Day 27: Remember the time

- Tuesday, June 30, 2009

June 26, 2009

I meant to keep this blog solely for the purposes of recording this trip to Ireland, but I will deviate from that purpose a bit.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. Normally, I don't bother mentioning world events in this blog because they do not relate to my experience here in Ireland. However, the death of Michael Jackson was so monumental, that the very life of people, not only in Ireland, but across the world, altered a bit for one day.

Perhaps everything that can be said about his death and his life has already been said. People all over the world are trying to get the last words in about his life, his eccentricies, his financial troubles, his family, etc. Personally, I never paid much attention to his personal life. Sure, like any other fan of music, I was a bit perplexed by his "odd behavior", but it had little impact on my enjoyment of his music. The Michael Jackson that I was familiar with, was the one in the music videos, wearing ridiculous costumes that just fit, and dancing as if he was compelled by the beat. And indeed, he was the one of the first artist I remembering hearing. Beat It had been my absolute favorite (probably because it had two words that I could sing along to, even if I didn't get the rest of the lyrics).

I had no idea that he had planned a comeback, that 50 concerts in London's O2 arena had sold out in 2 hours. Even if these concerts were his curtain call, he died very young. He was considered a genius, blessed with talent that could be heard in his music and seen in his dancing. We won't ever know if these last concerts would have rekindled some of that genius, but even so, I miss him.

The effect must have been much larger in America, but radio stations played his songs all day on Friday. As I walked home through Grafton Street (the shopping street on the south side of Dublin), I could hear his music being blasted from the stores. One the stores, dedicated to music and movies, had speakers set up at the door that played Thriller as I walked by. My office was abuzz with talk of Michael, anecdotes and opinions of his life being shared.

Perhaps this was one time that I wish I had been home, in order to be with people who cared as much as I did. I haven't been able to stop listening to his music since and one of the first things I do when I reach home, will be to watch his music videos on the big screen.

And so, I'll end with one of my favorite videos of Michael Jackson. This is the live performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25 celebration. This was the first time he used the moonwalk and since then, it became his signature move (alongside the sparkly jacket, white glove, and fedora).

As one fan said, thanks Michael, for the music, memories, and moonwalk.

Day 26: Sunshine, blue skies

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June 25, 2009

I felt guilty that I was wasting perfectly good, sunny evenings, so I planned to go to Howth Head with one of my housemates. Thursday had promised clear skies, so we hopped on the DART (the coastal rail line) and headed up to Howth Beach.

Our luck held because the weather was good (still a bit windy from the sea breeze), but otherwise perfect.

The first view of the beach. The tides were so low that even the Irish Sea is not even visible in this picture. We had to walk quite a distance to reach the water.

The Irish Sea. Well, at least part of it. This is actually looking back towards the beach.

This isn't water, but sand. The receding waves left different patterns all over the beach.

Waves as they rolled into the beach.

The view from the beach. The island in the distance is called Island's Eye. I don't know if you can get a boat out to reach it, but it looked cool from land.

A picture of my housemate, Amanda. I took this shot without her knowing, but I liked the lighting in this photo.

A shipwreck on the beach. I don't know which ship this is, or when the wreck happened, but I believe that this is usually partially submerged, so we were lucky that the tides were low.

This is a picture of some random plant that washed up on the beach. However, the green was so vivid, that I had to take a picture. Of course, on the Emerald Isle, I've seen this green many times before. But this was the first time that I actually got to take a picture of it. The strands also look so fine, that it looked a bit like hair.

One of two ships being built in the shipyard. I think one of the locals was laughing at us when we took pictures of this. But thing like this are so novel, especially to people who live inland, that pictures are a necessity.

A small boat entering the harbour. The weather was so lovely that we saw quite a few boats out at sea.

We didn't know if we had enough energy to wait for a sunset, but this was one of the first pictures we got of it. The sunset is ridiculously late here - around 9:30.

A picture of two small kids as they walked to one of the boats. I wish that I had taken the picture horizontally, instead of vertically, but I still got a good picture.

A later shot of the sunset. It was quite calm and there were many people walking up and down towards the lighthouse. 

The walkway the leads up to the lighthouse and a watchtower (?).

