8/29 -- Explore Dublin and Pack for Home

This morning, we met Lorcan Collins, a local historian, at the Park of Remembrance and learned about the 1916 Easter Rising. If the planned arms delivery hadn't been foiled, it could have been a very different result. The Rising was supposed to start on Sunday morning, but the leader tried to call it off for lack of arms. At a meeting that day, it was decided to launch it on Monday instead, totally confusing all those who had planned to participate. It was launched with 1,200 Irish partisans against 3,500 British troops. The timing was planned for the middle of WWI, to make it more difficult for the British to fight back, but by the end of the week, there were about double the number of Irish, but 29,000 British, and the rebellion was put down. Over 3,400 Irish men were arrested and imprisoned along with 79 women. Sixteen of the leaders were executed the next month. 1,800 were sent to internment camps and prisons in England and Wales. Fifteen years in these prisons ended up being educational for the rebels and facilitated their ability to fight back when they were finally released.

The park also had a statue representing the children of King Lir, whose children were turned to swans by a jealous step mother who cursed them to live 300 years on each of three islands. On the third island, they were finally freed by a church bell  and turned back into children and quickly died of old age. The statue depicts their transformation back to humans or maybe from kids to swans.

There were other statues too, some with cute nicknames. One I was unable to photograph was a slender woman sort of leaning back in a pool. She had originally been in the River Liffey (Lethe?) and is known as "The Floozy in the Jacuzzi".

The Millennium Tower is commonly called
The Stiletto in the Ghetto or The Stiffy
by the Liffey. BTW,  notice the
clear blue sky! The first clear sky all trip.
It didn't last, but it didn't rain either.

We walked down to the Post Office, which became the headquarters of the Irish rebels. Even today you can see the shell holes in the pillars of the Post Office and several statues in the area. The rebels broke out the windows to prevent them from being sprayed by glass coming in. They stacked ledger books in the windows to provide cover inside. Several buildings in the area burned and the fires were so intense that the inner wall of the Post Office was too hot to touch.

GPO or General Post Office

Bullet holes in the columns

The windows on the left were the ones removed.

Jim Larkin was a union organizer. When the
Dublin Police attacked and killed striking workers,
he and James Connolly founded the Irish Citizen
Army to protect the strikers.

Above and below: plaques on the Jim Larkin
pedestal.

Another statue to Daniel O'Connell, who we
'met' in Ennis earlier in the trip. He is the one
who led the repeal of the Penal Laws which
persecuted Catholics and other religious
minorities for 200  years.

We ended up at Trinity College and separated to explore the city on our own. 

On the way to Trinity, we saw the Hapenny Bridge, so called
because when it was first built, you  had to pay a half
penny to cross it.

Entering into Trinity College

One of the school buildings in the Trinity Collage Square.

We went in search of a bottle of Irish Cream, similar to Baileys, but white instead of creamy, like the one we had had in Ennis at our home-hosted dinner. Apparently, we should have pursued it earlier, because we were unable to find it. We had lunch in a park, walked to see the James Joyce Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava and then over to the Jameson Distillery for a tour.

The park where we ate lunch. Not as sunny, but pleasant .

Walking toward Jameson, we passed an area of the original
Viking settlement.

James Joyce Bridge. The two arches bend outward to
remind you of an open book.

We got there very early and they let us take an earlier tour. We learned about the company history, their process of distilling, and sampled three whiskeys from different makers: Jameson, Johnny Walker Black, and Jack Daniels. They were all very different. The Johnny Walker is heated with peat and has a definitive smoky flavor. The Jack Daniels is made with barley and corn and aged only in new barrels and tasted of banana of all things. Afterward we got a glass, either neat, on the rocks, or with ginger (as in ginger ale, I discovered) and lime. As a non-whiskey drinker, I clearly preferred the adulterated version. I could actually finish a glass of the ginger and lime, but not the one on the rocks which Jim took care of. I  also decided that adding ice did not enhance it, and should have gotten one neat instead.

Courtyard of the distillery

Introduction while we waited for the tour to start.

Page of a book about whiskey. The name
comes from the Irish for Water of Life.

Notice the heavy beams! The barrel is on a scale. It was
weighed when first filled, then again when aging completed.
There was always evaporation (called the Angel's Portion)
and distillers didn't want to pay taxes on the evaporated part.

