7 Days in Dublin: Day 5

We are now just wanting to go home to France. I know...crazy, but we really have so much we want to do at home, and we dont like vacations anyway. This is why for so many years we have house and animal sat. At least we get to enjoy some place different, have time with animals we dont have of our own and explore new places while living in one place for an extended period. It works best for us we have discovered. We HATE hotels and really try to avoid Airbnb except if we have no other option. This hotel was the ONLY option available to us when we booked and for the purpose of our stay.... It is complicated!

We have been rising late, these past few morning, and having decided, now that we had muesli, that eating our 'normal for us' breakfast in our room gave us stress free time we needed before setting out for a day in the city, we weren't about to change that.  What we were about to change was....
 After rising, I dressed quickly and went downstairs to the gas station next door, where we had discovered they had yoghurt in their cooler...Dont ask me why we hadn't discovered this before, but we hadn't! duh! is all we can say. Cold yoghurt with our fruit and muesli this morning was rather nice:) It would be repeated for breakfasts for the rest of our stay!

On my way past the front desk this morning, I enquired if there was another room available that was cooler, not on the road or in full sun. The receptionist took a look and found another room. We were advised to pack everything up and leave it in our room, and all our belongings would be moved to the new room after it had been serviced. We were to drop our keys off on the way out, and pick up new ones when we got home. WOW! I guess you just have to ask! And...why didnt I ask earlier? Wont go there!

Fed, dressed for the return journey into Dublin for a Museum and Gallery day, and thankful that we would return to a cooler room...we hoped.
We had seen the FUDI Café (that's a U with two dots over it, btw) on the way into town yesterday, just before the park at Merrion square. We decided to alight there for a Latte to take with us as we walked through the park. Good idea...however, we decided to just sit for a while and enjoy the lovely hot drink. The barista was very accommodating and made Waz's coffee much hotter than mine. Their choices of food looked fabulous and all the staff were engaged in cleaning when there were no customers. Impressed, I went to the bathroom. If the bathroom was clean, they would have received 10/10 from me.
Too bad it let them down. I was appalled, actually. I called one of the male staff over after I exited the room, and told him nicely that he might want to clean the bathroom. He immediately pulled on his gloves and spend a good amount of time cleaning. Waz went in afterwards and said the job was excellent! Well done. They were written up favorably on TripAdvisor as a result.

The garden/park at Merrion Square was just what we needed. A bit sore from walking all day yesterday, we strolled and enjoyed the flowers and the coolness of the morning.

The red of the large flowered begonias coupled with the deep maroon of the Castor Bean plants was interested. I wouldn't have chosen the latter, but it worked.

 Bright marigolds coupled with dark maroon Coleus plants were well suited. No large flower beds, but they were all neat and tidy.

 Writer, comic,actor and Satirist, Dermot Morgan was a bright light in Dublin. 1952 - 1993. He died a young man still. He lives on in this quirky chair. Thanks for the seat Dermot!

 Silver Birches are a particular favorite of mine, and there are huge forests of them in France. There were plenty in this park.

There was a Giant's Playground (for kids, unfortunately) at the far end, and of course a sculpture of Oscar Wilde, who used to live just across the street from the park.

Next, and by far the standout of our entire week in Dublin...The  National Gallery of Ireland. What a fabulous structure, first and foremost. We entered from the new part, and if you entered from opposite the park, you would miss this glorious entrance which had me snapping happily away. One of the volunteers at the front desk remarked that I was more interested in the architecture than the art on display, lol. She might be right, except that we were here today to look at the Irish Art. We were not disappointed!

 A fabulous soaring space that blew us away.

 The new building incorporates the old building that was/is on this site and you can see it in glimpses everywhere, like the bottom cutaway in this photo. That is an old brick wall behind there.

 and this façade of the previous building (though it is still serving it's function) jutting into the Café on the ground floor.

 This atrium is one of several in the building. The light fixture that looks like a mobile is in fact an installation by an artist. Hmm...

 There was a bank of elevators for those who didnt and couldn't climb these stairs...but...

 The Restaurant is houses in this back corner.

We were also not disappointed (perhaps there could have been more of them) by the exhibition of Women artists from the archives. 'Invisible' says it all and tells a much larger story. Some of the women artists were so much more and better than their male contemporaries, but as so often happened and happens, they WERE invisible, not being able to get gallery space unless they were able to assume a male identity.

 their work was often multi-media incorporating the handcrafts such as embroidery, that they learned as children. Though they produced wonderful works of art, they were seen as being 'hobbyists'. Most of the women who took up art, as it were, were those from the upper classes...every other woman had to work or bring up a family or both. They didnt have time for such frivolity, and yet a male artist was seen to be  an ' aesthete, sensitive'.

 Beautiful and well lit galleries throughout.

