On Friday night, Cozy, Kate & I went to Devitt's, for the live music sessions & to hang out & chat. We got drinks and sat near the bar & the musicians. A guy came up to us, started chatting--mostly, he said, to get away from the frightening drunk women at the other end of the bar. He was from Melbourne, & was in the middle of a long backpacking trip (headed to Russia at the end of the weekend). So we all talked for a couple hours, about traveling & Ireland & Americans. Apparently we were the best Americans he'd met so far, since too many of them were like the other US'ers in the bar that night--a pack of boys in matching shirts, with one tarty blonde girl all over one of the boys. I mean, they were entertaining, sure, but there's some days I really wish I lived two hours north of where I do. Oh, to be Canadian. Still, Devitt's was a blast, we had a good time having the craic (as they say) with the Australian electrician, & the fab live music:
Saturday a pack of us (Cozy, Kate, Meghan, Lee, & I) went to the farmer's market in Temple Bar. Oh, the glory of real food! It was amazing, especially the fresh hot apple cider that we bought. Mmm.
After the market, Cozy, Kate & I worked our way up toward Parnell Square via many small shops & interesting byways, to get to the Dublin Writer's Museum:
Mostly it was just readable information, though it had a good audio tour, & lots of objects like so & so's pen or first editions of books, etc. Upstairs there was a gorgeous library:
Sunday, Kate & Cozy & I (we were the culture team for this weekend, apparently) made our way to Kilmainham Gaol. I'm not really going to be able to give you all the history I'd like; suffice to say it was where all the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising were held, as well as many political prisoners from the War of Independence and the Civil War. It fell into disuse after that, and it wasn't until the 1940's that a group of volunteers stepped in to maintain it as an historical landmark (now it's under the care of the office of public works).
See those two lighter stones? That's where the gallows used to be. Huzzah for public hangings.
Passageway in the older part of the jail, the Georgian Wing.
Inside of a cell.
Old graffiti above a doorway: "Beware the Risen People that have harried and held, ye that have bullied and bribed."
Now, into the newer portion, the Victorian area, or the East Wing. The architecture is gorgeous.
One of the more bittersweet stories from Kilmainham is the marriage of Joseph Plunkett & Grace Gifford. They were engaged before the Uprising, and Joseph was brought into jail. The night before he was scheduled to be executed, they brought Grace to the jail at Joeseph's request, & they were married in the chapel there. They weren't allowed to speak except to exchange wedding vows, and after the ceremony Grace was escorted back home and Joesph was brought back to his cell. In the wee hours of the morning Grace was awoken and brought back to Kilmainham, for a last ten minutes, in the presence of two guards, with her husband. After that, Grace was sent away & Joseph was brought outside to the yard and shot.
A few years later Grace was held (in the new wing) as a political prisoner during the civil war. She painted a mural in her cell:
And finally, the stonebreaker's yard, where all the executions took place:
Now it is back to classes, and writing papers & all that jazz. I'm coming home in less than three weeks. Yikes.
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