Stardate: 13 May 2019 - The Dubliners

Out and about early today as there was much to be seen and done on our only full day in Dublin.

First stop was for breakfast and I rather liked the look of my coffee. Tasted fine too but good grief, everything is so expensive in this town!  This small flat white was 3 euros 30 cents which comes in at $5.34.  Plenty of locals coming in and paying the same price so it wasn't just a tourist scam. Ditto their toasted cheesy breakfast offerings.   

Tram ticket and receipt

Next up we bought all-day tram tickets.  What we didn't know was that the ticket dispenser also dispenses a similar-looking receipt when you purchase your ticket. I'm not sure why, as surely a dated ticket is ample evidence for a ticket inspector.  Dubliners clearly feel the same way as they just leave their receipts inside the dispenser and when Geoff tried to retrieve his ticket he managed to shuffle all the old receipts (about 20) along with his ticket.  We then had the job of frantically sifting through all this detritus to find his ticket with the tram fast approaching. Memo to Dublin Trams: ditch the receipts! 

Purple poppies at St Stephens Green

Tram ticketing dilemmas resolved, we boarded and then alighted at St Stephens Green - a beautiful park adjacent to the Australian Embassy.  We had a lovely wander through the park which played a crucial role in the 1916 Easter rising against the British when it was commandeered by Irish patriots, of whom the second-in-command was a woman, Countess Constance Markievicz.  (She was actually Irish and was married to a Polish count.) The rising failed, the patriots surrendered and Constance was sentenced to death along with 16 others.  Her sentence was eventually converted to life imprisonment but she was released a year later in a general amnesty.  Several years later she was the first woman to be elected to the British parliament but refused to take her seat as it was against Sinn Fein party policy.  A magnificent woman.  

No, we did not wear our badges. 😏

Next we returned to the Australian Embassy across the road from the park.  I say returned because they had sent us away when we charged through the door at 8.30am, anxious to vote, when their voting booths did not open till 9am. (Can you see a pattern with our over-punctuality?  It's something we both suffer from and this foible keeps our 16-year relationship fresh and sparkling.)

Embassy staff were all charming and efficient and we were surprised to be handed what seemed to be original ballot papers rather than printed-off copies. Although perhaps they have fancy printers.  If so it was all done very quickly as it was only about 2 minutes between verifying our credentials and being handed our ballot papers.  They even had proper cardboard voting booths, just like on election day!  No democracy sausages though, although we were offered a lamington and a badge on departure.  10 points to the Dublin embassy - very professional, efficient and charming with it.  Well done.  

Shamus O'Shamrockpants will be with your shortly to tell you how completely whelmed we were by our Book of  Kells experience at Trinity College.  But the afternoon's excursion for half the cost was extraordinary.  Stand by for his penetrating and insightful commentary! xxx

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The Book of Kells is possibly the single most popular tourist attraction in Dublin.  If Trip Advisor says otherwise then I won't argue, but it's certainly in the top 5.  We thought we'd done really well when we found an electronic ticket machine at Trinity College that allowed us to purchase tickets 

for a particular time, so that we didn't have to line up with the great unwashed to get in.  The earliest time we were allowed was 12 noon, so we happily accepted.

You can imagine our excitement when our entry time approached, particularly as there was a queue of  several hundred metres of those who had no advance purchase tickets (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration there).  So with great anticipation in we went.

Well, us and several hundred others that is.  You do actually get to see the Book of Kells (under several feet of reinforced glass of course) and, look, it's impressive enough, dating from 800 AD as it does.  But you have to compete with the hordes to get near it.  And you're not allowed to photograph it.  You also get to see the Long Room (see photo), which is in effect a library of many thousands of ancient tomes.  It's pretty impressive too.  The 3000 others who were allowed in with us agreed.

We have to say that if you come to this part of the world to see ancient books, the Treasures Room at the British Library in London is better, by a factor of, oh I don't know, maybe a thousand.  Much more to see, and infinitely fewer pesky tourists (like us, we have to acknowledge).

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly Kilmainham Gaol.  The gaol is now a national monument.  It was first commissioned as a gaol in 1796, and closed in 1924.  It was rescued from decay by volunteers who thought that its story should be told to future generations, and of course they were right.  

The oldest section is still there and part of the tour.  Here's door of one the cells.  It was designed for one inmate, but during the Irish famine of the mid-19th century it was hugely overcrowded.  This part of the gaol is grim, to say the least.  The other point to note for we antipodeans is that some inmates were transported to our shores. [Possibly including Mr Pants's Irish ancestor Samuel Sloane who was done for insurrection - Ed.] This eventually ended in the 1840s.

Later, a new wing was added to accommodate those imprisoned after later conflicts such as the Irish War of Independence, before its eventual closure.  This is the newer section, that has been featured in numerous movies, including In the Name of the Father.

Here's another view of the same section.  In its day, it was regarded a state of the art.  Looks a fair bit like prisons depicted in many later American movies, doesn't it?

Of course, executions were also carried out at the prison, initially in public.  Here's a memorial to some from 1922.  These patriots rejected the live-on-your-knees ethos of the Irish Free State, imposed by the British.  

We found the tour quite extraordinary.  Not a necessarily pleasant experience, but enormously informative and an invaluable history lesson.  Highly recommended. [And certainly more illuminating than the feckin Book of Kells - Ed.]

Yes, Hortense here again.  Tomorrow we hit the road to Tipperary!  (It's a long way, you know!)