Sister's Choice Quilts

A Few Last Scenes of Dublin

We will head for home on Sunday, so I thought I’d share a few last Dublin moments. That would be Molly Malone there with her cockles and mussels. People rub her bosoms for good luck, that’s why they are all shiny.

I keep telling you these folks love their beer.  Not sure if these kegs are coming or going. 

The Irish also love their flowers.  For every French woman in Paris with a baguette in her tote bag, I swear we saw an Irish woman carrying a bouquet home with her.

My husband and I love cemeteries and had to make a visit to Dublin’s famous Glasnevin.  It was so beautiful.  We were on an organized tour, which was so informative.  We wandered along wide shaded paths and thoroughly enjoyed learning about Ireland’s troubled history and all the souls who found Glasnevin their final resting place.

Some of Ireland’s most prominent national figures are buried here, including Michael Collins, the nationalist leader who died in the Irish Civil War for Independence in 1922.  He is much beloved and it is said that 500,000 people attended his burial.

 That’s our cute tour guide telling us about the life and untimely death of hero Michael Collins. Just prior to us arriving at his grave something rather extraordinary happened.

See the the man standing second on the right next to the lady in the red jacket?  We were at the memorial of “the forgotten ten”, a group of ten young members of the Irish Republican Army who were executed by the British in 1920. There was one young man named Kevin Barry who has become a huge hero, largely based on a popular song that was composed about him.  This song is close to the hearts of many Irish, particularly the older generation.  Kevin was a medical student who was conducting a mission that ended unsuccessfully.   He was captured by the British and hung at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin with nine other rebels.  That is the backstory.

What happened on our tour was, the gentleman in blue stepped up to the graveside and began to sing the entire Kevin Barry ballad in the most exquisite tenor voice.  He sang all the verses and by the end we were all in tears.  So moving.

In Mountjoy jail one Monday morning
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty.
Just a lad of eighteen summers,
Still there's no one can deny,
As he walked to death that morning,
He proudly held his head on high.

Chorus

Shoot me like an Irish soldier.
Do not hang me like a dog,
For I fought to free old Ireland
On that still September morn.

 These are just some of the lyrics.  Go ahead and Google "Kevin Barry Ballad" and read the entire thing.  It is very full of feeling.  And just imagine that man's perfect tenor voice ringing out in that quiet sacred place.  Chills.

We have found the Irish to be passionate, sentimental, and fiercely proud of their hard worn independence.  I feel we have in this visit, managed to get a real feeling for the Irish and what matters to them. 

Hope you enjoyed my little travelogues!  

Stone Fences

Several people have mentioned to me that they were intrigued by the stone fences in Ireland.  There sure are a lot of them. The ground is clearly full of an over abundance of rocks that were put to good use dividing up areas of land that various families worked.  The house on the section of land in the photo above was abandoned during the famine of the 1840s.  

 Back then, most land was owned by the British.  In the 1600s the British took the land from the Irish who had owned it for hundreds of years. The native Irish were “allowed” to work the land that had been in their families for generations.  Unless the landlord decided to kick them off it, which sadly, many did.  During the famine of the 1840s, crops wouldn’t grow due to the blight, folks couldn’t pay their rent, so they were evicted. 

We learned that some more compassionate landlords made up work projects so their tenants could earn money for food.  One such project was the “Penny Wall”. In the photo above you see these walls that do nothing spread across the hill side. These walls were 8-10 feet tall, up to 3 feet thick, 300 feet long and served no purpose at all except to give people a back breaking project whereby they could earn a penny a day to pay their rent and buy food. These walls are practically sacred to the Irish today as a symbol of the terrible troubles they suffered in the famine. As a side note, it turns out that every now and then the builders would leave a small hole in the wall meant for fingers. People on either side of the wall could, by ancient tradition, slip their fingers in the hole and touch someone on the other side.  By doing this, promises were made, contracts formed, betrothals negotiated etc.

Ireland is a place full of history and stone fences play a big role in it. 

