Life

My Friend Ellen, has come to visit me for 10 days. She comes into our apartment, uses the bathroom and comes out laughing.  I inquire what is so funny and she says. (she is a nurse)  I have seen many things but I haven't seen a bidet used as a laundry basket..

So I pass this on as one more thing that is a little different in Ireland!

Here is another thing that I found interesting as I was traveling back to campus on the bus.  The picture explains itself.

As I am working on my blog, My husband and his sister Gwen are having a quick game of backgammon.

So life goes on here in Ireland 

Cheerio :)

Dublin- day 2

Marsh's Library. It houses important collections of European books and manuscripts from 1500-1800. It has the distinction of being the first public library in Ireland. It has been untouched for 300 years- a step back in time. You could try making a book mark with an old quil pen. Not as easy as you would think.

In these two pictures they are showing the process of refurbishing an old book. The top picture is the book completed back to its original state. I should have shown you the deterioration first. It took aproximately 3 months to finish this book.   Above is the process. The very fine gold sheet is placed on top of the book and the press is heated. It can't be too hot or it burns the book and it can't be too cold or it won't stick.  There are hundreds of presses for each design and as you can see this book has several. The book is a bright red and the gold is brilliant.

Here we are at Guinness. Arthur Guinness started brewing in 1759 and had a 9,000 year lease for 45 stering a year.  By 1868 it was the biggest brewery in the world. employing about 5,000 people.  Today it fills several blocks but only employs about 800 people.  Around the world Guinness brews 10 million pints a day.

We chose not to visit this because Gwen preferred to go to Jameson and I had already done this tour two years ago and the tour doesn't show the actual workig brewery. .

Another view of the warehouses.

The horse is rushing to the brewery! He must be thirsty.

A beautiful old building that was used as a hospital.

The tour Gwen chose.
 Jameson was founded in 1780 by John Jameson. His family motto apears on each bottle "Sine Metu" (without fear) It was produced here on site till 1971. The difference of this whiskey is that it is has three separate distillation whilst in America, bourbon is normally distilled only once and most Scotch whishy is distilled twice. Each stage results in a smoother superior quaility.

THe entry outside with a big distillation tank  Above is the inside of the building. Notice the chandalier of bottles. It was very impressive.

A quick tour..Carrying sacks of grain as heavy as 100kg or 224 lbs. The grain was dried in closed kilns to ensure an unsmoked smooth taste. The peat is used for burning and they didn't want that taste.

The malted and unmalted barley was then milled into coarse flour called grist.

Here to the left is the mashing. See below for the story.

The washback stage. Here the liquid yeast is added and fermentation begins. After 80 hours the sugar has been converted into alcohol- called wash which is 8% alcohol.

Here to the right is the Still house where the wash is heated. The distilling is the art of separating alcohol from water.  Jameson does this 3 times to get the smooth taste. It went from here to oak casks. I am not sure if they still use the oak casks. Before bottling the cask strength was reduced to 40% or 80 proof.

I look forward to trying a glass.

Here is Gwen doing the taste test. They asked for volunteers! You can tell she really was having a terrible time :-)  They placed 3 glasses of whiskeys in front of you to smell and taste. You could smell the smoke/peat one.. and the other didn't have a real distinctive taste but I have to say, the Jameson was very smooth and you could definitely tell the difference. As you can tell I had a sip too!

Enjoying a well deserved Guinness after walking 15 or so blocks.  We got a little off the trail. This bar is near where we stayed in Temple Bar area.  I have gone here before and enjoyed the music.

Christ Church Cathedral
I find it mind boggling to hear and see how old things are here in Ireland or anywhere in the world for that matter.  This church was founded in 1030 on the edge of the Viking settlement. In 1172 the wooden structure was rebuilt of the stone you see.by the Normans.

The floors are beautiful.

This oldest building has a large underground crypt,
containing stocks, statues , and cathedral's silver.

The cat and rat were presumably chasing each other,and were trapped in an organ pipe in the 1860s and became mummified.

