Dublin in pictures

Detail from Kinlay Hostel

BUSKERS!

From Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham

Execution spot

Pro or anti-treaty?

Pure brilliance

Beautiful

Detail from Glasnevin

Detail from Halfpenny Bridge

The Custom House

Merchants Quay

Pain

So true

I'm thinking about a pint...do you?

One of the treasures of Ireland: second-hand bookstores

And warm, wooly sweaters that smells like a sheep...

My Irish Adventure: Howth/Dublin part 3

I like Dublin, but more than 4 days can be too much in a way. So getting out to Howth the 20th almost felt like a relief, to get away from the noise and just breath.
Getting the bus in Dublin can only be described as a peculiar experience, since noone seems to get to the busstop on time..
Anyway, the drive out to Howth was beautiful, the sun was shining and it seemed that half of Dublin were heading in the same direction as us.

View from the pier.

 Howth seems like the total opposite of Dublin, and it felt so nice to breath in the salty, fresh sea-air. To feel the emptiness of thought...undescribable.

Those of you who read my travel-description last summer might recall me mentioning Howth in my story about Bachelor's Walk (chapter 6) and as all the other places of historical interest, this was a place that meant something to me. When I closed my eyes, I imagined how the place looked like almost 100 years ago, when the gunrunners managed to smuggle their load to Dublin without being caught by the roving eyes of the English.

One of several lighthouses in the area

Such a view

When we got to Howth, we followed the pier out to one of the lighthouses on the peninsula. I sadly didn't feel that well, so I didn't walk around the cliffs. Oh, I wish I did, but that will be something to do next time. So after some wandering about, me an my sister found (surprise surprise) a pub. Mum and dad had went for a walk out to the cliffs to see some birds and James would hopefully turn up...
So a pint and a newspaper, reading anything but the news...how many strange names the Irish give their horses...
* Clouded Thoughts
*Theboyschoice
*Nurse Ryan
*Gormanstown Cuckoo
*The Recovery
*The Talking Turtle
....and the list is endless...
Wonder what their owners were thinking of...

A cider so much better than the norwegian crap---Bulmers yummy!

Busy busy...even early in the afternoon

Abbey Tavern...what a place. They had a fireplace, which made me drowsy and when James, his friend, mum and dad came, I tasted Beamish for the first time...oh what a pint. I don't know which one I prefer; Beamish or Guinness...
Anyway, thanks James for introducing me to the wonderful taste of Beamish.


The evening got spent in the hostel, playing and singing. Great last evening in Dublin

*****************

The next morning, after packing all my stuff, I went walking along the quay in the sunshine. To take in the city like this felt liberating and I got a chance to see the monument over the famine-victims.
I'll let the pictures tell the story, because I'm lost for words:

Liffey in the morning

Treasurehunting...finding cool sculptures

James Connolly; a leader of the people

 This is one of my favourites scultures. It's a good representation of the man James Connolly was; a man who fought for the workers and for the Irish people. A strong and determinant man who dared to dream, believe and try to achieve---

A harp in the distance

 The Famine-memorial was amazing...or maybe I'm choosing the wrong word to describe it. Rather...memorable? It portrays the undescribably event the famine was, in a VERY good way. While I was standing there, looking at the different figures, my mind made up their individual stories---Maybe I will make a story about them?

Does he have any hope in our society...or is it lost like in 1847?

You can literally feel his pain and agony

Famine vs wealth, past vs present?

A silent cry for help

All is lost...even hope

An urban harp

A frozen movement

 So the last day in Dublin turned out really nice and memorable...well, it started raining, we misread the bustable to Waterford and the bus was late...but I will let you, my reader enjoy some more small moments from Dublin in the next chapter which will only contain pictures.
And then....tada: TRAMORE

My Irish adventure: Dublin part 2

Our 4 days in Dublin contained indeed more than museums, vikings (mum and dad went on a walking-tour...), parks and touristactivities. Well, maybe what I will tell you about in this chapter can by some be seen as touristy, but it was neither stressfull. filled with tourists or very noisy.

