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| Ireland's Old Parliament, Now The Bank of Ireland |
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| Sweet Molly! |
In Dublins fair city, where the girls are so pretty,
I once met a girl called sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow, through the streets broad
and narrow,
Cryng cockles and mussels` Alive alive o
Hey, don’t just go breezing off to a pub the moment you hit
town. Stop by and pay your
respects to Molly, or as she is known by the locals, “The tart with the
cart.” She hangs out on Grafton
Street. Her statue, with its
eternally rotund features is not as old as you’d think. 1988. At the same time, city fathers proclaimed 13 June Molly
Malone Day. What does that mean,
exactly? Far as I know, there was
no Molly Malone, or at least not just one. Lots of fishmongers, many of them women. And, the song, written by James
Yorkston, a Scotsman, wasn’t published until the early 1880s, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts and London, England.
See, those sneaky Irish are at it again. A Scot mentions Dublin in a song published in America and
England and the Irish claim it as their own and make it Dublin’s ‘unofficial
anthem.’
But, a country that brews Guinness and distills Jameson can
be forgiven any number of transgressions.
Amen! And we’ll all drink to that!
The secret is safe. I won’t tell a soul.
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| Entry to the old Jameson Distillery |
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| View of Dublin from the top floor of Guinness Brewery |
Besides gazing longingly at Molly’s assets, what else is there
to do?
How much time do you have? I’ve already written about Guinness Stout and Jameson
Whiskey. Between tours and
drinking, those two alone will use up the best part of a day.
Yep, you can see castles and churches. Figure those out for yourself. But, the first thing I’d do is grab a
hop-on-hop-off bus and take a whirlwind tour of the city, which will take you
right past Molly Malone. Don’t
worry; the bus supplies earphones and commentary. Dublin ain’t New York. Won’t take any time at all to spot a
bus and buy your ticket right outside the train station. A complete circle of the ville takes
about an hour. Gives you a great
overview of Ireland’s largest city, with a population of over half a million
souls. Hop-on-hop off is not just
an expression. When you find
something interesting and decide to hop off, another bus will come along ten
minutes later. A ticket lasts all
day.
Another thing to consider that combines two of my favorite
interests: a literary pub
tour. The hours for the tour
change with the seasons, so you’re on your own for scheduling. However, if you’re not familiar with
Irish writers, I’ll carelessly drop a few names: James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Brendan Behan, George Bernard
Shaw, to mention only a few. This
is not to say they lived their entire lives in Dublin, but there is a connection
to the city. But as James Joyce famously remarked, “Ireland sober is Ireland
stiff.” A pub tour is a good
compromise between literature and sobriety. A good many writers felt the same. My favorite quote about Dublin comes from J.P. Donleavy, author of The Ginger Man, and other novels: “When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and
have it served in all the pubs in Dublin.”
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| Always time for a pub and a Stout! |
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| And of course a pub lunch |
I’ve given Joyce’s Ullyses a good shot, both sober and
otherwise. No dice. Couldn’t gulp down the prose under any
conditions. The pundits call it
the greatest novel. I found it a
disconnected ramble. But, if you
want a taste of Joyce, Dubliners is a wonderful collection of sketches of
Dublin life. Many of the sentences
in that short book are cogent.
A bit about the Irish Republic’s government: parliamentary system, much like other
European parliaments. The original parliament building was closed with the Act
of Union (with England) in 1800.
Since then, the old parliament building has been The Bank of
Ireland. It sits right next to
Trinity College. Ireland is a part
of the European Union and the currency is the Euro.
Best of all, Dublin is a city for strolling, soaking in the
atmosphere and chatting with people you didn’t know five minutes ago. The first thing you notice is the charm
of Dublin’s historic shabbiness.
That’s just another way of saying “a comfortable pair of well-worn
shoes.” Easy to fit in here. Do a bit of shopping. Stop in a pub. Make a hundred friends. Sketch out the plot for your first
novel. You can always marvel at
the crusty vellum (calfskin) text of The Book of Kells (800 A.D.) at Trinity
College later, or read about the long hard road to Irish independence and visit
those sites where Irish statehood was written in blood and tears. See Dublin Castle and The Garden of Remembrance. Don't neglect those. But, first, let’s
rub elbows down tha pub, have a pint of your favorite, and breathe some air in
Dublin’s fair city.
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| Butler's also offers tours of the factory |
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| From the Book of Kells |
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