Museums, Guinness, and the Dáil Éireann--Days 10 & 11

 The weather is still relentlessly gorgeous in Dublin. Back home it's been in the 80s, but here it's been sunny and perfectly comfortable in the mid 60s. We'll inch up to around 70F this weekend, which is a heatwave for the Irish. With the holiday weekend coming up, I have no doubt that many Irish will return to work on Tuesday with sunburns. 

Our Irish adventure continues to delight one and all, despite lingering illness (mostly on my part). The students are showing remarkable stamina considering the workload of being in two classes, all the extra curriculars, and the early mornings--they have to get up far earlier than the 3 minutes before class that they usually do back home. A few students have shared with me that they've been getting up at 6:00 a.m. (much to their unhappiness). While this is a normal time for me, I can recognize that this is pretty early for your average student. Amazingly, they're all showing up every day ready to get to work. They've already got two memoirs under their belts and have an additional two to go--four memoirs in four weeks is a pretty intense reading schedule!

Day 10

After a morning of teaching the first half of That's That, I headed back to our apartment to make plans with Peyton and Clara. We decided that it was time for Clara to have her first chicken and stuffing sandwich, so we headed over to Lotts & Co. (the fancy grocery) and bought sandwiches. Unsurprisingly, they were delicious and Clara is sold on the perfection of this carb on carb culinary delight. We finished up lunch and decided that we'd like to check out the Decorative Arts and History Museum before meeting up with Tim for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. The museum, like all the other National Museums of Ireland was amazing. (Side note: all the National Museums are FREE. What would it be like if all the major museums in the U.S. were free? What does having free entrance to so many museums say about the value systems of the Irish?) There was a particularly moving exhibit on the Magdalene Laundries by Alison Lowry. We also really enjoyed the furniture wing of the museum--there were several great rooms showcasing MCM furniture made by Irish furniture makers.

Furniture from the 1930s.

Clara and Peyton admiring the MCM exhibit.

Clara looking at a piece in the Lowry exhibit that highlighted the fact that the women working in the Magdalene Laundries had to cut their hair off.

There was still much more to see, but we had to head out to meet Tim at the Guinness Storehouse, but we'll be returning to the Decorative Arts and History Museum again! 

Graffiti on our way to Guinness.

In honor of a cat named Slug.

Now, I'll be honest, I don't really care much about the Guinness Storehouse. It's super touristy and filled to the brim with Americans--many who have come directly from the airport (why??). It's the sort of place you might only need to go one time. I went with Peyton during his first trip to Dublin back in 2016, but Clara had never been and I wanted to go with her. I've never been to a Disney park, but I'm guessing this is the beer equivalent experience: videos, water features, crowds, interactive screens, people being herded, etc. But at the end of the tour, you get a free beer, so that's sorta worth all the jostling and milling about. 

Clara engrossed in one of the many-screened rooms. 

I took a few videos of some of the exhibits, but Blogger is being uncooperative with videos, so you'll have to Google "fish on a bicycle+Guinness Storehouse" to see my favorite Guinness ad campaign. We had our free beers and took in the views from the Gravity Bar. Then, we headed down to Arthur's (a cafe/restaurant) to have one more drink and to recharge before heading out. We had a seagull companion while we were there--we suspect that they might have been fed in this spot at some point. 

Seagull companion.

Human companion. 

After Guinness, we met my friend Eleanor for dinner at the Winding Stair --the food and the company were both incredible. While in the bathroom, I grabbed a photo of a poster with Countess Markievicz. I came back to the table and Peyton had taken a photo of the same poster in his bathroom too. At least we know we're compatible?

"Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank, and buy a revolver."

Day 11

After teaching, I hung around to meet Clara and Peyton at NCI. Tim had promised a brief lecture on leprechauns in his class and we wanted to check it out. I don't think anyone was surprised to learn that leprechauns aren't the symbol the Irish would choose for themselves and that it's deeply problematic on multiple levels. We left Tim and the rest of the class to discuss the finer points of leprechauns and found some lunch nearby. We're all obsessed with a place right near campus, Seven Wonders, that has incredible fruit smoothies and delicious bagel sandwiches. The students are over there all the time and hauling their finds back to the classroom.

Thoroughly fortified (with the addition of a few treats from the local M&S as well), Peyton and Clara headed out to the Archeology Museum and Tim and I went to meet our local contact, Aisling, at the Buswells Hotel. Located across the street from the Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament), this hotel--although quiet and unassuming on the outside--is bustling and exciting on the inside. We quickly noticed that this was the sort of place that politicians (and those adjacent) had lunch and/or meetings in. Clumps of official-type looking people were deposited throughout the dining room and lobby areas, which were beautifully decorated. After a bit, Peyton and Clara joined us for a pot of tea and a sit down before we made our way over to the Dáil for a tour. Our class was told that they must be at the Dáil no later than 4:00 and every student made it on time! Once inside, we met our usher who was going to be our tour guide. We couldn't take pictures inside the Dáil, but I managed to get one of our class before we went inside.

Our students listening to a brief introduction about the Dáil Éireann. 

When we were last here in 2018, both Tim and I remember this visit being rather quick and cursory, but that was not the case this time. I'm not sure if it was just the luck of the draw or if it was the fact that our visit was sponsored by the former Taoiseach (Irish prime minister), Micheál Martin (current Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Defence). In any case, the tour was incredible in every way possible. We had a chance to listen in on a live debate and to tour the building with lots of stops along the way for a deep lesson in Irish politics. The students were absolutely enthralled. Then, when we thought the tour was over, another usher joined in and answered questions. We gave them TWO rounds of applause. 

Although we were exhausted, we came back to our place and Tim made us enormous (and very tasty) burgers on a makeshift grill (filling the apartment with smoke) and I assembled a cheese board that we promptly demolished. Tomorrow, we're heading out to Belfast for more political tours and then to the Giants Causeway. I'm looking forward to having Sunday and Monday off!