondra where our son is now staying. So I have many fond memories of Dublin and there are many landmarks that have a resonance for me. Down Belvedere Road, Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square, and onto Custom House Quay past Busáras bus depot which housed the Eblana Theatre in the basement - I went to many plays there in my student days.

Jeannie Johnston Famine Memorial Ship

The evening was lovely, and the IFSC, birthplace (probably) of the Celtic Tiger, looked suitably impressive, if not majestic like the Custom House. The Jeannie Johnston seems to be permanently berthed around here and it looks lovely, but the highlights of the walk had to be the harp-like Samuel Beckett Bridge and the "Pringle Box" Convention Centre, so-called because of its backwards-tilting circular glass wall. They are beautiful architectural landmarks of the modern city, and have made the Docklands the vibrant place it is today. The Famine Memorial on Custom House Quay is a recent sculpture and is very haunting and evocative of our darkest days. I was taken with the World Poverty Stone, a UN commemorative stone.

Samuel Beckett Bridge

The Concert was wonderful even if Clapton isn't the most communicative singer around - as Jan said we are there to enjoy the music, and that was great. He sang lots of songs I didn't know as I'm not as diehard a fan as hubby, but the perennial faves like I Shot the Sherriff and Layla and Wonderful Tonight raised the roof of the revamped O2. He looked well for his 66 years and I hope we all wear as well given the hell-raising life he led in his young rock years - he has had his share of tragedy as well with his 4 yr old son falling from a 54th floor apartment in 2002. That inspired Tears in Heaven which he didn't sing - there wouldn't have been a dry eye in the house.

Claption in action on the big screen

I loved the people watching before the gig started and decided that ageing rockers attract a certain demographic - ageing rock fans! We had good seats and the big screens captured the detail we couldn't see from our dizzy heights. Clapton's crew was terrific, with backing singers, keyboard and piano players, and drummer and bass player.

Revolver by night

The crowd at the concert

He was supported for the first hour by Andy Fairweather-Low and the Low Riders - and I hadn't a clue who he was as we'd no programme - but the lighting was dire for that hour and he was like a skeletal underlit shadow - though I loved the two hits he sang - (If Paradise was) Half as Nice and Wide Eyed and Legless - I don't thing the setting did him justice. Eric played for over 2 hours and came back for an encore, which helped us forgive his being detached. There was a great atmosphere in the O2 but we were constantly being trodden on by people in and out for booze - I will never understand why people go to concerts and spend their time there in and out to the bar. Dublin's Big Wheel, Revolver, beckoned temptingly but I couldn't persuade hubby to overcome his vertigo to give it a go and see Dublin by night. That's something for the bucket list.

We were on a high after it and got a taxi back to Drumcondra where we'd left the car. We were back home by 3am - I slept for most of the journey and had the Tuesday off to recover. I went to the morning session of my knitting circle, and enjoyed the company of a bunch of formidable women with good chat and tea and cakes enhancing the quality of the knitting.

There are a few  more gigs I'd have on my bucket list, Springsteen being tops and one I hope to fulfill this on his next Irish visit. 

Graduation Day - in a Historic and Literary Dublin Landmark

At last - a proud moment!

Martin with his proud parents!

Yesterday we went to Dublin for middle son Martin's Graduation - he has just finished his Master's Degree in Professional Design Practice in DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology) which is a follow on from his BA in Graphic Design in Cork. This was his third grad conferral after two BAs in CIT (Cork Institute of Technology) - Ordinary after 3 years and then the Honours one a year later. We were saying he could become a serial graduate and go on for a few more or at least a PhD! I don't think that's on the cards for the present.

Ghosts of the past in DIT Aungier St.

It's our second Graduation in two months - our youngest son William graduated from the University of Limerick in August with a BA in Phys. Education and Geography teaching and that didn't get a blogpost simply because we came straight home and went to Saffron in Lismore for a nice Indian meal to mark the occasion. UL is a modern campus without much historic interest and certainly the venue didn't excite me as much as the Dublin one did - and we didn't take in the delights of Limerick on the day either! He's in some photos here too.