Something (some form of moss?) growing on the rocks that lined the beach. The colour reminded me of turmeric powder and it looked like some took a huge spoon and sprinkled it all over the rocks.

One of the last shots of the sunset. It was a rather thick cloud cover, but some of the light still managed to peek through.

Day 25: ???

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June 24, 2009

I should have used the evening to catch up on my blog. But I was distracted by other things, so I have nothing to show for my time.

On a more interesting note, it has been more than 3 weeks since I arrived in Ireland and I feel that the time is passing far too quickly.

Day 24: Time to revisit

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June 23, 2009

After work, I headed back to St. Patrick's Cathedral, determined to get some photos that were not blurry. One of my roommates had wanted to see the cathedral, so we both hopped on the bus and hurried inside.

Unfortuately, the choir was already practicing when we got there, so I could only take a few pictures before the "No Photography" signs were put up.

Since I will not head back to the cathedral (unless I figure out how to take pictures in dim light), I am combining my pictures from last Friday and the ones from today in this post. Sadly enough, I only three photos from the inside that are worth posting. I took a lot of shots that are similar to ones I took in Christ Church, so I am not going to post those.


Unforunately, this was the only picture of the main hall that came out relatively well. Just before the quire and inner sanctum, the cathedral hall splits sideways, so there are to large areas to the left and right. These contain memorials to soldiers and people connected with the church.

The quire of St. Patrick's Cathedal. The choir sits in the front rows and a candle is lit for every member present. The ornate chairs that are topped by helmets belong to the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, founded by King George III in 1783. The order still exists, although there have been no appointments since 1936 and the last surviving member die in 1974. You can also see parts of their heraldic banners at the top of the photo.

The coloured light from the stained glass windows on the cathedral walls.

St. Patrick's park. Just like any other public park, this one is full of Dubliners taking full advantage of the sunny weather.

I might go back one day if I have time, but I don't want to pay the entrance fee if I'm not able to take good photos.

Day 23: Row, row, row your boat

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June 22, 2009

So, after ignoring this blog for more than a week, I've finally got around to updating this thing. My only excuse is that I was not motivated at all.

I also don't have a post for Sunday, because once again, I used it catch up on sleep and household chores.

Anyway, I went to work and decided to explore a bit of the city that evening. My office is located very close to the River Liffey so I decided to head down towards Dublin Bay while walking along the river.

A memorial to the Great Irish Famine that took place between 1842 and 1852. A million people died of starvation and disease and a million more emigrated. The current population of Ireland, which was reduced by 20-25%, has never fully reached pre-Famine levels.  It was more than disconcerting to look at these statues - the faces of the people are drawn with pain, their mouths open, their eyes wide as they walk toward the bay to leave their homeland.

A miniature ship on the banks of the Liffey. Well, it is not so small, but perhaps compared to other ships, it looks small. I believe its name was Elaine Johnston. I'm not sure if you can pay for a ride on it. The dock was empty and it was barred off.

A neat looking bridge that is under construction. This is one of the last bridges that can be used to cross the river before it flows out into Dublin Bay.

I wanted to walk further down the river, but there was a lot of dirt flying around from construction and it became harder to navigate the sidewalks. The sky was also filled with dark grey clouds and I didn't want to be out in the rain, so I headed home.

Day 21: Across the border

- Saturday, June 20, 2009

June 20, 2009

After the exciting events of yesterday, we had to prepare for a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We left around 10 in the morning (which was rather late) and drove up to city in a coach. One of our programme directors and our Irish history professor accompanied us on the trip.

I was excited and nervous for this trip. Northern Ireland remains a controversial topic to date and it's quite common to find Irish people on both sides with very strong opinions. This weekend might have been an especially fortunate (or unfortunate) time to visit Belfast. Over 100 Romanians in the city were driven out of their homes because of racist attacks and some are refusing to stay in the country. Problems still exist in Belfast, but it was still shocking to discover that such tensions still run deep. An anti-racist demonstration was scheduled for 2 PM and our guides were afraid that we would not be able to complete the tour due to the traffic.

The drive was perhaps a little over two hours. Northern Ireland looks much like the Republic - the green fields, cows, and sheep stretch into the horizon. The various shades of green are ever-present and it is amazing to see them lined up side by side.