Huntington Castle

This weekend we drove out to Clonegal in County Carlow and visited Huntington Castle. As Irish castles go, I have seen more impressive.  There is no large National Trust behind this estate paying the bills. The descendants of the original family who have owned the castle for hundreds of years still live in it and try to keep it going by holding tours and weddings and so forth.  I give them credit for that but I found the place kind of creepy.  The place was built in 1625 so you can imagine there is some upkeep.  The grounds were highly touted but I found them to be rather unkempt.  The budget only goes so far I guess.

In the 1930s a couple of the family members decided to invent their own religion.  Down in the basement next to the little dungeon, they have made a religious practicing area where the worshipers still gather to this day. They worship the goddess Isis and all things feminine. The owners of the castle supposedly are devout followers of the occult and there are many stories of ghostly visits and other unexplained phenomena.

Here is a photo from the internet showing founder and high priestess Olivia Robertson (on the left in red).  The man on the right in the special head dress is her brother and co-founder Lawrence.  Evidently Olivia passed away just a few years ago at the age of 96.

Another picture from the internet, of the alter down in the basement.   Interesting as this all may be, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.  I got a weird feeling being in the place and did not care for it. I am definitely in the minority though.  Check out the reviews on Trip Advisor.  Most folks seem to find it far more enjoyable than I did.

Bookstores of London

Bonjour Paris and Hello London.  There is so much to do in London, but I always inflict visits to British bookstores on my family when we are here. They are simply the best.  The British are very serious about reading and I swear there are nearly as many bookstores in London as there are Starbucks.  And that is a lot.

Don’t you just love this greeting?  My first stop was Foyles, and I came away with some not yet published in the US books. 

This is the one I really really wanted to get, as Kate Morton is a favorite author, and her new book isn’t out in the US until next month. It was three inches thick and weighed five pounds so my husband said “No” quite emphatically.

(Sorry my iPad won’t let me orient this properly, but I think you can make out what it is).

We also went to Daunt Books in Marylebone and Waterstones on Regent Street.  My heaven. 

Mes Pieds Me Font Mal

We have moved on to Paris! This is a sight you see a lot in this city. I’ve been wondering which is the more astonishing construction, the Louvre or the Metro system.  The Metro surely is a remarkable system for moving people around a big city.  133 miles of multi level underground train tracks underneath city central. 300 stations on 16 train lines. It’s completely brilliant. 

This was the big event on Monday-The Louvre.  It would take six weeks to walk through the whole museum, but we stayed a fairly long time. Between tunneling along the train tracks underneath the city and walking miles in the museum my feet are pretty much saying “Enough “.

What they say about Paris is completely true.  There are charming outside cafes on every corner with stylish Parisians sitting at tiny tables sipping coffee and people watching.  We have easily joined in and are enjoying the croissants and 80 degree weather.  The people are absolutely lovely.  Friendly, courteous and helpful.  We are trying to speak French, but generally the person commences speaking English before we get very far.  It goes like this “Bon jour!”, says me.  “Good morning Madam, how are you?”, the person responds. Sometimes they say it before I even open my mouth.

 

The Shelbourne-Bucket List

This building is the world renowned Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.  They are famous for their customer service, attention to detail, high class accommodation, fine dining and....flowers.  My parents stayed there some years ago and loved the experience.  Recently my husband and I watched a documentary on fine hotels of the world which featured the Shelbourne. Have any of you seen that six episode program?  It was fascinating. 

We had no need to stay there as we are lodging with our son who lives in Dublin, but having afternoon tea at the Shelbourne was right up there on my bucket list.  We made reservations and the experience more than lived up to my expectations.

This is the sight that greeted us we entered the hotel.  I tell you nothing is too extreme when it comes to floral arrangements here.

Here we are feeling like we are being treated very well indeed. You might enjoy seeing a couple of the items that were on that towering tea caddy.  There were even flowers on the food.

