OUR LAST DAY IN DUBLIN

We awoke to patches of blue sky this morning--a positive omen for our last day of discovering Dublin.  Our intent today is to visit Kilmainham Gaol and then explore the city north of the River Liffey. This will include quite a bit of walking--we're getting very good at that--and a little more scary--our first Irish public transportation experience.

During our hike to O'Connell Bridge we passed through familiar territory from the past two days, and then continued north toward the river.  O'Connell Bridge and Street are named for Daniel O'Connell who lived from the late 1700s into the mid 1850s.  Over the course of his life, he became known as the Emancipator (equal rights for Catholics) and the Liberator (independence for Ireland.)  Statues and memorials of him are scattered over the island, but what must be the largest stands tall at the north end of  the wide bridge named for him.  It's an impressive statue, meant for thought and reflectiion on Ireland's culture, character and history...but, sometimes the best laid plans go astray:

O'Connell Street, as historic and impressive as it is, made me think of my hometown in the 1960s when the urban renewal committee took control before the historical committee had met.  Whereas beautiful buildings lined O'Connell street at its inception, some fell into disrepair and were demolished...replaced by McDonalds, Burger King and various other storefronts.  Ireland is working hard to restore the grandeur, but it is a financial struggle and will be a long time coming.  The best example (to me) of bad decision-making is, no doubt the replacement of the classic "Nelson's Column"...blown up by republican activists in the '60s, only to be replaced by the Milennium Spire in 2003.  The Spire is a  stainless steel, 390 foot tall  upside-down skinny ice cream cone, sans the ice cream.  Considering the various nicknames bandied about--many of which would make a good girl blush--the Irish aren't real excited about it either.  However, despite this multi-million Euro misstep, O'Connell Street is worth a stroll.

Strengthened by carbs and caffeine, from one of the afore-mentioned McDonalds', we approached the public bus stops that line the River Liffey.  Apparently (unless you possess a bus pass) you tell the driver your destination and he charges accordingly--and (we learned) may waive the charge entirely after a nervous tourist, who looked a lot like me, fumbled, dropped, and re-fumbled  Euro coinage in front of a line of polite, but impatient natives.  He was a very nice driver.

Kilmainham Gaol was never intended to be a welcoming place, but this carving above its entry (chained snakes representing the loss of freedom) speaks dramatically about what will be found within.  A gentleman behind us in line softly whispered, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here." 

Built in the 1790s as a replacement for an older prison, this jail housed men, women, and children during its long history.  Children as young as five were sometimes jailed for the offense of begging on the streets or petty theft.  They and the women often slept on straw in the hallways while most of the men had, at least, a cot.  While opened as a County Jail and debtors prison, it eventually became a political prison used by the British to punish those who fought for Irish independence.  The most dramatic stories for us were those related to the Easter Rising in 1916 which lasted barely a week, before the executions of those responsible began two weeks after that..

Used often over the past few decades as a movie set, Kilmainham may look familiar to you.

I can't imagine winter in this damp, dreary darkness.

The hour plus tour ends here, where the executions of May 1916 took place.  This cross marks where James Connolly (see the placard above) was executed.  So badly injured during the uprising that he was near death, Connolly was carried here on a stretcher, tied to a chair, and shot.  Following that incident, international outrage and World War I political issues forced the end of the executions.

This is a dramatic, historic, and touching tour.  It's a tour that shouldn't be missed if, for nothing else, the opportunity to visit the history that so tempers all that makes Ireland, Ireland.