One way to tell that you have definitely left the Republic and have entered the United Kingdom is by reading the road signs. In the Republic, the signs are posted in both Gaelic and English. In Northern Ireland, they are only in English. Another way, obviously is to see what flag the buildings are flying. The tricolor flies in the Republic and the British flag flies in the property of the United Kingdom.

We stopped for breakfast at a hotel in Northern Ireland and eventually reached the city of Belfast. We did not stop to see much of the city as we were headed towards Stormont Estate. This is currently the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly (the government presiding in the country).

Before I proceed, I will apologize for the quality of the pictures in this post. They were all taken from the bus (something that I will explain later) and therefore show the dirt on the window and the glare from the sun.


The Parliamentary Buildings of Stormont Estate. The building was opened in 1932 by the future King Edward VIII. The architect, Sir Arnold Thornley, designed it using the Greek classical style.

The Great Hall of the Parliamentary Buildings. The statue at the end of the hall is that of the first Prime Minster of Norther Ireland, James Craig.

A picture of the middle (and largest) chandelier in the hall from below.

A picture of the hall from the second floor. Notice the very elaborate patterns and carvings in the ceiling - this is actually the original paint from 1932. The man who was responsible for it created some sort of everlasting paint. Unfortunately, he died young and failed to pass on the secret formula for this paint.

The front of the Parliamentary Buildings with students from the program milling around and taking pictures.

The road leading up to the Parliamentary Buildings, or better known as the The Mile.

A statue of Edward Carson, also visible in the previous picture. Edward Carson was a leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and was strongly opposed to Irish Home Rule (the idea of Irish people ruling themselves). He was the first signatory of the Ulster Covenant which bound the signatories to resist Home Rule by "any means necessary".

This is the shipyard in which the Titanic was built. The two large cranes are called Samson and Goliath. Shipbuilding, along with agriculture, and linen, were Northern Ireland's three main industries.

The Doll on the Ball.
This was a beautiful monument built on the edge of a river that runs through the city. It is not visible in the photo, but the woman is standing on the world.

These are some of the famous murals that are painted all over the city walls. As you can see, these people have quite strong opinions. They resist the US blockade of Cuba and support the Basque movement in Spain.

The black and white mural on the left is but two days old. That was recently drawn to reflect the attacks on the Romanian citizens of the city. It supports the families that were affected and calls for an end to racism.

I'm not sure if the picture is good enough, but I posted this to show the flag of the Irish Republic flying in Belfast. The city is split into two very separate communities - Republicans (majority Catholic) and Unionists (majority Protestants). The flags that fly in the vicinity will alert people as to which community they are currently in.

The gates that separated the two communities during the height of violence from 1969 onwards. The gates used to be fully closed and now remain open at all times.

This picture is not very clear, but if you look closely, you can see a white wired fence (above the middle black stretch) that physically separated both communities. As you know, the city is no longer split, but the fence stands as a grim symbol of what has transpired in the city.

This picture is not very good, but I wanted to capture a shot of the British flag flying in Belfast.

This is a mural in the Unionist community and as you can see, this has a much more sinister nature than the ones before. Many of the people here still support one side or another. As witnessed over 30 years ago, they were willing to take up arms to fight for their cause.

I wanted to end with a picture of Belfast City Hall. The ferris wheel beside it is for tourists who wish to see a panorama of the city. I would also like to point out that the anti-racist demonstrations were to take place outside of the city hall. The two white vans parked out in front set up a petition called "Smash Racism".

Those are all the decent pictures I have of Belfast. I do not know if our guides had plans to take us on a walking tour of the city, but we only stepped out of the bus once to see Stormont Estate. We did not get to walk around in the city and we never stopped for pictures. I'm not sure if our guides were extra cautions due to the recent attacks.

However, it was disappointing to have such a short and limited view of the city. I would have loved to step down and take pictures and there were many shots that I missed. As a result, I had to take all the pictures from the bus, and hence could do nothing to about the dirt and glare.

I am grateful that I at least was able to visit the city, even if for a short time. I know that I would have been unwilling to go due to the attacks and I felt much more comfortable traveling in a group.