We were glad we had gone to the Museum of History and Decorative Arts yesterday. It truly was a pre-amble of today's viewing. Without that knowledge of the background for some of the art, it would have been meaningless.
I guess the Gallery would have been pleased to have so many people viewing the artwork, but it was a bit stifling, to be honest. It was hard to stand and view a large work without some other person pushing their body in front of you and your view being ruined, as well as the appreciation of the art.

The rooms themselves were highly decorative and the details were beautiful and well cared for. The exhibitions were so well presented, lit and displayed in the case of sculptures.

 Even the window latches were beautiful.

 More about this later...

 Talk about 'bowl you over with a feather', Gloria!!! WOW! What an incredible space, and what an incredible sculpture.

 Everything begged to be photographed from every angle.

 Looking back the way we had come into the space.

 The Sculptor of the Magnus Modus.

 The base. So simple and so beautiful.

 The quite movement, like a static ballet, if such thing exists.

 and of course the two together was just magic to my eyes....I should say the three, because the black balcony was so integral to the whole.

 Back inside looking at more historic works from around the world, and eventually portraits by famous artists, but we didnt linger there as we had specifically come to view the Irish Artists and were not disappointed.

What a stunning room! and the symmetry, quite lighting, calm ambience....

 Incredible interior decoration...

Of course one of the first things you see upon entry, is the café. Leading from the café and the seating area is the restaurant. We did a quick tour of the glass cabinets and decided we would come back here for a meal. It looked great!
The remoulade in the foreground was lovely...such color! and then the sandwiches to the right...hmm...choices!

 WOW! How many languages can you say LEMON MERINGUE PIE in?

 We were delighted to find these Victoria Sponges everywhere. They are straight out of our childhoods and we were sorely tempted...but...

 After the hard work of viewing art, we stopped for our lunch as we had promised ourselves. The soup (mushroom for me and Veg for him) served with door stopper sized slabs of fabulous grain bread, was delicious. We were so glad to sit for a while. This looked to be a favorite place for many business people too.

Next up was the National Museum of Archeology. We wanted to see the ancient gold and the Bog Mummies. Neither disappointed, though the galleries there were really busy and full of people. It was difficult (again) to stand and look for any length of time without feeling pushed aside and rushed.

When we view the jewelry and other artifacts from centuries ago, we wonder why we think we are so darned fancy and sophisticated. The skilled work is breathtaking in so many respects.

 Wait until you see the inside!

 Details...the front door invited us in and to look more carefully around us.

 This is just the reception area!

 into the interior gallery where the GOLD was.

 Also many other artifacts, many of which have been found in or near Bogs.
yes, this wheel was made some time in 400BC...that's BC!

 The musical instruments were well fashioned and with excellent ornamentation that you would think were made some time in the 1500ADs.WRONG!

 Stunning mosaic floors!

 The gold! Gosh, where to start on this subject. Starting with the simple twist, these became more sophisticated over time, of course. However, the tools required to make the twisted (some tightly twisted) gold hoops would have required much thought and skill to make.

 To hammer the sheets of gold as thin as paper in some cases, took great skill. They were hammered over metal and wooden dollies.

 The intricacy of this former wrist band blows the mind. They were all made some time in 700-800 BC.

 Late Bronze Age. That gold must have been cumbersome to wear.

The entry portal into the Kingship and Sacrifice was these ceramic cherubs with the Coat of Arms of Ireland  between them.  

This unfinished Dugout canoe was built around 2500BC. Apparently it was the preferred method of transport in Ireland in the old days...old, old, days!

 And now we come to the Bog Mummies.
Rather than being pure curiosities, they were   ...let me think about this some more while I cook dinner...
To be honest, Im having a hard time describing how I feel about these being on display. They aren't simply skeletons with leather-like skin attached where you can still see the finger prints and hair on their heads. These were live people. These were ritually sacrificed people. They show all the signs of having been deliberately killed, and this is well documented in the blubs on display.
These bodies were someone's child, their parent perhaps? They were of different ages, we know that, but they were not dead of natural causes. These facts are without a doubt, according to the Museum.
Someone was digging up the Peat in the Bogs for fires  and came across the skeletons in different places. When they were found, the bodies were intact. Their features were still there and they looked like normal people other than the tanins in the water had stained their skins brown.
The lighting is low, hence the poor quality photos, and no flash allowed, of course. The mood is somber, but most people pass quickly by. Some sit on the provided seats and contemplate at a deeper level, (I hope) the spectacle before our eyes.
Should they be shown thus? Unadorned saved for a quick explanation? I guess some folks dont want to read huge amounts of information when they pass through these exhibits, but some of us do.
Bogs are amazing places ecologically. They cover 17% of the landmass of Ireland. Think about that! 17%.  No small number, that. Only Finland and Canada boast more. And, did you know that Florida has bogs? Yes, they do, but they dont preserve things the way the colder climes do.
So, when we think of peat bogs, we inevitably think of Ireland, dont we? Bogs are majorly made up of sphagnum moss, but they also include other plant matter. In order to preserve the bodies, there had to be anaerobic conditions. No Oxygen. It also had to be an acidic environment. Think normal pickling ingredients! It also had to be cold. Warmth (like Florida) would speed up the decay of the victims.
Of the 4,000 yr old bodies found, the most famous are known as Cashel Man, who was discovered near Portlaoise in 2011, and he is said to be the oldest European Bog Body ever found with skin intact. Old Groghan Man was from County Offaly, and Clonycavan Man was from Country Meath.
The exhibition also features Gallagh Man from Country Galway, and Baronstown west Man from Country Kildare.