But let me tell you a little bit about James. James is a friend of mine who was going to meet us in Dublin at noon, sunday the 19th. What I did not know, was that he was already on the spot, in the same hostel as us the evening before. So going down for breakfast the 19th, half asleep, I could never have guessed what was going to happen. Make myself a big cup of tea, some toast with marmelade and start to talk to another guest at the hostel. He seemed familiar, but of course it could not be James...He would not arrive until 12 o'clock I told myself. So we chatted for a while, and it took me such a long time to realise that..."this is the man, this is James!" That was indeed a most brilliant surprise.

James; the cheeky little devil

 We had really beautiful weather, and we decided to go to the Botanical Garden and Glasnevin before we would meet James at Howth later. So off we went, with a delayed bus (was not the last one...) to what must be the biggest botanical garden I have ever seen. So many beautiful flowers and trees; a treasuretrove for a photographer with a love for details.

This architectural approach can also be seen in Belfast. Perfect for a greenhouse, wouldn't you say?

Love this tree

Cactus; the perfect plant for a student

Feels like I'm in a movie from the 1890's...

Beauty of nature

It was hot outside...just imagine how it felt like, going through a small rainforest...

I could sit underneath this tree all day...but alas, I did not have the time

As you can see, there were a lot to take pictures of. The garden was HUGE, and I think I got lost about 2 or 4 times. In the middle of the park, there was a small pond where there were ducks. One of them also had ducklings (7 in total) and it was an amazing experience to get so close that I could take pictures of them too. The best picture of the duckling got taken by my sister, Solveig, and it shows the little duckling running across the leaves of  a waterlily.

The world's most beautiful little duckling (taken by Solveig Langhelle)

Both dad and mum enjoyed the garden, and my sister ran around on the lookout for...a scots pine (she was pretty obsessed with "The Lumberjack Song" by Monty Python). After much looking and even more walking, we found our way to the main gate.
Next stop Glasnevin; the biggest cementary in Ireland and also the last restingplace for several important figures in Irish history.
Once again I will try to keep still and let my pictures speak for themselves...

Beside the grave of Daniel O'Connell; the father of Catholic Emancipation

A familiar figure in the graveyard; Mary

The Angels are watching over the dead

One of the many beautiful gravestones

 While gravestones back home in Bergen are small and almost insignificant, the Irish ones are elaborate and even artpieces. Some uses a fortune in making sure that their loved ones gets the most beautiful last  restingplace.

Roger Casement's grave

Roger Casement was one of those involved in the Easter Rising. He had been negotiating with the germans about buying guns for the rebels back home in Ireland. But  when he landed on Banna Strand in Kerry the 21st april, 1916, he  got arrested and charged with treason, sabotage and espionage.
He was hung in Pentoville Prison on the 3rd August, 1916.
Before his execution though, many pleaded for his life, among them Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bernard Shaw. To break the support Casement had, someone circulated a couple of pictures which supposedly showed pages from his diary. These "pages" were "proof" that Casement was a homosexual, which in these days were a crime in itself. You can imagine how this must have been seen in 1916...

A wall of commemoration

Across the road of Glasnevin I found a memorial for the six great Irish rebellions; 1798, 1803, , 1848, 1867, 1882 and 1916. It was special to read the words intagliated in the stone, and think about those who fought and died.

These are the words from Yeats famous poem "1916". what could better suite such a place?

I will stop now, and leave my recollection of Howth and the last day in Dublin for the next chapter.
Bye....

My Irish adventure: Dublin part 1

Dublin. This city which amazed me so last summer, how was it to return to it? Dublin is a city that has undergone tremendous changes the last 20 years, and the Celtic tiger has left its footmark on the city. Dublin was the Irish city which thought it was unbeatable…until EVERYTHING went wrong.

But that is not what this post will be about; I let someone else revel in the darkness of the Irish economy. I want to tell how my second visit to this city went.