This the opposite end of the entrance to the church. Still very impressive.
Till we meet again.
Cheerio :-)

Dublin- day 1

 WE set out on the Hop on Hop off bus.  There is a red and green one that do the same routes but the green one seems to come more often. Both have a tour guide.

This bridge is the famous Ha' Penny Bridge (half penny to cross it in 1816)

Down the main street. Ahead is the Spire of Dublin. It stands 121.2 meters(398 feet) high
It is also called the Monument of Light.  Diameter is 9.8 feet at the base and is 5.9 inches
at the top. The monument was started in 2002 and finished in 2003
It has been controversial since it was conceived.  It was designed to celebrate the millennium,
but in grand Irish style, it was late so is not known as the Millennial Spire!
It replaces Nelson's Pillar that was blown up by IRA in 1966.
At a cost of 8 million euros, the people in Dublin are not impressed.  Unoficially it is referred as
The Spike, Pin in the Bin, Nail in the Pale, Rod to God, Prick in the Brick,
Stiffy on the Liffy, Stiletto in the Ghetto, Erection in the Intersection.
Finally, The Binge Syringe as they see it as a monmument to Dublin's heroin problem.

 

 The Bank of Ireland. This is the oldest continuous working bank in Ireland founded in 1783.  This building was initially the Parliament Building.  As it was no longer needed for government when Ireland was in the United Kingdom, title was transferred to the Bank of Ireland.
 Here is the Irish House of the Lords which is in the Bank. We had a very nice impromtu tour which was fascinating. The Parliament voted itself out of existence by the Act of Union in 1801..The gold sceptor which weighs 25 lbs gets put away every weekend. The tapestries are all needle point. ..amazing.

Here you see a 4 story Georgian house. The bottom floor was for the cooking- the first floor and 2nd floor for entertaining- the 3rd floor for sleeping and the 4thfloor for the children.  The door were made wider for the hoop skirts. 

This is Phoenix park in the middle of Dublin. It is the largest park in Europe and is more than double central park in New York, There is the american embassey here but below is a picture of the President's house.

The next group of pictures are of Trinity College. Here is where the famous Book of Kells is housed.
This is one of the oldest book in the world which dates back to 850 AD and probably produced by monks.There are 680 pages in the book but only two are on display.

 The Library which houses a mere 250,000 of the oldest books. Today it was featuring composers and their music could be heard throughout the hall.

 Trinity college grounds.

Our day finished with having dinner and traditional Irish music at the Irish House Party. I have tried to put in a video as the last picture of this young man who just turned 21 tonight.  He has won many awards for playing this insturment called the Irish Uilleann Pipes.  This set belong to his father.

The interesting thing is that there are 7 reeds that the wrist controls while you play the flute like pipe and pump the air into the bags. It is a much quieter sound than the bag pipes. Google this as I am not doing the instrument justice. It is a very complicated instrument.

Molly Malone

I have put Molly's picture up again because I didn't do her justice in my last blog. Molly was unveiled in 1988 during the Millennium celebration in Dublin declaring June 13 Molly Malone Day. She died on June 13 1699.  The statue protrays her in her seventeenth-century dress.  Her low cut dress and the large breast were justified on the grounds that as women breastfed publicly in Molly's time.

  Molly was/ is known as a hawker by day and a part-time prostitute by night.  or..."The Tart With The Cart", "The Dish With The Fish", "The Trollop With TheScallop(s)", "The Dolly With the Trolley", and "The Flirt in the Skirt".

 The famous song that is known to many of us was published in 1883 in Cambridge Massachusetts and published also in London in 1884.

In a few weeks Molly is going to start her tour around the world.

Here is her song. There are some other versions and versus that I have heard too, but this is the most known.

In Dublin's fair city,

Where the girls are so pretty,

I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,

As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

"Alive, alive, oh,

Alive, alive, oh,"

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh".

She was a fishmonger,

But sure 'twas no wonder,

For so were her father and mother before,

And they each wheeled their barrows,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

(chorus)

She died of a fever,

And none could relieve her,

And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.

But her ghost wheels her barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

(chorus)x2^[7

Cheerio :-)