This ceremony took place in St. Patrick's Cathedral in the heart of old Viking Dublin. The church dates back to St. Patrick but the building dates back to 1192. DIT use it as a venue for their graduation ceremonies which makes sense as they don't have a single campus - rather they are scattered around the city with their different faculties in the old Technology Colleges - Bolton Street was Martin's college for the MA year, and that was the old Bolton St. Tech.

The Cathedral was packed with the graduates from a number of courses and their families and it was a majestic setting for such a traditional and ancient ceremony. The only downside compared to more conventional venues like the University of Limerick Concert Hall where we had youngest son's Conferral in August is that the view isn't the best. Like any church, depending on where you're seated, the view can be good or mediocre - or downright bad if it's obstructed. We were not too bad but the dim light made photos quite a challenge and we got none of the actual parchment ceremony - and could only see it on the TV screens strategically placed around the Cathedral.

DIT Aungier St./Old Jacob's Factory

Walking through the Cathedral afterwards gave us a chance to play tourist for a bit - I am a tad embarrassed that I have never visited the place despite living in the city for all my student years and intermittently over the following 20+ years. So I got quite a buzz seeing the ancient monuments and the links with the great and the good of Dublin - Jonathan Swift of Gulliver's Travels fame is its most famous incumbent - as Dean of St. Patrick's he achieved fame when he wrote that great satire about a traveller in the land of  tiny Lilliputians and gigantic Brobdingnagians that is still popular today.

Seasonal Pumpkin Soup

Douglas Hyde is commemorated in a plaque - first President of Ireland whose funeral was held in the Cathedral. It's ironic that most of his government were barred from going to his funeral service as Catholics were forbidden to attend Protestant services until the 1960s! Erskine Childers, the fourth President of Ireland  (I used my vote first time ever to vote for him!) also had his funeral here and his daughter Nessa Childers is a Labour MEP.

Prawn Sandwich with Chips

I was delighted to see there was a Lismore link too - the huge Boyle Monument was erected by Lismore Castle's erstwhile owner, Richard Boyle, the Earl of Cork, as a tribute and memorial to his wife and 15 children. He bought Lismore Castle from Sir Walter Raleigh when the latter was in prison for high treason. He was the father of Robert Boyle, the scientist of "Boyle's Law" fame,  who was born in the Castle. I'll pass on the aesthetics of the monument - suffice to say it probably reflects the man's ego and ye olde Englishe certainly poses a challenge and makes you wonder about languages' evolution.

Martin and his classmates before the graduation

Yesterday's post-graduation reception was held in Augier Street at their campus in the old Jacob's Biscuit factory - famed for its role in the 1916 Easter Rising - and it was nice to see the name etched in a low wall to commemorate its earlier incarnation. It's a lovely building with a touch of the biscuit barrel on the facade from the courtyard - hardly surprising given its provenance as the home of our favourite biccies. Nostalgia emanated from every corner and I could nearly taste the Fig Rolls, Cream Crackers and the holy trinity of Kimberley, Mikado and Coconut Cream. These all whisk me back to childhood memories with their radio and black-and-white TV ads etched forever on my brain.

Main Altar in St. Patrick's Cathedral

We had the requisite official photos taken after the ceremony and afterwards we went for a lovely lunch to the Radisson Blu hotel in Golden Lane, around the corner from the campus. After all the queuing  for photos and the chatting and picture-taking in the courtyard of the college there wasn't a cuppa left at the reception, and it was nice to have lunch with Martin before he headed out with his friends for the evening celebrating.  For lunch I had yummy Pumpkin Soup - very seasonal for Hallowe'en weekend - and a delicious prawn sandwich on brown bread with rocket and chips/fries. I felt positively hedonistic given the doom-laden times we're in and the budget from hell looming - perhaps it's time we had a Marie Antoinette moment and indulged ourselves with treats for a lift! 

St.Patrick's Cathedral during Ceremony

Father and Son with that parchment!