Our accommodation this time was Kinlay Hostel in Lord Edward Street, which let us be honest, was pretty central and pretty noisy. 2 minutes away from Temple Bar, and perfect for exploring the city on foot. I like to walk, but my sister doesn’t, so we had to make a compromise so I wouldn’t bite her head off.  

Solveig in the hostel

A squiky staire-case

The hostel was like a treasuretrove for someone like me, always on the lookout for extraordinary details. A stairecase, a picture, even a word was enough...I could pursue the perfect shoot just by looking for details.

Wonder what this tells us about the Irish...

 The first day was a wet day and perfect for museums. My dad wanted to see animals and mum wanted to see gold, so the choice was easy: first the museum of natural history and then the national museum with its archaeological exhibition. On the way there I got a chance to show them some parts of St Stephens Green and the main street, hoping they would be able to find their way around town in case we lost them…

But how could I present Dublin properly to my parents? The idea of "important things to see" is not necessarily uniform within my family...so another compromise was made.  We ended up with the tourist-solution: hop on-hop off-ticket for 2 days. This meant that we could travel around the city, see what needed to be seen and discover the city in our own tempo. And this was what I did the 17-18th....

*Guiding my family

*Visited some places of importance...like Chapters bookstore

Heaven on earth for a bibliophile like me...

*Ended up in Porterhouse....AGAIN

*Visited Kilmainham Gaol...I will try to describe it to you now:

KILMAINHAM GAOL

I never got a chance to visit this last summer, and it had annoyed me since. A place so closely connected to the bloody history of Ireland, to its failed rebellions and to its political growth. I highly doubt my words would do justice to it at all, so I will let the pictures speak and add small comments on them to give you, as a reader, an understandable recount of it.

The chapel: this is the place where Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford got married 3rd May 1916.This happened just before he would be executed for his role in the infamous Easter Rising. Grace never remarried.

Grace was herself imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol for 3 months in 1923 together with many other republicans. This was done because people who either were related to the leaders of the Easter Rising or friends were seen as someone the people of Ireland could unite itself under, and the english feared them.

Such a gloomy place. The walls were made up of a type of stone that works like a sponge- So instead of keeping the irish rain outside, it seeped into the walls and made the conditions within the prison both raw, wet and cold. There were also very little light, so you can imagine how it must have been for the prisoners.

What a terrible beauty. This part of the prison was designed so the prison-guards could keep total control at all times. The shape of it makes it very easy to keep an eye on all the cells, you can literally see each one from every point in the room. The acoustics are brilliant, so if one prisoner were talking to another, the guards would hear it nomatter what. What they did not hear was the tapping on the  pipes...

Kilmainham is mostly famous for being  the prison were the leaders of the Easter Rising were held before their executions. This plaque hangs in the stonebreakers yard to commemorate the leaders who bravely gave their lives in the fight for Irish freedom. James Connolly had been wounded during the rising, and had to be tied to a chair so he could be executed by firing squad. This enraged people both in Ireland and abroad, since it made no sense to execute a dying man...the rebels went from being scapegoats and villains into becoming heroes and martyrs

A few tears were shed when I walked through this place, being told about the different people that sat here for minor or major crimes. It meant a lot to me.

So here ends the first chapter---do you want more? It will come, just be patient

My Irish adventure: part 1

Hey guys!
I'm now back home after nearly 3 weeks in Ireland, and guess what? I'm even more addicted now than I was when I left Norway the 16th June.
My tale will, as last time, be divided into chapters, with loads of pictures, obscure memories and hopefully very inspired.

As you all know, Ireland has a special place in my heart, and this trip opened my eyes even more to what this country is. Last time I sucked up everything little thing, every emotion like a sponge. This made it difficult for me to choose the best and write about it...I wrote about EVERYTHING.

So this time I will try to divide the story into chapters connected to a place. Some places will get one chapter, other will get two or maybe even three.
The places will be:

1. Dublin
2. Tramore
3. Cork/Cobh
4. Letterkenny
5. Ballyliffin/Derry
6. Belfast

So are you ready for a story like this? Be patient and you will receive...

Heaven on earth