We eventually headed back for Dublin and reached the city in the evening.

(P.S. It has already been three weeks since I arrived in Ireland. I honestly don't know where that time went.)

Day 20: Predicament

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June 19, 2009

Story time!

Last night, at about 1:00 AM in the morning, our house was broken into and some valuable items were stolen in the span of about five minutes.

As soon as one of the girls realized what happened, every contact we have in Ireland was called within the span of about ten minutes. The police, our programme directors, our landlord, etc. were called and informed of the situation.

While some money and an iPhone was stolen, we were mainly worried that this person had stolen a key to our house. Naturally, we were scared that this person would come back - perhaps when we were asleep or out of the house.

So we refused to remain in the apartment as long as the locks remained the same. After the police came by, we were move to a temporary place for the night. None of us got much sleep last night and we were slightly grumpy in the morning.

However, our landlord met with us in the morning and set about to assure that we would be safe. A new lock and key were put in place and the windows were screwed shut (this is technically illegal to do because it poses a fire hazard).

Perhaps the one upside to the entire situation was that none of us were required to go to work that day. We got no sleep, had no access to any of our clothes, and still had to sort out the situation in the morning. So we had to call our supervisors to let them know that we could take the day off.

Everything was taken care of by 11 in the morning, so I decided to get in some sightseeing. There was nothing else to do and none of us were particularly eager to stay in the house. I headed out to St. Patrick's Cathedral while hoping that it would not be closed for a special event.

Luckily, it was open and I ended up staying for almost 3 hours. St. Patrick's Cathedral is the national church of Ireland and it is fittingly grand and ornate. It is much bigger, but younger than Christ Church Cathedral.

Perhaps in line with my bad luck that day, my camera's batteries ran out 20 minutes after arriving. I didn't manage to take many pictures, and the ones I took came out awful. The cathedral is dimly lit and as a result, my pictures come out all blurry. I don't know how to shoot pictures in low light and I don't know which settings to change. So I have to learn to take better pictures before I go back.

However, I did manage to take some pictures of the exterior, so I will post those instead.


St. Patrick's Cathedral, completed in 1191. It is the Church of Ireland, although the Church of Ireland's Archbishop sits in Christ Church Cathedral. At the time of its construction, it was chosen to be constructed on a site that was outside of the city walls so that it would not fall under the jurisdiction of the city council.

A close-up shot of the bell tower.

I would post more pictures, but they would only consume space. There is a small park outside of the cathedral where families and pedestrians can sit or stroll around. These shots were taken from the park. When I get better pictures of the park, I'll post those as well.

The cathedral is also well known for its most famous Dean, Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels. He was Dean from 1713 to 1745 and was buried there. His grave can be seen on the floor of the cathedral alongside the grave of "Stella" (or Esther Johnson, a very close friend of Swift). The church contained many more graves and memorials. Some of the larger memorials were those remembering the soldiers who fought in various wars.

The organ was not directly visible like the one in Christ Church. The quire was also not accessible to the public, so pictures of the high altar had to be taken at a distance. As I said earlier, the entire cathedral is very grand, ornate, and beautifully decorated. Since I don't have any decent pictures to post, I can't show what "grand and ornate" looks like.

As any other cathedral, St. Patrick's had stained glass windows, some of them much larger than the ones at Christ Church. I went in the late afternoon and the sun was shining through the windows, leaving colorful patterns of light on the floor and walls. It illuminated objects in the cathedral in interesting colors and I was very frustrated that I could not take pictures of it.

The cathedral performs daily services and at 5:45 pm, they perform evensong. I wanted to say and watch, so I asked when I paid my entrance fee if non-believers could sit in. They do allow it, so I wandered around the cathedral until then. Only a dozen or so people were there (which a rather small number to be sitting in such a large cathedral), but the choir and clergy proceeded with the service.

Since there were so few worshippers in the cathedral, those that were present were beckoned forward and were allowed to sit in the special pews that were close to the quire. Some of these pews were labeled with names and could only be accessed by opening a small door on the side close the aisle.

Evensong began with the choir and clergy walking up the aisle to their seats in the quire. The worshippers can pick up pamphlets which describe the service and the rituals that place. For example, it would tell them when to sit and stand, and when and what to speak during prayers. 