From there, we walked back to the hotel to work on packing for our departure tomorrow noon. It is definitely nice to be leaving mid day vs. early morning!

Around the corner from our hotel, there was a group singing
in apparent protest about the plight of the homeless here.
The hotel they are in front of is being used to support the
homeless and it wants to become a fancier place for traveler
 instead, hence the protest.
Dublin has half the population of the Republic and better
job opportunities, but housing volume has not kept pace
and the number of homeless is growing as rents escalate,
similar to the problems in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

 

 We shared a lovely group dinner with our fellow travelers on our final night. It is always a happy surprise to travel with a group of people you never met before and discover that you would gladly spend time with them again.

8/28 -- Apple Orchard on the Drive to Dublin

We set out later today because Dublin is not that far away and the plan was to have lunch at an apple farm. The farm was originally started in the 1600s with a land grant from the British crown, with the caveat that they had to grow apples. Armies needed safe beverage sources since the water during travels and war could not be trusted, and that meant that wine and hard cider were critical. Because neither apples nor grapes had as much sugar as they do today, they were both much lower in alcohol than today and would stand up to travel better than casks of water.

The second house, continously used since it was built
around 1760.

The farm changed hands a couple times, and was last bought by Phillip's great grandfather. Phillip's son did not want to work on the farm and became an electrical engineer, but changed his mind and is now working with his father, first tending to and improving the machinery and now learning about raising apples.

Phillip with rows of trees behind him.

Some of the other varieties they grow.

Their primary fruit is an ancient, low sugar apple, Bromley, that makes Granny Smith seem sweet. They also raise several other varieties. Although they sold whole apples in the past, there was not enough of a market for them and now most of their harvest becomes apple juice or cider. They define cider as a product with alcohol and juice as non-alcohol.

Sampling the Bromley. Elizabeth seems okay with it, but
I doubt that Michael will take a second bite.

Cider is basically apple wine, and the production process is quite similar.They press a large percentage of the different apples together, and a subset independently by variety to enable them to adjust the final product to add sugar or tartness, whatever is needed. They also make varieties that are infused with fruit or honey, for example. We had a chance to sample several of the ciders and a few of the juices. My favorite juice was enhanced with rhubarb.

The pressing machine. Apples are washed in the bin on the
bottom right and lifted up the tube to be shredded with the
round grater on top of the middle silver box, and then
pressed and the liquid ejected into a container like the one
below. The solids are kept and used as feed and fertilizer.

Danny explains it all. He had quite the sense of humor.

The only part of the bottling machine that I could get a good
photo of. The left apparatus fills the bottles and the right
one caps them.

This is an enormous (and still cold) refrigerator primarily
used for storing apples before pressing.

Lunch was fabulous, served with cider, and ending with apple pie to die for.

These are walls from the original 1600s home.

Lunch was served on a table made of two thick planks of
Irish redwood.

While we were dining, Phillip,s daughter, Kelly, came in with
her two small daughters. One starts school very soon and
he says she will love it. This one starts pre-school the same
day and will not like it.

This is also a big deal horse breeding operation with 70 horses currently in residence. Phillip's wife, Helen, not only oversees the cider blending, she is also an avid horsewoman and focuses on Irish horses and Connemara Ponies (who are up to 14.2 hands tall, bigger than what I think of as ponies). At one time, they had nineteen active studs and were the biggest breeder in Northern Ireland. After lunch, we got to see one of their retired studs, a Connemara Pony who is 22 years old. As you can see below, he looks like a slightly short horse, not a pony. He was born a buckskin, matured into a dark brown, and now is grey. 

 

Back on the bus, we finished the drive to Dublin and took a bus tour around the main part of the city before heading to our hotel for our last two days in Ireland.

8/27 -- Belfast 'Troubles' and the Titanic

We started out today in a black taxi (quite comfortable for four in the back) and drove around Belfast getting our driver's view of the 30 year conflict and stopping to see lots of murals. We drove through both Catholic and Protestant working class areas. Unlike Derry, Belfast has been the scene of an in-your-face march annually for a long time. The Protestants would organize this antagonist march through Catholic areas. The 1998 Good Friday agreement  didn't end the march, but kept it out of the Catholic neighborhoods. It now includes an enormous bonfire on the border between the two areas. There is also a very high wall between the areas that runs about three miles, and has gates that are still closed and locked at 6pm every evening. While it looks sort of like a curfew situation, you can still get into any area, just not as conveniently.

