News is a very big deal here in Ireland. The tiny population of this nation (roughly 4.5 million people) supports a startling number of newspapers (17 daily papers, I’ve heard).
The television news vans often line the streets in front of the Four Courts (the nation’s highest tribunal) and the government buildings shown in the panorama below. In it, the vans are just starting to pile up… a sure sign something important is happening inside this beautiful building.
Looks like a big news day!
The Archeology gallery of the National Museum of Ireland is a chock full of fascinating treasures. The building itself is also remarkable. I’ve enjoyed visiting this place with both Esther Sterchi and Amanda Bernhard (the famous Fulbright student). Of particular interest at this museum: numerous bog bodies, “prehistoric” relics, the Viking exhibition, and the unimaginably long wooden boat that was carved from a single tree trunk (see the panorama below).
I love the design of the Museum. I wish I could see it without the skylight blocked out, though.
I’m sitting here in my favorite Monday-night seat in Hughes Pub. I had hoped to catch up with Gavin before his trip to Portugal where he will investigate flexible spaces for teaching engineers using hands on approaches.
But alas, he’s nowhere to be found. His brother is here, though, playing whistle and uilleann pipes. I congratulated him on graduating a PhD on Saturday (in the area of energy).
Here’s a quick glimpse into St. Stephen’s Green. The squares and greens in Dublin are separated from the street by dense vegetation and high wrought iron fences. That technique doesn’t work it the States, where such separations tend to yield dangerous spaces. But here they seem safe enough (at least for me to occasionally pass through by myself at mid-day).
Due to the separation, the squares and greens are peaceful, quiet, and serene. They offer respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. Like New York’s Central Park, St. Stephen’s walled off Green was designed to be seen, not heard. The views were designed to be “scenic” in the tradition of English landscape design (i.e., they were carefully composed for the visitor’s viewing pleasure). St. Stephen’s Green is not a park for playing football/soccer or dodge ball. Frederick Law Olmsted would probably not be pleased with all the sport that’s been carved into Central Park (it runs counter to his original intentions for serenity, visual perfection, and individual contemplation).
St. Stephen’s Green is often quite still. And far fewer people go in than if the edges were transparent, “perforated,” or “porous.”
The Green is fine (and at times quite delightful) but I do quite prefer bustling, noisy, stone-paved plazas myself. Dubliners, too, want urban spaces like that and many hope for the addition of new piazze (Italianate plazas) in the center of town. They have only three to my recollection: Meeting House Square, Temple Bar Square, and Smithfield Plaza. The first two are quite small and the third is very large. It is, I’ve been told, the largest cobbled plaza in all of Europe. (Or perhaps, just the longest?)
What Dublin lacks in piazze though, it makes up for in bustling pedestrian-only shopping streets. Dublin clearly has the corner on the market with regard to streets, with some of the finest pedestrian shopping streets to be found in the world (Grafton Street and Henry Street, for instance).
The answer is YES! You just need teammates and awesome teachers to help you find your way. They’re building simple robots at DIT with sophomore engineering students… and sometimes even with school kids.
We all thought Jonathan fit the bill.
I’ve always likes the sign at Third Space that says, “Up here it’s okay to talk to strangers,” but I didn’t know exactly why they’d posted it.
The place was packed when Jonathan, Amanda (another Fulbright), and I ordered breakfast, and Amanda located seats at a large table up top.
It appears that they want to encourage customers to share tables on this raised level. They have two very long, family style tables.
The crowd soon thinned out and we had plenty of space to ourselves.
Thankfully we had Jonathan with us, so we met the criteria for sitting up there! (We had someone stranger to talk to!!!!)
😉
I explained the philosophy of “third space” in an earlier blog and other adventures I’ve had at Third Space in Smithfield (Dublin 7) as well.
Cafeteria tables on the upper level of Third Space.
Today, I needed to purchase a new external hard drive so I could download photos for you. On the way to the computer store, I ran into Brendan Lynch. He ran the musical performances I attended at the Arlington Hotel with Esther, Kitty Lee and Patty. He also owns The Horse Shoe, located where Capel runs into Bolton Street.
Brendan had the door to his shop open and the sounds of an Irish banjo filled the air. I stepped into the tiny space, introduced myself, and learned a bit about Brendan’s past and present work.
Turns out Brendan is an artist, photographer, musician, performer, music teacher, instrument trader, city planner, conservation expert, and business owner… a Renaissance man in my book. As he’s also a history buff, I told him about Fergus Whelan’s book, the planners I’d come across when visiting the former parliament building, and the tour I took recently with DIT’s Gavin Buggy.
The Cobblestone musicians corner on Friday night.
Patty sang us Annie’s Song!
I swear I have more fun each time I visit the Cobblestone. I’ve developed such respect for the people there. And, honestly, they make me feel like a rock star. They are so complimentary of my Fulbright blog. It feels like “everybody knows my name.”
There’s far more of significance to the world more going on at the Cobblestone than at Cheers. As case in point, I got to catch up with Fergus Whelan on this particular evening. He had left a copy of his book Dissent into Treason for me to pick up last week (click here for more about the book). I let Tom Mulligan know Kitty and I were mailing a CD of his music to Kevin Donleavy as well; perhaps it will be “on air” in Charlottesville soon. These folks are dedicated to preserving cultural traditions and recounting history.
