On to the Continent!

These past few days, I've had the privilege of being able to show Alex around my adopted city, and it is so neat to be able to show someone else Dublin, now that I know it fairly well. On Sunday, we got up early to go into the city for a Latin High Mass, sung at St Kevin's church in South Dublin. It was beautiful, the service being completely sung by the men's choir and carried out in the most traditional sense-- my knees were sore from kneeling by the end of it.

From there, I took him up to Howth Head, where we had a lunch of buckets of fresh steamed mussels and boiled potatoes along the wharf. We hiked a bit around the head for the afternoon, then went back down to meet Bill and Freda for a pre-dinner pint at the Magpie, in Dalkey. There, we got to sample the new experiment down and Bill's favourite craft beer pub--- cask ale. This English Style Ale is made by a local micro-brewery and served at basement temperature, as the traditional pubs in the English Midlands still do. It was very good, but it took a bit to grow on you. We had dinner with the O'Deas back at the house, and they seemed to warm up to Alex quite well.

This morning, Bill, Alex, Musha and I went for a dawn "stretch of the legs" up on Killiney Hill. The views on the hill are incredible, especially early in the morning when the sun is shining. It is the best spot to get a full view of the city of Dublin and the entire bay, stretching from Howth Head in the north, down to the mouth of the Liffey, on to Dalkey Island and all the way to Bray Head in the south. The Sugarloaf Mountain can also be seen from the summit of the hill, as the Wicklow Mountains fall away to the south and west.

The rest of the day, Alex and I spent in Dublin. We went on a tour of Kilmainon Gaol, the old detention centre of the British rule, where rebels from 6 risings, from the Rebellion of 1798 on, have been held. We saw the cells of Padraic Pearse, Sir Fitzgerald, Robert Emmett, Thomas Francis Meagher, Eamon de Valera, and Charles Stewart Parnell. All these patriots, and more, were held in the jail at one time or another, and in the back stone yard is the site where the leaders of the infamous 1916 Easter Rising were executed by firing squad.

From there, we went to Beshoff's for a meal of fish and chips- fresh caught haddock. We spent time in St Stephen's Green, at the General Post Office, and Trinity College. We also stopped in at a number of the more authentic shops as Alex shopped for some nice tweeds, sweaters, and caps. Tonight, we celebrated Freda's birthday with the O'Deas, eating a great meal by Bill of chicken, chickory, and baked Alaska for dessert.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I will be off for Paris and France! I am a bit nervous-- I am no great French speaker (I know none) but hopefully Alex's French will be better than mine, and we will find our way. We fly out in the morning, and I am looking forward to a few good days down there!

Dublin Streets

St Kevin's Church, where Alex and I attended Mass on Sunday

Our statue of Molly Malone, in Downtown Dublin, and the Statue of Cu Chulainn, in the General Post Office

Killiney Beach and Bray Head, South of Dublin

Trinity Green

Kilmainham Gaol- the infamous imperialist prison

 Kilmainham Gaol may look familiar, it was used in over 70 movies including Daniel Day Lewis's In the Name of the Father, and Michael Collins. Inmates were held in these cells, including such famous patriots as Eamon de Valera, Robert Emmett, Charles Stewart Parnell, etc.


Below is the stone breakers' yard where the leaders of '16 were executed, including James Connolly, who had to be tied to a chair, having been injured in the fighting, to be propped up to receive his execution.