Dublin Eats

A bit more pub food than usual...

A bit better pub food than usual, however (8.95E for half a
dozen, including the pint)

Cheese board

Spending the day in the city occasionally
required a visit to the Hasty Tasty

Thus; pulled pork slop on the left, chicken with some sort of
cream sauce on the right

A dining "thing" in Dublin, Steak on a Stone: you take a slab of
volcanic stone and put it in the oven to 250-280F; sear the steak
30 seconds to the side, slab it and serve with whatever side; the
steak looked like a filet mignon, 8 oz; you thus cook it to your
liking, piece by piece if you like; new to us anyway; plus, made
it easy to remembers to keep you elbow off the table

The table still steaming after the serving tray is gone

But the best meal was our 48th anniversary dinner; after 5
straight days of spending the day (and a bit of the night) in town,
we were too tired to go in again, and so had dinner in the camper;
appetizer: crab pate and stuffed something...

Main course: Irish steak with sauteed mushroom

Dessert: fruit tartlets and espresso; the candle and napkin, I
note, are from our wedding in 1968; so Dublin joins Naarden
(Netherlands), Paris, Antwerp, Paris, Florence, Menlo Park,
Copenhagen, and Missoula, among the places we have
celebrated; but who's counting?

Dublin Museums

We visited three Dublin museums on this campaign: the Chester Beatty Library, the National Art Gallery, and the National Museum (of archaeology).

Beatty was an American geologist who got quite rich in the
later 1800s, moved to London after the death of his wife, and
there continued a life-long passion for collecting; his
particular interest was religious texts, primarily the
Abrahamic religions, but Asian as well; much of the three
floors, near the castle, also concerns the history of paper
making, ink and pens, printing, and so forth; alas, the Beatty
has a "no fotos!" policy, but I did get this one of a mid-2nd
century copy of the Gospels, a page from Luke, oldest 
known copy

And a page from Mark (of course)

The National Art Gallery is undergoing some
significant renovation; the biggies were out,
nonetheless; we concentrated on them, knowing
little of Irish art; this is Vermeer's Woman
Writing a Letter...how big do you want? They
also had a selection of Leonardo's drawings,
on loan of course

Velasquez' Kitchen Maid at the Dinner at Emmaus; "that's some
funny shit they're talking about..."

A younger Peter Breughel Peasant Wedding; there was also an
Avercamp winter scene, but I didn't focus it well

What dreams are made of...a lost Caravaggio...The Betrayal Kiss
...not found at a yard sale, but the story is actually instructive
about how these things sometimes get lost; and found

Delacroix' Demosthenes Practicing at the Beach

A Monet, something about a river

John Singer Sargent, The Bead Stringers of Venice

We visited the National History Museum in 2009 and were fairly
blown away by the collection. It hasn't changed a great deal,
although the stuff that keeps being found in the bog and elsewhere
is pretty compelling; above are Mesolithic fish traps, found in
County Meath, 5300-4730 BC. Other artifacts found were as old
as 5500 BC.

Most of Ireland's megalithic stuff is too large, and fragile, to
haul into a museum, but they did they get this little burial vault
inside; the best museum of the megalithic is at Bru na Boinne,
a bit north of Dublin, and we'll be getting there toward the end
of this visit; I'd be surprised to learn that Ireland does not have
the most megalithic sites, per square mile, of any place in
Europe; and maybe by any measure, anywhere

The Lurgan Canoe, 2500 BC, a dugout found in
a bog near Galway; it's a meter wide and more
than 15 meters long--fifty feet! Obviously used
for cruises

Neolithic jadeite ceremonial axes (nearest jadeite is in the
the Italian Alps); maybe I can find one in Ireland, if not Carnac;
4000-3800 BC

The more recent artifacts...4,000 years or younger, are typically
presented with other items in the bog-hoard in which they were
found; here  two rings, a dress fastener, a gold bracelet, and an
amber necklace; remember, amber comes only from the Baltic

Nine gold beads, fit for a giant...they're about 4 inches in
diameter

Nicely carved stone

More archaeological-grade gold; and amber

Five lunulae--crescent-shaped gold necklaces, many delicately
inscribed--among scores on display; we're now into the earliest
stage of the Bronze Age, say 2000 BC

From a hoard of torcs, bracelets

Imagine the neck-ache of carrying these babies around; no
wonder they to put them in the bog safety-deposit

First prize, at least among the older gold work...an oared vessel
complete with seats spanning the hull and 16 oars; there was
plenty more to see at this museum, but, you get it; don't miss it if
you go to Dublin

Dublin Pubs

We spent 3-4 nights doing the Dublin pub/music thing, mostly in Temple Bar, but not entirely. The best place, considering architecture as well as the music and dancing, we discovered at the end of our Dublin days, and it warrants a separate post.

Cobblestone is a bit of a neighborhood place, north of the Liffey,
in Smithfield

It is a bit of a purists' hang-out; apparently if you know Trad
music (as the Irish call it)(they are into the whole brevity thing)
you can just bring your instrument and join in; there are
instrumental numbers, solos, recitations, solo songs; it is not
fast paced, since much of the time is devoted to deciding what
number to do next; not everybody joins in on every number;
the quality was exceptional: not amateur hour

Indeed

Fleet St., Temple Bar district, early evening; over the weekend
it was loaded with stag and hen parties, nearly as much fun to
watch as the musicians

At The Temple Bar

I had no idea there are that many Irish whiskies

Much of our time was at Oliver St. John Gogarty's, where we
heard two groups

As at Cobblestone, and everywhere else, we were persistent
and lucky enough to get front row seats, or, as here, seats with
the group

A couple hours later, upstairs, another group

This guy, Stephen Leech, seated by his poster/painting, a
popular promoter of Trad, did things on the banjo I didn't  know a
banjo could do

[Reserved For Trinity U And The Book Of Kells]

Coming soon...

Dublin Joyce Walk

My interests in Irish literature are limited to James Joyce, though I readily concede there is way, way more to Irish lit, much of it among the world's greatest literature. Anyhow, while Vicki did a tour of Trinity U and the Book of Kells, I did a 90 minute walk under the auspices of the James Joyce Center.

As observed earlier, you can learn a fair amount about Irish lit just reading the signs
on  various buildings in Temple Bar

Or noticing the sculpture at various pubs

Or reading the sidewalk plaques that are all over the old
city; Dubliners are justifiably proud of their literary heritage,
even including the silence, cunning, and exile bits

The Joyce Center's circle walk was ably led by this young woman, whose
knowledge of the city, Joyce and his writings, was impressive; nor was she
one of those who simply venerates Joyce; here she is telling us about
Belvedere College, Joyce's most formative years, and Stephen's

7 Eccles Street is one of the most famous addresses in literature

Alas, the flat occupied by the Blooms is no longer there (there's a plaque to Joyce
on the building's lower left)

Now a hospital, although someone has helpfully hung a small banner for tourists

Similarly with many of the addresses associated with the Joyce/ Daedalus family,
whose frequent removals kept them a step ahead of the creditors 

One of their addresses, on Hardwicke Lane, now also gone

The house in which Gogarty (Buck Mulligan) was born; Joyce and Gogarty were
friends and rivals, early on; in a more conventional sense, Gogarty was the more
successful...if wealth and public approval count...

The Gresham Hotel ("Ivy Day in the Committee Room," Dubliners; the Parnell
statue is nearby)

"The prick with a stick," as Dubliners now call it, just off the
intersection of Henry and O'Connell

Interesting observation, in an exhibit at the art museum on the subject of the
Irish Diaspora; it took Joyce a while to get to the generosity stage...