Being at the Cobblestone really makes me wish I was musically talented!
Fortunately, my friend Patty is. The musicians at the Cobblestone got her to sing a song. And of course, we all followed along with “Country Roads,” a sure-fire selection when the mention of Virginia arises. Never mind that it’s about West Virginia and the three of us hail from Virginia! In any case, you can practically see W.Va. from where Kitty and Patty live (Harrisonburg) and where I was born (the New River Valley). And you can certainly see the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River from Kitty’s place.
Patty was ready for the event. She and I had practiced singing the night before, actually. On our last evening in Cork, Tony, Kitty, and Patty cooked dinner to avoid Valentine’s Day crowds in the restaurants. Then Patty and I had a festive sing-along around the dinner table and the peat fire Tony had built.
We drew from the Catholic folks songs of our childhoods, favorite camp songs, and music popular in the ’70s. It all worked out fine when I set the key and Patty followed along. (It’s a disaster for me trying the other way around… I just can’t get up that high! Even one octave lower is too high for me.)
When we needed help with the lyrics, Tony pulled up the text on line so we could sing karaoke-style.
Ah, the cider….
You’ll find me at the Cobblestone with a glass of Bulmer’s in my hand again “real soon”….
Bundled up and ready to tour Muckross House!
Muckross house is located near the town of Kilarney in southwestern Ireland. We went there — twice — last week. We had to work hard to see inside of the house, but I knew my three traveling companions would enjoy seeing the place. Dave and I had been there in 2003 and had a splendid time and other friends of ours mentioned this as a highlight.
So we scurried there after seeing the Ring of Kerry, checking the official website for opening times. It indicated the house was open 9-5:30, seven days a week, in winter. But although we arrived at about 4:20, the place was shut tight. There was absolutely no sign of life inside the ticket booth or house and there were no signs posted with the tour times of opening hours.
However, the restrooms and grounds were still open and the park ranger assured us the house would reopen at 9 the next morning. So we headed back to Cork for the night — an 1.5 hour drive — and hurried to the house again early the next morning. We attempted to phone the Muckross office starting at 9 AM, but no one would answer the phone. When we arrived at 9:30, the two ticketing agents told our host, Tony Duggan, that the first tour would be given at 11:30. They said to visit the grounds until the tour started. He let them know we already had!
Fortunately for us, the man is a CEO and knows how to get things done. After all, we had other sites to see on our last day to the region. He managed to finagle a tour at around 10. We experienced a fairly curt delivery of information with little opportunity to ask questions, but nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing the house.
I hope when you go to visit this fine building and learn its interesting history (it was last owned by an American family who gave it to the Irish people) you have better luck with scheduling than we had!
DIT President Brian Norton with Fulbright Scholar Shannon Chance.
DIT’s graduation ceremony is an event to behold!
Today’s occurred at St. Patrick’s Cathedral (which is the largest church building in Ireland). You may recall that Kitty Lee, Patty, and I visited it last week.
At DIT exams for the fall semester occur in January, and winter graduation falls shortly after.
During the ceremony, each graduate’s name, degree title, and thesis topic is announced. Today’s list of topics highlighted valuable contributions DIT is making to society in areas such as physics, health and nutrition, energy, and computing.
For me, a true highlight of the ceremony was a performance by two students: a signer and a harpist. The talented duo really brought this grand space to life. (Kitty, Patty, and I missed Evensong in this church last night — by just a few sad minutes — and so I tried to live today’s event vicariously on their behalf while they soared above the Atlantic on their journey home.)
Today also presented my first opportunity to meet DIT’s president, Prof. Brian Norton in person. When the opportunity appeared, I stepped forward without hesitation, extended my hand, and introduced myself. I was truly dumbfounded when Dr. Norton said he knew who I was and that he had read my blog. Wow! I look forward to meeting him again soon.
Fergus Wheelan’s insightful book on Irish/Dublin history of the 1600 and 1700s.
At the reception, I also met a few members the electrical engineering faculty I haven’t yet gotten to know. I hope to have more to tell about their work soon.
I’ve included some photos of the day, including a snapshot of the English and Protestant flags hanging in St. Patrick’s (Protestant) Cathedral.
Upon returning to my apartment, I curled up with Fergus Whelan‘s book Dissent into Treason. In the first chapter, Fergus does a remarkable job of explaining the formative roots of various Western denominations. I’ve learned so much in just 20 pages… including distinctions between Unitarians, Presbyterians and Congregationalists, Quakers, Levelers, Catholics, and the like. I believe Dissenters were people whose supported the creation the Irish nation despite pressure from their larger brethren and/or religious underpinnings to support the English crown. I’ll gain clarity on that soon, I’m sure.
Have you ver wondered why more Protestants read the Bible today than Catholics (in the US at least)? I certainly have.
Fergus’ book explains that in Ireland in the 1600s, Catholics were only permitted to read scriptures in Latin or Greek. Protestants were given freedom to read in English. Hummmm.
In Ireland there’s so very much to discover. I’m trying to make the most of every moment, but there’s not nearly enough of time to do, see, and learn all I’d like….
Ireland by Chance 