Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Tonight I am staying with Peadar and Rachael who I know from living in Zambia in 2008. I’m 14 miles west of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, in the small town of Celbridge.
On Sunday, after leaving the dam viewing point in Kariba, we drove south back to the farm. Yesterday I flew out of Harare, Zimbabwe and three flights later arrived into Dublin this afternoon.
Peadar is originally from here and Rachael is from England. It has been six years since I’ve seen them and in that time they have lived in Zambia, England, and Ireland and now have two boys that are ages four-and-a-half and one-and-a-half.
In the afternoon at their house, the boys have a new friend to play with and we spend time on the trampoline outside, the older boy pretending to be an antelope, and then later magically transforming into a stag. There are many demands for me to follow along with this.
In the evening I have a Guinness. Welcome to Ireland.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Rachael, the boys, and I take a short trip to Oughterard, which means ‘high place.’ It isn’t that high of a place, more of a hilltop area but it does have some views. The location is where a monastery started in the 6th century, however the current church would have been built around 1350 on top of a previous structure. There is also a round tower that dates from the 8th century. Round towers are primarily found in Ireland and their locations would normally be adjacent to a church or monastery. There is still some debate about all of their purposes but it is thought that the church clergy used them for refuge during a time of attack and to protect church artifacts. With the doorway of round towers well above the ground, people would have entered with a ladder and then pulled it up behind them.
Surrounding the old church ruins and round tower is a cemetery. Arthur Guinness, the creator of my favorite beer, rests here. He’s been resting here a while, since 1803. He was born in Celbridge so it is quite the coincidence to be staying here.
Oughterard: Where Arthur Rests Photo Gallery
From Oughterard, we take Rachael’s older boy to his swim lesson and then play outside in the park with the younger one.
Thursday, April 16, 2014
Well this little one is rocking the giraffe pajamas.
Today we head to Phoenix Park, which at 1,752 acres (707 hectares), is more than twice the size of Central Park in New York City. It was established in 1662, and today includes the Residence of the President of Ireland, the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence, and the Dublin Zoo.
I don’t think anyone doubted he was eating his Frosted Flakes, but look how well he has been brushing!
Phoenix Park and Dublin Zoo Photo Gallery
Friday, April 17, 2015
Tonight, Peadar and I make sure we experience Guinness where it started, here in Celbridge.
I think it is pretty clear that Arthur and I would have been great business partners: he leading production and I on quality control, making as many taste checks throughout the day as he wished, and additional as I wished.
We enjoy five pubs in the small town including one that is located where Arthur Guinness was born. For the last pub of the night, we cross a bridge over the River Liffey, the water source for Arthur Guinness’ first brewery, before he established the present-day brewery at St. James’s Gate.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
In the morning we have a full Irish breakfast.
As part of an Irish breakfast, one must have it all: bacon, sausage, black pudding, white pudding. I’m not going to fight it: thank you!
After breakfast, we head out for the day, first stopping at Taghadoe Round Tower. The tower dates from the 6th century and would have been used for around 1,000 years. The remains that are adjacent are from a more ‘modern’ church that was built in the 19th century.
Taghadoe Round Tower Photo Gallery
We next go to Donadea Forrest Park where there are lots of trails to be walked and a handful of sites to see.
There is an icehouse that was constructed in 1775. The icehouse is basically a manmade, underground cave where ice was put in the winter and stored to last into the remainder of the year.
The best site of the day was the 9/11 Memorial, here in Donadea because the family of Sean Tallon, one of the firefighters who lost their lives, is from here. There are two concrete towers with the names of every firefighter and policeman that lost their lives. There is a bench for the passengers and each airplane that crashed. And beyond the towers there is a wood of oaks planted for all those who lost their lives.
Two towers stand in a wood, because the world will not let them be forgotten.
Donadea Forest Park and 9/11 Memorial Photo Gallery
After the park, we make a stop at a sinking pub. The pub was built in the late 1800s, on a bog, on a wooden raft-like structure. The bog was later drained, creating a problematic situation for the pub as the water level went down and the pub could no longer ‘float’ as it had before. As it settled, it did so unevenly and it hasn’t completely stopped. – Well this is the version provided to me by a local at the pub. The floors have been redone so that they are currently level, but that is about all that is.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
For lunch, Rachael drops me off in Lucan, which is a 10-minute drive east, toward Dublin. Here I meet up with Libby, who I met in Lucan in 2005, the first time I came to Ireland.
Monday, April 20, 2015
In the morning, after dropping Rachael’s older son off at preschool, she drops me off at the train station.
"Not all those who wander are lost." – J. R. R. Tolkien
Writer, poet, philologist. January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973.