Wednesday 16^th July                                  SKERRIES  -  DUBLIN

Today, we’ve had a huge day out in Dublin! We set the alarm for seven, but in the end, Jo and I were awake beforehand, so we busied ourselves getting organised, as we wanted to take the train into Connolly Station in Dublin. Cait and Danny called, and we chatted to them as we got ourselves out of the house, into the car and to the railway station. In the end, we hadn’t allowed quite enough time, as we had to find a park, work out how to buy a parking ticket, work out how to buy our tickets (fortunately a nice man came along and helped us) and meanwhile, the 8.20 train arrived, irritatingly right on time, and departed before we’d sorted everything. Never mind, the next one was along in a half hour, and in the meantime a nice young Irish lad chatted to us.

                                                   Our train arrives at Skerries Station

We finally got onboard a train and it took about half an hour to travel into Dublin city. Our first destination there was EPIC, the new Emigration Museum at the Docklands area. Before we went in, we popped into Bear Market, a little coffee shop in a renovated warehouse building. We had tea and coffees and delicious pastries/scones, and Mum rang so I had a chat to her. Then we had a bit of a look at the way the Docklands is being regenerated. There are some lovely new and renovated buildings which have been turned into offices and residential buildings around the old docks, and it’s becoming a lot more upmarket.

                                                              The old and the new at Docklands

                                                           Apartments around the old docks

                                                     The old Dock Offices are now a pub!

EPIC is quite new – it’s in a renovated warehouse building, the only original one completely remaining. It’s unusual for a museum in that it has very few concrete objects on display – it’s mostly all audio-visual presentations, covering how and when and why the Irish have left the country and the contributions they’ve made to the world in arts, sports, politics etc. We also had a look at the Jeannie Johnston, a tall ship dating back to 1848, which carried thousands of Irish to North America during the famine years.

                                                          Sculpture in EPIC

                                                         The Jeannie Johnston

                                                              EPIC Emigration Museum

After we’d finished at EPIC, Lex headed off to see a memorial to Luke Kelly from the Dubliners. 

Jo and I walked first to the Famine Memorial, on the banks of the Liffey. It’s a really compelling set of emaciated figures and you can really feel the pain and suffering of the time.

From there, we walked along to Carroll’s Irish Gifts (a minor addiction of mine) and had a wonderful time browsing their range. We both bought stuff! Then we were both hungry, so wandered along Grafton Street, looking for somewhere to eat, when we came upon Marks and Spencer’s. They had a café, and we finally managed to get ourselves up to the 3^rd floor to find it (the escalator was broken) and had a lovely lunch there. It was very good to sit down!

Jo enjoyed her fish and chips in M&S!

After that, we wanted to go to the Museum, but discovered it’s temporarily closed. So instead, we headed off to meet Lex at the Art Gallery. We all had an hour wandering around looking at the art on display.

                         My favourite painting was Stanley Royle's The Goose Girl from 1921.

                          But I do have to say St George & the Dragon from c1425 was pretty cool!

Finally, at 4, we decided to head for home (our feet were getting sore). So we thought we might try and get a tram back to Connolly Station, where our return ticket was from. We headed for what we thought was the tram stop, and discovered Pearse Railway Station there. Aha, we thought, we’ll just get a ticket to Connolly and then stay on the train. But when we asked the bloke at the front, he told us our return tickets would be fine. The tickets wouldn’t work in the machines, so the bloke at the machines just let us through! They were all so helpful, and we were able to get on the train there and go straight through to Skerries, without extra cost or a long walk.

We were home a bit after 5, and Jo and I were very glad to get our shoes off! Lex, on the other hand, obviously hadn’t walked enough, so he went for a walk to look at the windmills on the other side of town. When he came back, tea was ready, so we’ve had tea and are now just doing the evening things. Tomorrow, we’re heading north to explore Ireland’s pre-history!

                                              Two Skerries windmills: one with a thatched roof

                                                         and one with a copper roof.