DUBLIN CELEBRATES THE IRISH, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

The Irish Influence: Display at EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin, Ireland

My friend and fellow children's book writer Gretchen Woelfle loves to travel and recently visited Ireland, where she spent a week in Dublin and went to both the Irish Emigration Museum and the Icon Factory. Here is her report:

 

Two very different sites in Dublin celebrate the Irish--those who left and those who stayed behind. 

Neville Isdell, former CEO of Coca Cola and founder of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, declared, “My own experience of being an emigrant has always stayed with me. And as they say, I left Ireland but Ireland never left me….My career took me all over the world, to 151 countries. I’ve always believed that the story of Irish people around the world was one worth telling, and so, I founded EPIC in 2016.”

How they left Ireland.

And epic it is: a vast gallery of cutting edge technology -- video, audio, interactive exhibits, and artworks – that tell a 400-year old story of Irish diasporas all over the world.  

Transportation to Australia.

When, how, and why they left Ireland; where they ended up; and what they and their descendants accomplished are revealed as visitors wend their way through the lower floor of a 200-year old warehouse on the banks of the River Liffey. (Twenty-two U.S. presidents claim Irish heritage, from Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama.)

The first rooms dramatize events that forced millions to leave.

Swiping right for Irish writers.

The Irish in Tin Pan Alley.

Later rooms focus on famous Irish and Irish-heritage musicians, actors, artists, writers, athletes, scientists, politicians, and outlaws who made their names all over the world. The Irish Family Heritage Center helps visitors discover their Irish roots.

The Icon Factory.

Not all the talent sailed to Boston, Liverpool, or Melbourne. The Icon Factory and Icon Walk offer low-tech, up-close experiences of home-grown celebrities. The Factory, an artist cooperative with a studio and a shop displays paintings, posters, and sculptures of Irish artists working today.

Seamus Heaney

Some of those same artists transformed the nearby dingy alleys into a brilliant mural gallery that celebrate Irish achievements in art, entertainment, sport, and the long struggle for independence.

The writers are known world-wide, including four Nobel prizewinners*. (Answer below.) Other figures filling the walls – comedians, athletes, musicians, and “oddballs, crackpots, and assorted genius” – were new to me.

Irish rock stars.

A caption under a mural of The Play Writers: The Pen Versus The Sword” offers a brilliant example of Irish wit.

Around 1610 Shakespeare wrote The Tempest and retired to Stratford on Avon where he died in 1616. Queen Elizabeth I, having completed the conquest of Ireland, was dead. The last of the Irish leaders, O’Neill and O’Donnell were gone to Spain, and Ulster planted with Crown subjects. Between 1616 and the War of Independence in 1922 which won back selfrule for most of Ireland, no play of any real merit was written in the English language by anyone other than by an Irish-born writer. Now riddle me this, who conquered who?

For more information:

https://epicchq.com The Irish Emigration Museum

https://www.iconfactorydublin.com The Icon Factory and Icon Walk

* William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney

DUBLIN, IRELAND: James Joyce Odyssey, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

Sweney's Pharmacy, Dublin, Ireland

My friend and fellow children's book writer Gretchen Woelfle loves to travel and most recently visited Ireland, where she spent a week in Dublin following the path of writer James Joyce. Here is her report:

Dublin is filled with treasures for tourists of many inclinations: Irish history, art, archaeology, gardens, and theater. While I sampled all these delights, my heart thrilled to literary Dublin, and to James Joyce’s presence most of all

I missed Bloomsday, the annual festival honoring June 16, 1904, the date Joyce and Nora Barnacle’s first got together and the day Leopold Bloom, the modern Ulysses, wended his way through the city. Though Bloomsday is celebrated all around the world, Dublin does it up most splendidly.

Photo poster, James Joyce Centre

My Joycean odyssey began at the James Joyce Centre, a small museum with artifacts, films, murals, and other artworks inspired by the books. And the real door of No. 7 Eccles Street, home of our fictional Leopold Bloom.

No. 7 Eccles Street preserved (James Joyce Centre)

I joined a walking tour following Bloom’s footsteps in Episode 8 of Ulysses, the Lestrygonians. It’s nearly lunchtime and Bloom is looking for a place to eat.  

Reading Ulysses where it happened

We walk across the River Liffey, stopping here and there – bronze plaques at our feet – while our guide reads excerpts from the chapter, describing friends Bloom meets, restaurants he dismisses until he settles on Davy Byrne’s pub, still in business.

Bloom's lemon soap

So is Sweney’s Pharmacy, a few blocks away, where Bloom buys a bar of lemon soap (and I bought two). It’s a Joyce non-profit ‘shrine’ now, containing the old wooden cabinets and counters that Joyce/Bloom would have seen. Boxes and bottles of vintage products still line the shelves, along with many editions of Joyce’s books.

Reading Finnegan's Wake at Sweney's Pharmacy

And there, on my last afternoon in Dublin I joined a daily reading group, this day reading from Finnegan’s Wake.  Full disclosure: I’ve never got beyond a few pages of this linguistic labyrinth. But I joined a group of men (and one woman who made us tea and biscuits). They went round the room, each reading a few paragraphs until I took a turn at the end, though I lack their lovely Irish accents.

We then spent half an hour looking at half a page of our reading, decoding all the luscious references – linguistic, historical, Biblical, and even Irish dance hall songs – that James Joyce had woven into this brief passage. English major, and literary geek that I am, I was over the moon.