With the proud parents on campus DIT

William and his proud parents in UL Aug. 2010

We left him back in Drumcondra to get ready for the night on the town. I believe they started with a 3-D football match in their local near Bolton St., the Woolshed Baa and Grill - an Aussie-themed place with a nice twist in the title!
Going home we took the new M9 to Waterford as a change from the M8 to Cork - they've just bypassed every town between Naas and Waterford and thanks to having had a Minister (Martin Cullen recently retired) from Waterford they got away with a toll-free ride all the way. There's a toll on the wonderful new bypass cable bridge over the River Suir that divides Kilkenny and Waterford - and the locals wit and hurling rivalry is reflected in the nicknames it has to date - they call it the Cat Flap in Waterford (homage to Kilkenny cats, an age-old name for the people from that county) and in Kilkenny they dub it the Liam McCarthy after the All-Ireland Hurling Cup which always bypasses Waterford on its way to Kilkenny - even though they didn't get their 5-in-a-row this year - Tipperary beat them in Croke Park last month.

Cable Bridge on River Suir in Waterford (the Cat Flap)

William's Graduation in UL August 2010

Autumn on the M9 to Waterford

There wasn't  much time-saving in the new route but the scenery was nicer - the Wicklow mountains and Mount Leinster were on our left and the autumn colours in the trees and fields were rich in the low setting sun.

Times like this and you get a respite from the relentless misery on the airwaves and celebrate the important things in life - family, children's achievements and the opportunity to spend time together while the kids are still around.

The way the country's going with no work for new grads like two of our sons, there's every chance they'll be forced into emigration - a far cry from the voluntary exile I chose in my youth when I wanted adventure in a pre-Gap Year era, combined with some saving-the-world altruism.

Fast forward a few decades and little did I know then what would be coming down the tracks  - we're very lucky in so many ways and have to keep that perspective in view - I hope we'll weather the storm and come out the other side despite the prophets of doom.

From Calatrava to Hot Limos - a Cultural Clash in our Capital City

I'm off to Dublin in the morning with teen daughter and three of her pals - for a day trip. I have some things to do there so I will let them loose in the city to mooch around the shops and do some shopping - what they love to do in the city. Dublin is a nice easy place to wander safely around in the centre, once they are all together, and but a bus ride away from me.

The mobile phone access makes me feel a lot more relaxed about letting them off the leash for a few hours. Who knows, I might even get some nice photos for a post. There are some wonderful new and iconic buildings in Dublin, and there's even a Big Wheel - which the Irish Times has been asking readers to suggest names for it, which brought out some good Dublin wit - along the lines of the London Eye albeit half as big.

I'd love to see the Grand Canal Theatre designed by Daniel Liebeskind, which rivals the Point - or the 02 as it's now Pointlessly called - I hate this branding of buildings in the name of sponsorship advertising. Landsdowne Road Stadium has been rebuilt and rebranded as the Aviva Stadium after the eponymous insurance company, much to the chagrin of fans of rugby and Ireland home soccer matches who will always carry a bit of Landsdowne Road in their hearts. Middle son is attending the Offset Design Exhibition/Mecca this weekend in the Grand Canal Theatre, so he'll have an intimate encounter with it.

The new Convention Centre has a lovely barrelly facade which looks out on the River Liffey near the new Samuel Beckett Bridge which I haven't yet seen - it's the second Santiago Calatrava Bridge in Dublin. The middle photo shows the bridge with the Convention Centre in the background. (image courtesy of ddda.ie) The bottom photo was taken by me in February 2009 and shows the barrel of the Convention Centre as it was still being built. The Beckett bridge is nowhere to be seen as it only floated into position December 2009.

What I wanted to share with you on this post was this great photo of a hot pink stretch limo - snapped while sitting at traffic lights in the oldest part of the city - The Liberties, which dates back to Viking Dublin (988 or thereabouts if we can believe those who celebrated Dublin's Millenium in 1988!). I'm sure the happy lady hanging out the window waving her champagne glass was getting in the mood for a great night on the tiles and I wondered was it a mad hen party heading down to Temple Bar to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting public!

Enjoy the photos - there'll be updates if I get a chance to be snaphappy tomorrow.

Capital Culture Shock - Art, Shopping and a Summer of Discount Tents

Last weekend I went to Dublin for a break with teen daughter and three of her friends - foolhardy you might say but they have been hanging out for the duration of the Irish summer hols, which must be the longest in the planet. At least that's what it feels like when it's late July and you realise you've only passed the mid-point of the three-month-long break.

