Day 2 - Kilmainham Gaol and errands North of the Liffey

Monday, 16 September 2019
Unfortunately we have had a very bad night. Naturally we woke according to Sydney time, and of course I had an alarming thought pop into my head and stupidly got up to try to resolve what I thought was an easy issue before going back to sleep. Nope, what we got was meltdown due to photo download problems. No sleep at all after about 00:30 local time. That not sorted, we head down to brekkie (breakfast) a mess of fatigue related confusion about day and time. We must have spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out why google was saying the time now in Sydney is late Monday afternoon when it is Sunday here in Dublin. Michael suggests checking the newspaper in the hotel lobby. Eventually the penny drops that oh, actually today IS Monday. Which would also explain why google was giving us store opening times for Monday AND why people yesterday were referring to it being Sunday. Well dah!  I have a brief moment of panic while I wonder if we're late for whatever it is we're doing today given that my brain was somewhere in the far reaches of the planet Jupiter.
This morning we are booked at Kilmainham Gaol for the first tour of the day. It's still drizzling, so we opt to take a taxi from the taxi stand on the Liffey side of Aston Quay. We have a lovely chat with the beautifully Irish accented driver throughout the trip of about 10 mins for about 10 euros.
The area around Kilmainham is lovely and there's a beautiful green fragrance in the damp air. My mood lifts as Hubby hurries me across the road to the entrance of the Gaol. The Gaol is housed in a surprisingly elegant building, and the hotel across the street is modern without jarring with the historical icon so close nearby.  Well done.

Inside we display our tickets purchased online and are directed to a court room to wait, each of our group settled on seats around the room. At the appointed time our guide joins us and we begin the tour, wandering out and across an open yard into the corridors of the gaol, having been warned of low doorways and uneven floors designed to impede any rampaging or escaping prisoner's progress. We walk down narrow corridors where doors, locks and paintwork bear a patina of age. We stop to hear about the general prison regime, (bat shit crazy) theories of criminal rehabilitation and the role of the gaol over time from it's construction to during the famine when beggars in Dublin were arrested and brought to Kilmainham, initially considering it a relief because at least in gaol there was food.

We visit the dimly lit chapel. It was here that Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford were married and our guide describes the service and their time together before his execution in 1916. I am SO, SO glad I read Irish history and in particular Morgan Llywelyn's Irish Century series before coming to Ireland and here to this place. Llywelyn does a marvellous job of bringing the history to life with a mix of fictional and historical characters. Best of all she includes references for factual elements of the story she weaves representing the diversity of people who contributed to the struggle for independence. Any visitor would surely feel compassion for a young couple marrying in such circumstances but knowing a little more about the leadership roles those executed played in the rising, and the role that their widows and other female relatives continued to play in the republican struggle certainly adds depth to the experience of being here.

everything in the design is about control of Prisoners

We arrive at a suspended gallery where we learn of the thinking behind the design, narrow walkways with rails and open grills for floors, I don't need a word from our guide to  be moved by the names above the doors, though he does point them out in due course, Willie and Patrick Pearse, brothers in cells side by side. A brief introduction to Patrick Pearse and his immense talents, comes with a recommendation to start with his Poetry.  Joe Plunkett's cell is here on the end of the row, this is where he and Grace spent the 10 minutes of their married life together. This area has the highest concentration of  the cells of the 1916 martyrs to the republican cause.

The doors to the cells are crusty with age, as rich in texture as the stories and the men and women they confined. On the opposite side of this gallery there's Constance Marcievicz's cell, though she ultimately escaped execution. It is such a privilege to see this place.
We move through passages led by our guide and assemble in a larger, more comfortable cell that could fit 4 or 5. There's a plaque on the wall of Robert Emmett and his name is above the door. Our guide recommends we seek out Robert Emmet's Speech from the Dock made in 1803 prior to his sentencing for high treason due to his leadership of (yet another) rebellion against British rule in Ireland. Apparently there's an excellent reading of it on YouTube.

We move on to the large open interior space, star of several movies and Kilmainham promotional materials. It's usage is explained and we see Grace Gifford's own cell that she occupied later as brother turned on brother (and sister) in the dreadful and bloody civil war following the signing of the Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State. We peer through the spy hole to see the Kilmainham Madonna that Grace painted on the walls of her cell. High above a door on an upper floor the name of Eamon De Valera draws my eye and lens.

