This past Saturday was spent in Dublin within the whole group. The trip down there was long and arduous because the roads in both Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland are less than metropolitan and are very slow going and winding and combined with bus seats that make your lower back scream for mercy made for quite a trip.
We started our day in Dublin at Kilkenny’s , which in on the bottom level of a store that sells a wide assortment of Irish souvenirs and clothing. The top floor has a café which had a very interesting soup, that no one knows for sure what the ingredients were made from but the general consensus was that was most likely squash or a similar plant. I was disappointed in this café because for a seemingly very Irish store, the food provided felt more like it came from a cookie-cutter Starbucks like establishment and not very Irish. I was hoping for a bit more traditional meal, in the city that is the heart of the Irish Republic.
After a brief layoff we regrouped and started our walking tour which focused on the history of the 1916 Easter Rising. The Rising was the pivotal jump off for Irish independence from Great Britain or at least that is for the southern part of the Island. To be honest, I had little knowledge of the 1916 rising, and for the past few weeks we have been focusing on The Troubles, so I figured that this would be a pretty informative and a good mix-up from what we had been learning. It would also give me a chance to learn more about the history of the Republic of Ireland as all of my maternal great- grandparents immigrated from here. When we began the tour in what I would assume was the quad at Trinity College (just a guess), our tour guide gave us a lot of background on the rebellion itself ( such as the fact that it actually happened on Easter Monday as opposed to Sunday.) As the tour continued, I really liked how the tour guide went off the beaten path and tried to give us a view of what these people were like and where they lived. Unfortunately I think that I and the rest of my group (though I cannot speak for them) were not prepared historically enough for this in-depth download, much of the time was spent try to catch up and digest what figures the guide was talking about. I really feel that without a better understanding of history an extremely fast paced and deeply informative tour on the busy streets of Dublin, losses its effectiveness. This was the kind of tour that I think would have been really helpful in Derry especially in the Bogside with all its history of conflict instead of getting the same information in lectures. As great as the tour was, in my opinion it was a little bit over everyone’s head unless they really knew the background and players in the 1916 rising.
The rest of my time in Dublin was spent on the go for the most part. Since we were in such a historic city it was only natural for the (ugh men) to head off to the Guinness factory and so we did. We realized too late that it was a serious hike to the other end of the city for us weary travelers . I do not wish to romanticize drinking in anyway, but it was an extremely enjoyable experience. The factory tour provided an informative historical insight of the undeniable connection with the St. James Gate brewery and the city of Dublin. Afterwards we went to the oldest pub in the whole of Ireland for dinner; the Brazen Head Pub has existed in some form or another as a pub on the same spot of land from 1198 A.D. till now. It is crazy to think that this one spot people have been coming to eat and drink for centuries. The stone entrance supposedly dates back a few hundred years. Overall my trip to Dublin was great and I would love to return again someday.
