My eyes opened and it was pitch black. For a moment, I knew I was in bed but I wasn’t sure where and then it hit me that I was in Ireland. Had I gotten a good night’s sleep or was it only an hour since I had hit the pillow? I fumbled to find my Droid to see the time. 8:30 burned into my retinas. Then I remembered that most of the functionality of my smart phone had ceased when I left Chicago, including its ability to tell accurate time so it was stuck on Illinois time, six hours behind the current time in Dublin. I did the math and figured out it was actually 2:30am on Saturday.
Usually waking up this early would mean I was sleep deprived but I was sleeping like a baby by 8:30 the previous night so I had actually gotten a decent night’s rest by my standards. I felt relief. My previous visit was a nightmare of trying to get into the rhythm of the time change.
Not one to sit around, I decided I wanted to take the first bus into the city and take some photographs. I logged on and discovered that the first bus didn’t come until 5:20am. By the time I got myself out of bed and had something to eat and then figured out what camera gear I was going to bring, it was almost time to leave.
My parent’s house is not familiar to me anymore. They have put so much work into it over the past two decades that it is only an approximation of what it used to be in my childhood. Because of this, I am constantly fumbling around trying to figure out where things are. Walking down the stairs and into the kitchen to perform a basic task of making a cup of tea was a challenge. I couldn’t find the light switch for the kitchen. It wasn’t where I remembered it to be. I pulled my Droid out of my pocket and turned the little flashlight app on and finally found the switch. Hey, my Droid was still good for something.
Then I was dressed and had my camera bag ready to go. I had exact change for the bus and timed it so I would arrive at the bus stop about ten minutes before the bus. The next one was an hour later so I wasn’t taking any chances.
I opened the front door as quietly as I could, trying not to wake my parents, and then attempted to open the additional sliding door. It didn’t budge. There must be a latch or something I need to flip, I thought. The door still didn’t budge. Crap, I would have to wake my parents. I went upstairs and peaked my head in their bedroom and asked my dad if I needed a key to open the outside door. He was still in a sleeping stouper and answered in the negative. What the hell was I doing wrong? I felt so dumb. I tried to open it again and I still couldn’t get out of the stupid house.
At this point I had also awoken my mother who whispered down the stairs that the key was on the table next to the door. Oh, thanks a lot, Dad!! I turned the key and the door unlatched and I was on my way.
Going into Dublin city as early as I did on a Saturday is an interesting experience. Friday is a big party night and these parties tend to go on till the wee hours of the morning. Because of this, the cleaning crews don’t do any work overnight, they start around 8 the next morning to make sure all garbage and beer bottles and vomit and whatnot is all done before they start the hazmat process.
I found this out after the fact so when I got off the bus at 5:45, the streets were piled high with all kinds of garbage. I thought the garbage guys were on strike or something. Everywhere I went, I was kicking discarded MacDonald’s bags or bottles. What a mess.
Trash was everywhere when I arrived in Dublin City.
I first headed over to Temple Bar, which is the hub of everything arts-related. The buildings are multicolored and old and the streets are paved with cobblestones. Overall great photo opps. Groups of drunken twenty somethings were spilling out of various holes in the wall. Parties were finishing and everyone was stumbling home. Cabs were circling like lions going in for the kill on some innocent zebra.
Temple Bar's cobblestones make for a great photo pop.
Crime and drug usage has escalated dramatically since I left Dublin back in 1987 so I was a little nervous walking around alone in the alleys of Temple Bar with my camera equipment. I have a small point and shoot camera and I decided to use that to get photographs until it was a little brighter and I felt more secure. Of course, if I saw a great opportunity, I would whip Big Hoss out and start shooting but I really just wanted to capture the atmosphere of the city right now so I wasn’t interested in getting an absolutely pristine high resolution picture.
Back in my rock star days, this was the first store to sell our 7-inch vinyl record.
I try to look like a photographer when I’m walking around, not a tourist. I think that if there are any shady characters around, they target tourists more than anyone else. I walked over the Ha’penny Bridge and could sense someone behind me. It was unnerving. I could hear quick footsteps getting nearer and nearer as I headed up the side of the River Liffey towards the main thoroughfare of O’Connell Street.
Bank of Ireland on the right and Trinity College on the right.
I stopped to look in the window of a store as a stalling tactic and was passed by a fairly innocent looking teenager. Whew. No one else was around so I was good for now.
By now it was about 6:30 but Starbucks didn’t open until 8. I am spoiled by that coffee and I wanted something familiar. The Burger Kings, MacDonald’s and Subways were all open but a latte was worth the wait. I wandered around other parts of town and finally headed back up to Christ Church and into an older, more historical part of the city. I took shots were I saw interesting things and, as I was walking down one alley, I looked right and, off in the distance was the big gate for the Guinness Brewery. Hmmmm…maybe I would go there later and do the tour and have a Guinness right at the source.
I headed back towards Trinity College to the Starbucks and ordered a latte and an almond croissant. It was so good, I decided to have another. There was one guy ahead of me and he was taking his sweet time. “Howya missus, give us a la-tay and one of them burrito thingies and could I also have one of them sweet buns and whatever that thing is right there…” The barista pulled everything out, put the burrito thingy in the Panini toaster whatsit and then put everything on a plate. “Eh, sorry there missus, would you put all that in a bag for me? It’s to go”. Just when I though he was going to pay, he says “and could I have one of them skinny la-tays with the syrup in there as well?”. After the flavor was established by the barista, she went over to the bar to make the coffees. My own coffee, I was sure, was cold by now. I was standing there for about 8 minutes before I finally returned with my precious almond croissant.
After that I walked around the exterior of Trinity College and took some photos of the rustic buildings and then headed up to Grafton Street. This is a really cool and hopping street where only pedestrian traffic is allowed during the day and all sorts of performance artists can be seen.
It was early yet so there wasn’t much doing so I went to Stephen’s Green which is a beautiful city park. There were already families walking about feeding ducks bread. Why do people feed ducks bread? There was also a huge white swan in the pond and, of course, I took some photographs.
I loved the light on this little girl's face in Stephen's Green.
By 11:30 I was thinking of heading back home but I remembered the Guinness Brewery. My legs were about falling off by now so the prospect of walking another half mile to the brewery was a little daunting but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go so off I went.
On the way to the Guinness Brewery.
The tour has really changed since the last time I was there. Lots of computerized video installations and sound effects. It felt a little over the top to me, like they brewed Guinness on the Death Star or something. I mean, yes, it’s a great drink but IT IS ONLY A DRINK, PEOPLE! Get over yourself.
Even though they said the price of admission included a pint of Guinness, what they were serving at the end of the tour was far from a pint. First of all they were using these little baby-sized Guinness glasses and then they were only half filling that. I felt betrayed so I drank three of them little babies cause I was going to get my money’s worth. The funny thing is, it didn’t taste as spectacular as I remember the first time I was here. In fact, the pints I had the previous night were better. Still it was fun to do so I’m glad I made the effort.
The "pint" of Guinness. Yeah, I don't think so...
I got the bus home and then, after lunch, my mom and I went to rent my black suit. I needed to get a black shirt also and, of course, the place didn’t rent black shirts so we went to a local Pennys and got a black shirt for a steal :)
After that we had a nice time over at my sister Deirdre’s house. My brother and his family were there also. It was good to see him. We had a great chat. His 9 year old daughter Sophie played some songs on the guitar to top off the night. By 10pm I was fading so we got a cab home and I conked immediately.
My brother Philip and sister Deirdre.
Tomorrow I go to Wexford to be with my friend Kieran and his fiancée Aileen.
Stay tuned!
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