I felt distinctly awkward since I would not speak or repeat anything that the priests would say. But I did sit and stand when required, because I felt it would be disrespectful otherwise.

The choir sang parts of the service, and in the middle, one priest stood up to read a verse from the Book of Joshua and another stood up to read a verse from the Book of Luke. The choir and the organ sounded beautiful and the music resounded within the high walls of the cathedral.

As an interesting side note, the choir was composed of all males, two rows of small boys (perhaps from elementary and middle school) and two rows of gentlemen (perhaps from their twenties to one man that was at least 60). It is distinctly different from the choir in Christ Cathedral, which is composed of only adult males and females. The services are also performed with a mixture of both Anglican and Catholic traditions.

Once the evensong was complete, the organist played as the choir and clergy exited to the robing rooms and it continued for a few minutes. After he finished the song, I left, promising to return with a fully charged camera. It was a real shame and I felt that I missed out on a lot of good pictures. I want to go at a different time of day, perhaps in the morning, when there is more light inside.

After seeing both of the cathedrals in Dublin, I have to say that my personal favorite is Christ Church. Perhaps I feel this way since I saw that one first, but I like the smaller and quieter nature of Christ Church. Somehow, I could not forget the importance of St. Patrick's and it seems impossible to comprehend the sheer physical and historical presence of the church. But St. Patrick's is very beautiful indeed and it is certainly worthy of all of its praise.

Day 19: Full house

- Friday, June 19, 2009

June 18, 2009

Our apartment received some visitors to Dublin - some girls had friends and family stay at our house.

Not much of importance happened today. I had Mexican food for dinner (which definitely tastes different in Europe). I came back and attempted to turn in early so I wake up early on Friday. Little did I know that I would wake up in two hours to the sounds of frantic voices downstairs...

P.S. This is me trying to keep you on the edge of your seat while you are waiting for me to update my blog. (Just kidding, but I do have an interesting story to tell. But I'll have to save that for tomorrow.)

Day 18: Here comes the sun

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June 17, 2009

The morning was absolutely miserable and dreary - the rain made everything worse.

But, thankfully, the sun started to shine, and by the afternoon, it was absolutely gorgeous outside. So I decided to try my luck and go sightseeing (the weather changes so quickly that beautiful weather might only last for an hour or so).

I meandered down from the IFSC to O'Connell Street - my intent was to take a picture of the James Joyce statue just down O'Connell. This was my attempt to make up for a missed Bloomsday in Dublin.

James Joyce. I liked that someone left a rose, I'm assuming, for Bloomsday.

I turned back down O'Connell and headed towards Trinity College and ultimately down Grafton Street. I stopped to watch a street performer (who I've seen before) juggle and play with fire. It was pretty neat to watch - his grand finale was to blow a fireball out of his mouth. I did try to take pictures, but they came out blurry.

Since the weather was still holding up, I walked into St. Stephen's Green. This is a beautiful enclosed park south of the River Liffey. Anytime the sun is shining, you'll see people heading in droves towards St. Stephen's Green or Phoenix Park (the largest enclosed park in Europe).

This was just inside on the four entrances to the green. I think it's some kind of memorial. I like taking pictures of moss covered rocks.

This picture isn't of anything spectacular, but I think it looks cool. I just took a shot of the canopy of trees. In fact, I think the picture is a little blurry. If you forget that this is a picture of trees and branches, the colors and shapes look neat.

This is my generic picture of the green. This is merely a shot of the middle of the green - the entire area is much larger.

S-shaped tree.  It's a random picture, but I liked it. It was one of the few good shots I took today.

This, by far, is my favorite picture of the entire lot of shots I took today. The green has many statues commemorating famous Irish people and this particular one is for W. B. Yeats. I like how the lighting worked in this picture. All the three shots I took of this statue came out nice.

Again, I liked the lighting in this picture. I was facing the sun when I took this shot, so the light between the trees became bright in the photo.

This shot wasn't actually taken today, but this cottage is still within St. Stephen's Green. This is Lord Ardilaun's (Arthur Guinness' great grandson) cottage.

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