 The stark nature of the presentation is somewhat appropriate given that they were victims of sacrifice. Any kind of adornment might have been at odds with this fact.

The upper torso looks relatively relaxed, down to the posture of the fingers and hands.

 How incredible that this 'mummy' could be 4 thousand years old. the leather-like skin looks more than a shell, which it probably is. We know from the explanations, that the bodies dehydrated rapidly upon seeing the light of day again, all this time later.

 This is what they think the person looked like, after a careful study of his bone structure and skull, and the hair that he was found with, as described above.

 A map showing where each of the bodies was found.

In a somber mood we left the Museum. It was getting on for closing time and we wanted to share a piece of lemon Meringue Pie from the Art Gallery, if there was any left. Waz had a theory about it... The pie had not been broken into. Nobody else had ordered a piece and we would be the first. We were hoping it would be a good size, considering it was 5, 50 euros for the piece. He said that once people could see what the inside looked like, they would buy a slice. I think he is right, because when we returned the next day, another couple of slices had been sold and we could clearly see the inside:)

On our way back to the Art gallery for afternoon tea (coffee, in this case) we passed the Royal College of Physicians. As you can see, it was founded in 1654. I was curious to see what the inside of the building looked like, so I went and poked my nose in!  Lovely!

 I wasnt brave enough to go any further and I was being summoned!
I did take the time to notice these little scenes at the bottom of the pillars out front. A bit of fun, dont you think?

 a couple of monkeys playing pool or billiards.

We were happy to rest our sore feet and to take our heavy cross-body bags off. Our shoulders ached, and Waz's back was sore from his bed being less than admirable.

We sat and looked at each other and agreed that it was time to return to the hotel and find out what our new room looked like.

Merde! It was raining when we exited the gallery, and we crossed the road when there was a lull and only drizzle, to the bus stop 100 yards on the opposite side of the road. We wouldn't melt but we were tired and trying to dry clothes in an hotel room is never fun.

On the journey home on the bus we discussed how most of the staff we find everywhere are of EU nationalities, but rare to hear an Irish accent amongst them. So many students in this city. 

On our return we were gifted the keys to the new room, quite a hike down a long passage. We were hopeful that things would be different. They were and they weren't.

First up, it was a much larger room with a real sitting area, for which we were enormously grateful. The bathroom was larger too, but the shower rose came from mid-back and we were unable to raise it any higher. Still shaking our heads over that one, lol.

We had a lovely green outlook and while it wasnt as hot, it was still warmer than we would have liked. The window in this room opened a good deal wider than the previous which was nice, and we still had a small view of the sea without the sun and the traffic noise.  There is an ancient cemetery just below us across from the parking lot...speaking of which...single paned windows really let the sound in and tall buildings carry voices! Those in the parking lot late at night need to pipe down! 

 Our peep of the sea. Plenty to see there, thanks.

We walked down the road to the Old Punchbowl Pub, (the yellow pub I showed you a couple of days ago) for dinner. The sky had somewhat cleared, but we took our umbrellas and rain coats just in case.

What joy it was to receive our food on plates so hot that we couldn't touch them. They had come from the kitchen downstairs via a dumb waiter too!
Waz had a lager and I enjoyed a Shandy with our meal. He ordered the slow cooked pork belly with veg which was delicious and easily fell apart, and I ordered the scampy and salad and another starter of duck spring rolls with a salad. Delicious!

We chatted for ages with a young Indian South African couple from Johannesburg who had literally just flown in to Dublin. What a delight they were. They were in town for one more day, taking an 8 hr bus tour,  then off to Paris, Amsterdam and Switzerland and some other place for a total of 12 days of their vacation.

We strolled home with nicely full bellies and enjoyed an ice cream from the gas station before heading back to our rooms. I finished reading my Anthony Bourdain book, Kitchen Confidential.
It was warm in the room and despite our best efforts to cool it off, we again slept outside the sheets.