Our final stop of the tour is in a high walled yard with large wooden gates to the streets outside, closed against intrusion or escape. There are two black crosses at either end of the yard, a crunch of gravel under our feet, sombre tears from heaven damping our cheeks where our own could easily replace them. It is in this space that the execution of the 1916 leaders took place and our guide describes the events as our group listens in respectful silence and for some of us at least, a good deal of sorrow at what Ireland lost in the execution of these men who had so much to contribute to a free Ireland.  Instead their legacy is the inspiration they have provided to their fellow countrymen and women. A gift of immeasurable value.

Tour concluded we exit through an open doorway that leads to a courtyard with iron railings facing the street outside. THIS is why I travel. It's for places and experiences like this. Time for a quick look at the museum, my pre-trip reading saves me time here too.
Towards the end of my exploration I wander down a dimly lit corridor where quiet alcoves reverently display personal items relating to the 1916 martyrs.  Most affecting was the inclusion of Joe Plunkett's eye glasses.

We head in through a doorway to a particularly excellent gift shop, SO much temptation, then we take the easy route again and take another taxi back to town for our next item on our agenda: camera store! I had been going to head to Dublin Castle next, but sight seeing this afternoon is shelved in favour of errands.

Card reader in hand, photo upload problems apparently sorted, our next errand is to acquire a SIM, with a better deal than mine, for Hubby's phone. Luckily we head for Vodafone which takes us over the Liffey past the GPO.  Well! Isn't this a lucky thing. This side of the river is much nicer, giving a totally different experience of Dublin city. The GPO is great to see for a student of 1916 because it was a key site of combat, ultimately having to be rebuilt due to the extensive damage.

"And tyranny trampled them in Dublin's gutter until Jim Larkin came along and cried the call of
freedom and the call of pride and slavery crept to its hands and knees and 1913 cheered from out the utter
degradation of their miseries" Patrick Cavanagh

A statue of Larkin stands with his arms raised to the sky, the plinth recording quotes of others about the great man and referencing the Dublin Lock-out of 1913, generally regarded as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Ireland's history.
Then there's the Spire of course which replaced a statue of Nelson similar to that found in Trafalgar Square after it was blown up by person or persons with republican hearts.
There are SO many donut outlets in Dublin. My goodness Dubliners and/or visitors here must simply be obsessed with donuts.
At Vodafone Hubby is happily transacting and I make the mistake of asking a question about the SIM deal I got at the airport, specifically I want to know if I can use it in the UK, which was not obvious at the time of purchase. We are subjected to a lengthy and passionate lecture to the effect of DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT buy SIMs at airports or train or bus terminals they are a scam. And if by chance you didn't hear me the first seven times, DO NOT repeat do NOT buy SIMs from airports.  I slink away, shamed at my obvious stupidity.  But on a happy note, next door is Butler's chocolates. They deserve a visit if for no other reason  than their great description of their services proudly displayed on their facade.

...look closely... click on this photo so you can read the small print if you need to.

Hubby's keen to take the laptop, which we needed at the camera store, back to the hotel, but we're hungry and I want GOOD food this time. A little research and we're walking on to Parnell Street to eat at 147 Deli.  Yep, revues are right. Worth the walk.

Nicely sated we head for "home" stopping along the way to sample a couple of the donut outlets.  Hot cinnamon sugar sour dough donuts and some other filled ones among which the sour cherry was a definite leader.

Anxiety about photo management wins when I am back at the hotel. I set about using the new card reader and again am thrown into despair as the SD card from the EOSM5 fails to read. Lots of great images from inside EPIC and Kilmainham Gaol are inaccessible. You can imagine my distress I am sure, compounded by exhaustion. Eventually I find my peace with it and resolve to get some sleep.
By now we are well and truly beyond help on the exhaustion front. We set the timer for the musical pub crawl we have booked for tonight. The alarm goes off after only about an hour. We curse it. Quiet it. And go back to sleep. We are waaaaay beyond anything but sleep tonight.