Sidewalk Ulysses Plaque

And determined to return to Dublin for Bloomsday and for days and days of more walking tours and communal readings of the genius who left Dublin for the continent when he was twenty-two and spent the rest of his days immortalizing the city that, literarily, he never left.

James Joyce Centre: https://jamesjoyce.ie

Sweney’s Pharmacy: http://sweny.ie/site/

Bloomsday in Dublin: http://www.bloomsdayfestival.ie

Bloomsday around the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsday

IRELAND, Part 1: Dublin and Northern Ireland, Guest Post by Tom and Susan Weisner

Dublin, Ireland.  The Guinness Storehouse

In mid-September our friends Tom and Susan Weisner took a driving trip in Scotland and Ireland. They have graciously agreed to share a few of their photos and thoughts about the trip. Here is their report of the first half of their ten days on the road in Ireland.

The Guinness brewery tour at the old Guinness Storehouse is a must in Dublin. Yes, we got samples of Guinness (not Susan’s favorite though) but then there were options of sodas, light beer and a beautiful panoramic view at the end of the tour from the top floor.

Susan tastes some Guinness

Here are some famous people had already sampled the Guinness! 

The Obamas enjoy a pint of Guinness ale on a visit to Ireland in May 2011.

The Trinity College Dublin historic library room is beautiful, and also has the famous ancient Book of Kells.

Dublin. Trinity College Library

Irish writers are visible at many places around Ireland and their words and posters are found in pubs and restaurants. The Oscar Wilde water was very tasty, for example.

Oscar Wilde Sparkling Water

We toured the Northern Ireland Troubles districts in Belfast, N.I., on what are called “black taxi tours”, and saw murals still documenting the British vs. Irish Republican struggles.

Belfast. Mural depicting Northern Ireland Troubles

The swinging bridge walk is in Northern Ireland. (Originally a narrow crossing built by seasonal fishermen, it is now a tourist destination.) Also, the Giant’s Causeway walk is nearby.

Swinging Bridge

The Irish Famine Memorial is along the river where the victims boarded ships for America and elsewhere. There is an excellent Irish emigration / diaspora / cultural museum here too.

Irish Famine Memorial. The Famine statues, in Custom House Quay in the Dublin Docklands, were presented to the City of Dublin in 1997.

Look for Part 2 of Tom and Susan's Ireland trip on The Intrepid Tourist next week.

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Guest Post by Marianne Wallace

Dublin, Ireland.  Farrington's Pub in Temple Bar area

My friend and fellow children's book writer/illustrator Marianne Wallace and her husband Gary, a botanist, went to Ireland recently, visiting Dublin and hiking in Burren National Park in County Clare. Here are some of her reports from their trip. Marianne's most recent book is River Life: A Journey from Headwaters to the Sea (Butler Books, 2013).  You can find out more about Marianne and all her books at her website.

April 25
We arrived in Dublin this morning and had our first pints (well...my Murphys was a half pint) with a leek and potato soup lunch today at Tonner's Pub a few blocks from Trinity College in Dublin City Centre. Our B&B room is the size of a postage stamp with a shared bathroom for six rooms on the floor. But the salon areas are nice (that's where I'm sitting now) and it's only a 15 minute walk to Trinity College. It's now twilight at 9 PM - days are longer this far north. Was raining at the airport but dry the rest of the day and sunny in the afternoon. Mid 40s to mid 50s so not too bad.

April 26
Woke up to amazing blue skies. Thought the air would be appropriately warm but it stayed mostly in the high 40s, low 50s, windy with scattered clouds. A great day for walking, though.

Science Gallery Cafe

As Gary worked in the Trinity College herbarium, I enjoyed a morning cup of tea and a book at the Science Gallery Cafe, my favorite little spot in Dublin. I'm not a plastic chair/white Formica table kind of person but this place has a wall of windows for people-watching and is used by Trinity students and instructors so I feel smarter just sitting there. And although I usually just get the tea, the pastries and sandwiches are terrific (as is most food in Ireland).

Then I walked about six miles window shopping, going to a pub lunch with Gary, getting theater tickets (for tomorrow), searching out three fabric stores, hunting for an art supply store (in an alley next to a auto repair shop - took me awhile to find that one) and looking for a tiny bottle of perfume to cover the sweaty smell of all that walking in case I ever get warm enough in this weather to actually sweat.

Flower seller, Grafton Street

Walking to dinner (another mile at least), Gary and I passed this roadside flower seller (actually, they are in the middle of the road but the only vehicles that show up are for deliveries before the shops open). I remember them from last year. Always lots of beautiful flower bunches. Lastly, we stopped to see the Sphere in Sphere outside the Trinity College library.

(April 29 - May 8 at the Burren. See post for next week.)
 

Dublin. Ha'penny Bridge over the River Liffey

May 9
Our last full day in Ireland began with a bus ride into Dublin City Centre from our hotel near the airport with the world's friendliest bus drivers. These Dublin Bus guys can drive the bus through crazy traffic, hand out bus passes and answer your questions all at the same time. They are always courteous and even joke with you on occasion. I love 'em.

In the City Centre, you often see these lined-up blue bikes. You apparently buy a membership that allows you to unlock and pick up a bike from one assembly location then ride it to another bike assembly spot and leave it there.

And finally, our last pub stop and last pint (and a half pint for me). We watched the afternoon rain pour down from the warmth of the pub with mixed feelings. It's been a great trip but we're ready to leave this year's cold, rainy, windy Irish spring for the warmth and sun of home. SoCal, see you tomorrow.