 

In case you forget where you are, there is a Shelbourne embossed chocolate on top of your eclair.

After all that tea, a visit to the ladies room was required, where I found bowls of orchids waiting for me.  Naturally.

The experience was fabulous for me, but today I must come back down to earth.  Our plan for the day is far more prosaic—a visit to Glasnevin cemetery. 
In the rain.

 

 

 

The Quiet Man

Do you remember the old John Wayne/Maureen O’Hara movie “The Quiet Man”?  Well, we went to see the little town where it was filmed. When our son heard our plan he was dismayed. “Oh gosh, Mom, are you sure you want to do that?  It’s so touristy”.  Well, we went anyway and it was delightful!  The movie was made in a town called "Cong", which is on the border between County Mayo and County Galway.

Remember the bridge that is featured in the movie?  It is actually a few miles out of the town where the movie was filmed, but is worth the detour to see. 

The drive through the County Mayo and County Galway countrysides was so peaceful and beautiful.  It was nice to get away from the hustle and noise of Dublin.  We didn’t just look at the movie location, we also saw Ashford Castle, which has been turned into a 5 star resort, and spent a couple of hours in the city of Galway, a couple of hours away.

I totally embraced the touristy stuff for a day! 

 

Royal Worthy

What do you think?  With one of these beauties I could have fit right in at the recent royal wedding. Hats are very popular here in Ireland as well as in England. They don’t really suit my simple country lifestyle but are sure fun to look at.

We returned to “town “ Monday and wandered up and down Grafton and Dawson Streets window shopping and people watching. My husband and I were very taken with a department store called Marks and Spencer which has all the usual nice department store things but has the surprise of a full size grocery store in the basement!

Today we are off to visit Galway on the west coast of the country. Ireland is so small you can drive just about anywhere in a couple of hours. When the Irish visit us in the States they are so surprised you cannot see both Lake Tahoe and Disneyland in one afternoon. 

We Have Arrived

We had just landed in Dublin when I took this photo.  The flight was just under 10 hours from San Francisco and the plane was a newish one. If you can't afford to go business or first class, flying nowadays is just something to get through.  The quarters are cramped even for a 5" 4" person such as myself.  How a six foot tall man can stand it is a mystery.  We survived to tell the tale, but after 24 hours with no sleep, I am feeling it.  When we landed and were met by our son, it was the best feeling.  I sure do miss him when we are apart.  We hired a taxi and went straight to his house and unloaded our bags.  We had the entire afternoon ahead of us and wasted no time hopping on a bus and and heading into downtown Dublin.  

Our primary mission was to pick up something to cook for dinner.

 The produce in markets here always looks so amazing.

We chose little cherry tomatoes to saute with garlic and fresh basil and some lovely boneless pork chops that we served with a mustard cream sauce.  Fast cooking makes tired travelers happy.  Minimal prep and clean up and delicious flavors.

My FitBit told me I was at 10,000 steps for the day, and I was having trouble putting one foot in front of another so I thought it was a good time to end my day and get some sleep.

Test Post Before Our Trip

I had to attempt a trial post from my iPad prior to our trip to Ireland.  It seems as if it will work just fine. This is the view from my front porch. The hummingbirds have been so active this year. I startled them and caught them in mid flight trying to get away from me.  Seriously there had been at least 8 or 10 of them swarming around it moments before.

I want to be able to share some of the sights and memories from our trip with those of you who are interested. For readers who are only into quilting related posts it will be early October before I return to that subject.  It's going to be all Dublin, London and Paris for the next three weeks.

This has been quite a busy week getting ready.  I want to travel light, which is against my nature, so I have been auditioning and eliminating things all week.  We had to meet with the house/Ozzie sitter, put things in our safe deposit box, clean the entire house for aforementioned house sitter, clean out the fridge, bathe and groom our shaggy dog... the list goes on.

I’ll look forward to talking to you next week from Ireland!  I can't seem to pick a time for the post to publish, so timing will be all over the place.  Bon voyage!