The trip over was on time and uneventful – for Judy and me, but Nancy had her issues with Delta’s Business Class accommodation. Her lay-flat seat wouldn’t recline, requiring assistance from a flight attendant. The free high-speed WiFi wouldn’t connect. And her sleep total approached zero. Judy and I got three plus hours, I’d guess. I slept through breakfast.
Our Airbnb is located on an alley-like street in the fashionable Molesworth neighborhood, home to banks, insurance companies, arts houses and so on. It’s an apartment, adequate but not luxurious. It’ll do, since we’re not going to be spending lots of time here. After getting settled, Judy and Nancy decided to stretch out for a while. I decided to explore.
The rendezvous point for two of our booked excursions is the “Spire.” And that’s what it is: a needle-like structure constructed for the 2000 millennium at a cost of $6 million. It’s a useful meeting point and a focus for downtown, but, according to Rob, our guide this afternoon, it is widely criticized as a wast of money. Whatever, I decided to walk to it so we’d know the route later on. It was a 20-minute hike down busy streets and sidewalks. Our apartment is just south of Trinity College and the route to the Spire passes by the college, across the River Liffey and a bit beyond to O’Connell Street.
Dublin seems to be a clean, reasonably prosperous city, what we’ve seen of it, but it lacks distinctive architecture, a quaint old town and high-end shopping streets. A single day is probably not long enough to form a final opinion but so far, it’s underwhelming. Everyone says it’s the countryside outside Dublin that is the “real” Ireland.
Waiting to cross a busy street a man said, “Where are you from?” Now I’ve been sold enough camels by strangers using that pickup line, so I was a bit reserved in my response. “Boston.” “Ah Boston, my wife went there once . . . “ Another camel salesman line. But this guy, Sean, went on for a half hour walkingWith me and telling me about Dublin and mostly about his life living in the city and nearby. He once was a limo driver and has driven JFK, Bill Clinton and a bunch of rock-and-rollers. His wife is an artist whose work will be on display at a local dealer’s shop soon. He lives 30 minutes away on the water and comes to town once or twice a month. Today he had lunch with an old friend and was on his way to the Shelburne Hotel, just down the street from our apartment. He once worked there and is looking to see old friends. He plays in a band for charity events, and on and on.
I never got a word in edgewise, but what a great introduction to Dublin. Forget the looks. If half the people are as friendly as Sean, I love the place.
Our first venture out was to go to the Guinness Storehouse, a building made over into a tourist attraction that is ranked right up there with the Vatican and Egyptian pyramids. Dumb me, not knowing what exactly our schedule would be, didn’t check for tickets for this afternoon. A 30-minute taxi ride later, the place was booked solid for the afternoon (Friday) and most of tomorrow.
Did I feel like a rank neophyte tour guide. What next? A cloud moved in and dumped a bucket of water on our heads. We walked toward the main drag – several blocks away – looking for shelter. At the bottom of the hill was the Harkin’s Pub. Perfect!
Well, adequate. At least we were out of the rain. Judy and Nancy had doughy, undercooked fish and chips. I had a Pub Stew that was good but probably really good thirty minutes before when it had been ladled out of the pot. The Angry Orchard cider was nice; we all enjoyed that.
Back to the apartment for a 45-minute rest before hitting the pavement for our walk to the Spire and our four-hour pub crawl tour. I once again learned the importance of booking ahead in busy tourist spots.
Rick Steves recommends a pub crawl that focuses on live traditional Irish music. It was booked for our entire two-day stay. I found another one that went to pubs with some live music promised. Better than nothing, I figured. It was OK but the emphasis was on beer and less on music.
Rob, our guide, took us to three pubs: “Favorite pubs I frequent when I’m not working.” Each was set up with special seating areas for tour groups like ours. Rob explained the process of beer making and served everyone a sample of three ales, taught us how to pour Guinness from a tap and introduced us to Irish whiskey. Our group of 19 included folks Canada, Chicago and a mom and daughter from Iceland. Fun getting to know them, especially the pair from Iceland. They live now in Denmark, the daughter is a geriatric nurse working in a nursing home.
The fourth stop was to be at a place with the live music, but by then it was 9 PM and we were fading. We have another busy day planned tomorrow and two weeks in which to experience music, so we called it a day and taxied home early.
The interesting thing about Irish pubs is the people who frequent them. The Irish know how to live. Not just beer drinkers, but families with kids in strollers, People out on dates. Bunches of guys lifting a few with friends. The places were noisy but laughter was the main source of noise.
The Book of Kells and a walking Irish food tour are on the books for tomorrow. Now, it’s time to start dealing with the jet lag factor.
