Just returned from a whirlwind tour of Ireland as part of my dissertation research and enjoyed the most marvelous time at Trinity College, National University of Ireland at Maynooth and the National Library, not to mention a lovely tour of Yeats country. Here are a few of the highlights.
Dublin 7 October 2013
To start off our adventure, my husband and I jumped on the hop on/hop off bus to get our bearings of Dublin's Fair City.
The view from the top deck is perfect especially on fair weather days. There is no better way to see the major sights and a 2 day pass will give you plenty of time to locate all the points of interest.
View from O'Connell Bridge
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Ha'Penny Bridge
Dublin Spire
O'Connell Bridge
Our home away from home was the Arlington Hotel on Bachelor's Walk, just between the O'Connell and Ha'Penny Bridges. We stowed the car in the garage via the lane and never needed it again until we left Baile Átha Cliath.
We had fine accommodations including breakfast which featured the full Irish (of course) as well as many continental options.
The dinner menu was also fine and the hotel featured Celtic Nights music and dance performances, which were outstanding. The broom dance was a real treat as was the dueling bodhran player and dancer. And the singsong made for great craic, especially when accentuated by the participation of a lively hen party.
This location was very convenient for walking to shops, restaurants, open air markets and the famous Temple Bar.
Dublin 8 October 2013
Most importantly, our hotel was only a short walk to Trinity College, where I learned the ropes on getting access to the historical archives. Thanks to some good advice from Dr. Mary Kelly prior to my trip, I was well prepared with student ID, letter of introduction, photo ID and a contact name which sped up the process a great deal.
Once there, though, I had to navigate the immense campus to find the right locations to complete a number of forms to acquire my reader's ticket.
But at last I reached my goal ... The Old Library and the awe-inspiring Long Room.
Upon stepping into the 215-foot Long Room, I was swept away by the sense of history and the sheer beauty of its barrel-vaulted ceiling and three-story high stacks of ancient tomes. The busts of endless, ageless learned scholars lined the columns heightening the gravity of the moment and the display of the Book of Kells down the center flanked by one of Ireland's oldest harps (some say Brian Boru's harp) made it almost impossible to believe I was not dreaming. I couldn't help recognizing that I had entered one of the true temples of learning.
Once I caught my breath, I made my way to the guard who kindly opened the velvet ropes and directed me to my destination, through a maze of stairs, doors, buzzers, and elevator to the glassed in reading room. As I walked down the well worn steps, listening to the echoes playing on the wood and marble, I couldn't help but wonder who else had passed this way before.
Once inside I was graciously and patiently assisted by Estelle who gave me a form to complete and verified my reader's ticket, ID and letter of introduction and explained the process for accessing material. As it was late in the day by this time, and I had to submit my list of resources prior to 10:00am for the next day, we arranged for my return, after an evening of searching the catalog.
Dublin - 9 October 2013
The next day I was greeted by Aisling who not only had pulled all the material I had requested, but had added to it other items from the famine years that she thought might be useful. After packing away my coat and backpack into a locker, I was ushered into the reading room, armed with only pencil, paper and a laptop. No photographs or scanning are permitted with these irreplaceable materials.
As I sat there throughout the day, perusing personal letters between Sir Robert Peel, Lords Westmeath and Caledon, I was transported to the mid-1800s at the peak of the Great Hunger crisis and lost all track of time and was surprised when the next thing I knew it was time to go. I was so immersed in the drama of the times, that I had forgotten to eat or drink all day. Walking away, I imagined how difficult these times were for the good people of Ireland and had to wonder how my ancestors ever survived before emigrating to America. I headed back to the hotel for another round of catalog scanning to produce my list for my next stop, the National Library of Ireland.
On the way, I passed by the Bachelor Inn which is carefully adorned with quotes from many of Ireland's most loved poets and writers.
Of particular note were these few words of wisdom from Oliver Goldsmith. I would definitely have to follow his advice and order a pint of stout with my dinner!
And a delicious dinner it was too! Crispy fresh fish and double fried chips with a side of mushy peas, and that ever so lovely Irish brown bread and sweet cream butter... and a pint of Guinness. Yum! Just what I needed to face another evening of archival catalogue brousing.
Dublin 10-9-13
After a good night's sleep I was off to the stacks again. This time to the National Library in the company of my great husband and photographer.
Luckily, it was a whole lot easier to get access to these archives. As you can see, the building itself was simply beautiful and full of amazing features in wood, glass, stone, brass, and marble.
This is the reading room at the National Library of Ireland. Below each of the arched window openings in the Rotunda, there are unique little winged cherubs. It is so precious!
I soon completed my list of books to be pulled from the reading room and set off in the company of Anita and Sam to go to the prints and drawings archive.
Sam's camera and talent came in handy once again, not only to chronicle our journey, but also to capture images of hundreds of documents that Anita had painstakingly pulled for me.
Whoa! That whole center table was just for me! I was ever so glad Sam was there to help or my pencil would have been just a nub by noon! That's me starting way down in the back corner.
Today we remembered to eat and had a scrumptious lunch at the Library's Café Jole. Delish! And even the restrooms were spectacular!
After lunch it was back to the Reading Room and Print and Drawing Archives to finish up.
After a long day of work, we needed a breath of fresh air so took a walk about town, past Molly Malone
and strolled along the Liffey.
A walk across the H'Penny Bridge gave us a close-up look of the famous love locks on the way back to our hotel. No matter how often they are removed, they keep reappearing.
We wrapped up our day with a yummy supper at The Storehouse in Temple Bar. Piping hot cottage pie for me and sizzling steak for Sam with delicious veg and Irish brown bread and fresh cream butter ... and a pint.
More adventuring tomorrow as we are heading off to Maynooth to meet with Historian Ciaran Reilly. Hoping for continued fine weather!
Now it was time for the long goodbyes. We enjoyed seeing most of our family and friends at a couple of big gatherings and hit the road to see others.
It was especially good and also sad to have our daughters JoAnne and Barbara, come to visit and help with our move, as of course we knew we would miss them both the most, as well as Mandy and Joe.
Charles Stewart Parnell Monument, O'Connell Street