With teenagers who are too old for summer camps (mostly targeting primary school children) but too young to work in a minimum-wage (lower for under-18s than adults) service job (roll on next year!) the boredom factor sets in fairly quickly. And that's just the parents who have the unenviable task of monitoring their movements without being seen to be too much of a "helicopter" parent.

The boredom threshold is quickly reached, and the refrain "there's nothing to do - I'm bored" ring out across the nation. As we are not going abroad on holidays this year this adds to the sense of deprivation, and lectures ensue (= poorly disguised nagging) telling them how lucky they are. When I hear myself echoing my mother - "It's far from sun holidays I was reared" - then I have to call a halt.

Hubby bought a tent in Argos a couple of weeks ago - sale offer, 4-person with a sitting room you could stand in and a nice separate bedroom, and an awning - and that has gone down a treat for sleepovers, especially given the nice warm summer we're having. The n

ights have been very mild, and there is nothing nicer than staying awake in the tent in comfort - eating all night and staying awake till the dawn chorus kicks in - and having a good girly giggle with a bunch of pals. The first night the tent was used it lashed rain, and that

added to the sense of adventure. Of course there are mega-extension leads that bring light from the house to the tent, so it can be far enough from the house to feel like proper camping - and the garden chairs fit nicely in the sitting room part, with an old kiddie's table to sit around.

So a weekend in Dublin seemed like a nice diversion and was greeted with typical teen ennui - OK, we can go shopping, see a movie, and stay in a nice hotel. Museum visits or any cultural improvements weren't even up for discussion, so I didn't go there. Booked a couple of rooms in the Skylon Hotel in Drumcondra (wrong side of the river, one of the teens informed me, with genuine Ross O'Carroll-Kelly horror - she's city-wise having "grown up" in Dublin - on the right side of the river!) - and figured out the sleeping order would be 4:1 (they were happy to share a triple room) and we were sorted. I was pragmatic about the potential hazards of taking four young teens to a city three of them were unfamiliar with, as I felt they wouldn't leave the confines of whatever shopping centre they were deposited in, and I reminded them of the moral of "Taken", the chilling action movie about white slavery and wayward teens who didn't listen to their parents. They were pretty underwhelmed by my concerns, as they dismissed them as the usual parental fussing.

The trip to Dublin was a joy - the new tolled Abbeyleix Bypass reduced the 140 miles to just about 2hrs 40mins., motorway all the way from Cahir, and they slept all the way, after being awake all night in the tent. They decided to go to Blanchardstown shopping centre, which I thought would be a nice place for them - it was, but I didn't bargain for the nightmare on the M50 - SatNav was useless as the roadworks in what is known as Dublin's biggest car park (the M50 ring road) are unending and finding exits and ramps was a disaster.

I managed to drop them off, had a coffee and wandered around for an hour, then went back to the hotel and arranged to visit a friend later that evening. We spent some time with middle son who's finishing his MA in DIT, and I had plenty of time with him as well, while the girls hung out at the hotel with their shopping after I managed to collect them - a groundhog day experience as I overshot the exit ramp and got caught by the barrier-free toll cameras as I had to drive about 10 miles around the M50 and get back on track to re-enter the loop. Of course I missed the deadline of 8pm the following evening to pay the €3 and it doubled before I remembered it. No wonder it's such a controversial toll, and it's much dearer than the others on the motorway bypasses.

We had something to eat in the hotel, and then went to the cinema in the Omni centre in Santry - the girls to see the latest Twilight film "Eclipse" about sparkly vegetarian vampires, and my friend and me went to see the delightful "His & Hers" - sort of a documentary or narrative by women from young toddlers to elderly widows talking about the men in their lives - a real heartwarming feelgood film that had no commentary other than the women from the Midlands of Ireland talking to camera about fathers, husbands, boyfriends a nd brothers. It has got rave reviews, not surprisingly, given the dross that's in the cinema this summer it wouldn't be hard.

But what of culture, I hear you ask, as alluded to in the title? This turned out to be a spur of the moment thing that was a real delight as so many spontaneous decisions are, when the girls went to town Sunday afternoon after checking out of the hotel, and middle son and me went to town for some supplies for his thesis in Easons.