One notable story was about the change in rules of how political prisoners were treated. They could wear their own clothing instead of criminal garb, and were exempted from the work requirements of criminals. When the British government changed their classification to criminals, they protested in a couple of ways. First, they wore blankets instead of the criminal clothing. That extended for five years. Then there was a hunger strike,  led by Bobby Sands. The strike ended when they thought they had an agreement with the British, but the British reneged, and the hunger strike was called again. There was also an agreement that when the current Parliamentary representative's term of office was up, that Bobby Sands could run, even if he was in prison. The representative died, and Sands won, but died from the hunger strike along with nine others.

The 32 in the mural represents the 32 counties in all of
Ireland, 26 in the Republic, 6 in the UK.

This is the tallest building in Catholic Belfast.
The two top stories were occupied by the
British Army as a way of keeping tabs on
the activities in the area.

Following photos: some of the murals we saw.

This was one of my favorites...

Bobby Sands, who looks sort of feminine,
even in  his wikipedia photo.

Bobby Sands poem

The wall was originally the height of the low green section,
but raised to make it harder to throw things over.

Bill Clinton's contribution to a section of the wall that is
covered with signatures and text.

Sign authored by the Dalai Lama

The remains of this year's Protestant march bonfire, with the
wall and Nationalist homes in the background.

English flags fly all over in Loyalist West Belfast, which also
features this Queen Elizabeth mural.

Photo of a photo of building the July march bonfire. One
year, embers from it set several homes on fire.

A hero of the Loyalists

Interesting poster in Loyalist West Belfast. I wonder how
brave they are if they choose to wear hoods.

William of Orange, a Dutchman who was imported to
England and Ireland as a Protestant king to depose the
Catholic king, James II. It is why the Northern Irish Loyalists
are known as Orangemen.

After our taxi tour, we had an interesting panel discussion, featuring a former British Army member, a Nationalist or Republican, and a Unionist or Loyalist. The Nationalist and Loyalist both got involved with paramilitary operations in their teens and both spent time in jails.The Nationalist told us about the blanket protest, and that he only wore two blankets for five years. He also said he rarely left his cell, because the blanket protesters were subject to abuse by the guards. The Loyalist became a mediator.

The Army man was from Britain and was encouraged by his parents to get a job at age16, but after a year of being a butcher, he followed some friends into the army. He had hoped to be posted someplace sunny and warm, but ended up in Northern Ireland on two tours, once for six months, and then for two years. He emphasized how his training was focused on obedience vs. thinking and dehumanizing the opponent. They were given no context for the violence from the Nationalists and he viewed all the Nationalists as suspicious. During his second stint, he started reading about the history of the situation and came to see that it was much more complex than he thought. He ended his army career when his term was up, married an Irish girl, and went to college, eventually earning a PhD. in American History.

They all thought that progress toward a lasting peace had been made in the last 20 years, but it will take more generations and more integrated schools to totally turn the tide. And looking at our experience in the Civil War that ended over 150 years ago, it is likely to be a very long time before there is universal equality, although the US situation was exacerbated by the treatment of the South after the war, and I hope the Irish will do better.

Then we headed off to lunch and had elected to take a tour of the Titanic Museum. There was a LOT of information and the initial entry could have been better at indicating the optimal sequence of displays. Next came sort of a Disney ride through the process of building the ship which was a fun intro to a floor showing how it was built. The next section showed various parts of the ship, with a mockup of a 1st Class and 3rd Class bedroom. Then we went on to the sinking, with copies of Morse code messages that went out, including one boat receiving who said something like 'Stop sending, you are hogging the transmissions.' It ended with views and a movie of the rediscovery.

Above and below: The Titanic Museum

 The weather today was supposed to be clear and only partly cloudy in the afternoon, so I dressed lightly, but the wind was brutal. Since we had planned to walk the two miles back to the hotel to get in some exercise, I decided to purchase an extra layer at the gift shop to avoid feeling like I was freezing for the walk home. My new fleece was very helpful, and the signage in the city for the Titanic Trail easily led us back to the vicinity of our hotel.

Old style boats in the Marina

Big Fish -- The Salmon of Knowledge with ceramic tiles
documenting the history of Belfast.

Interesting sculpture along the riverside.

Oldest building in Belfast, it claims

Albert Clock