We drove around Parnell Square to find a parking space and there was one just by the Garden of Remembrance - around the corner from the Hugh Lane Gallery, with its Lavery "Passion and Politics" Exhibition, which was serendipitous as I had seen the famous Lady Lavery portrait in Lismore Castle at the Sotheby's Irish Sale Preview in April. That one sold for over €250,000 and we went to have a look at the current exhibition. The Hugh Lane is a fabulous facility for the city, as it is free, like so many of the National Museums and Galleries, and has a wonderful permanent collection as well as the special exhibitions like this. I really enjoyed it and took a few flash-free photos before realising that I wasn't supposed to - but I didn't feel too guilty as I don't see what harm it does when the flash isn't used.

The Politics and Passion refer to the new Irish Free State Government asking Laver y to paint a symbol of the new country (Éire, depicted by a beautiful woman) for the new Irish Currency, and then he used his high society American wife Hazel as the model. Given that she never set foot in Ireland (they lived in London) it must have been a controversial issue at the time, as her lifestyle would be pretty far removed from DeValera's Madonna and Motherhood vision of Irish womanhood! There were a lot of documents on display; correspondence between the Departments and Lavery and some from WB Yeats and other famous contemporaries of Lavery. I've come to the conclusion that Lavery was pretty full of himself - there are self-portraits of him receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Belfast and being conferred a Freeman of Dublin. They were probably the Posh and Becks of the Twenties, albeit with a lot more talent! And the irony of Lady Lavery adorning the currency for almost 50 years can't be missed, as they both represented the wealthy ascendancy that the new State was so keen to expunge from its history. But that's a whole other story and not one for this post; I might return to it one day.

My son had seen the Francis Bacon Collection a few times as he is a great fan of the notoriously untidy late artist. He certainly could identify with him on that score, with his vaguely similar artistic penchant for creative chaos in living spaces. Out of sheer curiosity I had to see the Francis Bacon Studio which was brought from London and lovingly recreated in a special viewing room in the Gallery, with every messy rag and paint tin (great ad for Dulux) and stacks of dusty books replaced forensically as they were in his London house. His Irish connections were as

tenuous as many of the great artists and writers we claim - he spent some years of his childhood in Dublin and then went off to school and fame in England. Some of his works were also in Lismore Castle at the Sotheby's preview.

It was a very pleasant interlude and I came away with my cultural antennae recharged, and determined to soak up some more free stuff on future Dublin visits - there's the Dead Zoo, the National Gallery, the National Library, and the National Museum at different locations around the city. Cork has the lovely Crawford Gallery and I visited there a few years ago. It would be nice to entice the teenagers to visit something like a museum but sadly they passed that stage after our last visit to the Dali Museum in Figueras in 2006! It'll be another decade or two before they'll rediscover culture and hopefully decide that it's not so bad after all.

Photos - from the top:

• Blanchardstown Shopping Centre
• The tent in the garden
• Hugh Lane Gallery
• Passion and Politics Exhibition detail
• The Lavery Legacy and currency notes
• Painting of picnic scene by Sir John Lavery
• Fireplace in the Hugh Lane Gallery
• Lady Lavery Painting by Sir John Lavery
• The Francis Bacon Studio
• An aptly titled bus - for teen daughter

A Spring Stroll through Dublin

Last Monday I went to Dublin with hubby Jan for the day as we had some business to deal with which involved two meetings in the city centre. Both were across the Liffey on the Southside; one on the quays and the other off Baggot Street, near St. Stephen's Green, the leafy centre of Dublin, famed in many a song and story.

I spent years living and working in Dublin from my student years and between travels abroad and while I wouldn't swop country life for city life any more, I loved the buzz of the city when I was footloose and fancy free. It's a great time to be in the city: no cares in the world other than studying, working and getting from one party to another by bike, in no particular order of importance!

We had a lovely day driving up from Lismore -we drove via Cork as we dropped Shayne and Jany and Sofia back home before driving on the nice nearly-new motorway to Dublin, with not a plane in the skies, which were fluffy cumulus clouds all day long, no sign of the Icelandic Volcanic ash that had grounded every plane in Northern Europe. (The link above gives you some jokes on the volcano!)

We parked at our friends' house in Glasnevin which is one of the few free-parking streets left in Dublin, and walked into the city centre, down Dorset Street and O'Connell Street via Temple Street and Parnell Square, by the Garden of Remembrance and the Gate Theatre and the GPO, scene of the Easter Rising in 1916, all famous and historical landmarks.

After our meetings we came back by Kildare Street, home of the Dáil (Irish Parliament) at Leinster House, and Trinity College. While Jan stopped to take a call on his mobile on College Green, I took some snapshots of Irish "mounties" - Gardai on horseback riding around by Trinity College (home of the Book of Kells) and of the statue of Thomas Moore, the 19th Century poet whose ballads were collectively known as Moore's Melodies.

Some are cited in some Joycean works - there was a plaque in the footpath (pavement) to mark one quote from Ulysses. That's a book I confess to not having read, Dubliners being the only one of his books I could master. Mind you there are many Irish people who are defeated by his writings even if he is the father of Irish literature - the greatest Irish writer nearly never read. This plaque is at the foot of the statue of Moore, directly opposite the Bank of Ireland which in colonial days housed the Houses of Parliament.

Across O'Connell Bridge to "de Nortsoide" of the once-whiffy River Liffey - now pristinely unpolluted and repopulated with fish and university rowing club kayaks and canoes - to O'Connell Street, the main drag of Dublin.

The photo from the bridge shows Liberty Hall, SIPTU trade union HQ and still the tallest building in Dublin. This street has undergone major refurbishment in recent years, including wider footpaths, a car-free roadway only open to public transport (taxis, buses, Luas trams) and the dubious crowning glory of the Millenium Spire. This needle has spawned colloquialisms that true to Dublin wit are far more apt if cruder than the official title. The Skewer by the Sewer, the Stiffy by the Liffey, and the Stiletto in the Ghetto are but some of its more printable monikers. The photo of the Spire also shows the statue of that hero of the worker, Big Jim Larkin, founder of the ITGWU and honoured in Irish Labour Party circles to this day.

We had something to eat with our son who's doing his Graphic Design MA in Dublin Institute of Technology this year - I had a treat I only enjoy in Dublin from the Perky Chick Italian Chipper on Dorset Street - Curry Chips and Battered Cod (Joke alert - why are chefs cruel? 'Cos they whip cream and batter the fish!) which is the tastiest around. I love real chipper chips which are chunky and made from real spuds, and fish that's a proper fillet in batter that's deep-fried before my eyes, by a genuine Italian chipper proprietor (even if they are often 2nd or 3rd generation, it's a unique trade they pursue and they have even lately formed a brand organisation ITICA.

We collected our car and had a cuppa tea and a chat with our friend and his son, and were on the home stretch before 8pm. We listened to The Arts Show on Radio One and watched an amazing sunset on the way home, again thanks to the Icelandic volcano (we tell ourselves, though there's no real proof of a link - just romantic speculation), and arrived home about 10.30pm.

I enjoyed being a passenger as I was able to take some photos (including the one of the iconic Irish Independent printing press on the Naas Road and Avoca in Rathcoole), and have a snooze en route.

By the end of 2010 it should be motorway all the way from Cork to Dublin, which will shorten our trip even more as the current bottleneck of Abbeyleix will be bypassed. Hard to believe that 10 years ago there was hardly any motorway between our two main cities. All that'll be needed then are some Services - there are no pit stops anywhere on our motorway network and tenders haven't even been requested, so strong bladders will be needed for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, enjoy the views of our stroll through our historical capital city.


The photos from the top are:

• The Spire and Big Jim Larkin on O'Connell Street
• The M1 near Fermoy, Co. Cork
• College Green with Bank of Ireland and Trinity College
• The Joycean Plaque at College Green
• The Statue of Thomas Moore, College Green
• O'Connell Bridge with Libery Hall
• Irish Mounties on College Green by Trinity College
• Bank of Ireland (ex-Parliament Houses)
• Avoca cafe Rathcoole, Naas Road
• Independent Printing Press, Citywest, Naas Road
• Sunset from M1 near Portlaoise