Frau Kathy's Travel Blog: UK and Dublin: Day 14: St. Stephen's Green, MOLI, Ulysses Rare Books, Dublin, Ireland August 3, 2024

My husband K got up and 6:15, showered, and was off to breakfast and the ClarinetFest before our daughter J and I woke at 8:15.

When we went to breakfast at 9, it was about 55°. I decided to have my usual European breakfast with a few tweaks: compote, but on porridge; orange juice; banana; cold cut sandwich; and the usual pastries. I did miss having a roll for the sandwich.

When we left the hotel at 10:45, it was 62° and mostly cloudy.

Our route today took us past St. Andrew's Catholic Church, which looked more like a museum or government building.

Once again, Oscar Wilde was our first famous person to run into. Today, it was his statue on a bench outside of Kennedy's on Westland Row. He'd worked here as a kid. I do like the second half of the gold sign.

We also passed the one-time home of Sydney Owenson, but I must admit that we'd never heard of her. But, she did rate a sign.

I liked the little signs on this government building, which gave the name in Gaelic first.

We had to traverse St. Stephen's Green, which is another of those fenced parks that tell you to keep off the grass for the most part. We walked along the stream with the ducks and crossed over the bridge. Quite an oasis in the city.

On the other side of the bridge, there were several formal flower beds and a pretty fountain.

Ireland is quite proud of its writers. Here in the park there were memorials to several of them. The signs don't always tell you everything. The W. B. Yeats memorial by Henry Moore is actually titled "Knife Edge". Mangan is actually the poet James Clarence Mangan.

We exited the park about then and could see our objective across the street- Museum of Literature Ireland or MOLI.

When we crossed the street, we discovered Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, the university church of St. John Henry Newman, aka John Henry Cardinal Newman. Inspired by his writings, the Newman Centers that you find at many colleges were named for him. I had no idea that he had an Irish connection.

We entered MOLI at 11:34 and admission was half-price today. So, we paid only €12. Oh, and the building had this interesting plaque outside.

In the first room of this quiet museum, there were displays about various Irish authors. There would be a sign with the name, a quote from a work, and a short bio in English and Gaelic. In display cases, there would be books, including some first editions, playbills, and, sometimes, ephemera from the person. Some of the authors I'd heard of. Of course, there were some like Sean O'Casey I knew of because of something else, like the bridge outside the hotel.

Let me pause right here to note that the ephemera from Beckett was his rotary phone from Paris!

Never have I thought of Dracula as an Irish novel. I'm also surprised to see it named as one of the most influential Irish novels. One of the most "widely read" is no surprise.

There were many examples from Oscar Wilde that I recognized. Perhaps it is because of the time we live in, but I thought they treated him rather gently and kindly.

In another room, they exhibited paintings they'd commissioned from James Hanley, a UCD graduate, in response to James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The first painting was a reaction to the "tundish" set upstairs in Newman House. I've not read the book, and that is the only painting they explained.

What is UCD, you ask? Great timing, because there were signs about that.

That lovely rondel is from the Catholic University and shows its motto in Latin, which in English is "Seat of Wisdom, Pray for Us". You'll recall that the nearby church is Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. (Honestly, though, I've never heard that title for Mary.

This room with the paintings and the info about the university was really quite nice. There was a nice view onto the café's patio and one of those terrific ceilings, as well as a nice fireplace.

Another room had an interesting exhibit with cards hanging that had photos, names and quotes from various authors. They are seriously proud of the work of their authors and poets.

Since St. John Newman was so important to the university founded here and he was an author, he got attention.

They had an exhibit of treasures from the UCD Library, including the Biblia Latina cum Postillis
Nicolai de Lyra, Part IV, New Testament, which was printed in Nürnberg in 1493. !!!

Since James Joyce was such an important author, there was a sizable exhibit on him, including a time line. They even had a letter that he'd written to another famous Irish author, W.B. Yeats.

Do people still do this? Just support an author?

One thing that really caught my eye in this exhibit was this photo of James Joyce in Zürich. The reason why was that when K, J, and I were in Zürich as part of our Rhein cruise, we happened to have been at that exact same spot. There is a sign there saying Joyce had been there.

They also had this amazing display of 99 different translations of his works. His work has been translated into 20 languages.

They have Copy No. 1 of Ulysses. That's a treasure.

Another room was devoted to new poets and readings were being played.

Finally, there was this sign with a terrific Irish proverb.

At 12:55, we felt we'd done the museum and went downstairs to The Commons Café. We decided to eat inside. We got a Reuben Toastie (Tartine sourdough, pastrami, Emmental cheese, chorizo aioli, sauerkraut, and rocket) for €11.95 and a Goat's Cheese Blaa (goat's cheese, Mediterranean vegetables, beetroot marmalade, butter, and mixed leaves) for €9.95. A lemon curd muffin for €3.95 and a raspberry Bakewell for €5 were our dessert. We both drank water.

We finished lunch at 1:40. After the shop and restroom, we left at 1:50.

Once again, we went through St. Stephen's Green. This time, we encountered James Joyce's statue and a different flower bed. We also saw people on the lawn near a gazebo, where a musical group was tuning up. Evidently, the little fences don't always mean to stay off the grass.

Our next stop was Ulysses Rare Books at 2:05. J had a friend who wanted her to check a price on a certain book for her. The books were definitely pricey. We're talking hundreds just for Nancy Drew books. We didn't buy anything and we couldn't take photos inside.

We were on our way again at 2:25. Just a 3-minute walk away was Hodges Figgis Books. We saw some kids books that we recognized. Then, we found Terry Pratchett books. I've now got more to get home.

We tore ourselves away at 3:02. We popped into Tessco at 3:15 to use their bottle return to get back some of the deposits we've been paying the past few days. The guy at the head of the line had bags of them. The lady after him saw how few I had and let me go ahead of her. Got €0.30 back. It's something.

We were back in the room at 3:40 and were surprised to see it hadn't been made up. We left our purchases and left again at 3:56. We walked east toward the harbor. We passed the Royal Canal and had a nice side view of the Convention Centre Dublin.

We were in the building at 4:09. It was easy to see that the ClarinetFest was here.

At 4:11, we were waiting in the Main Hall on Level 3. The group that was performing was running long and those of us waiting for the next one behaved and waited on the side. That is, until a security person made us sit down. Finally, at 4:25, 10 minutes late, The Professors Choir came on stage, including K.

The concert was over at 5 and she let me coax her into walking to the mouth of the River Liffey to see the Dublin Harbor. Across the river, we could see the Diving Bell. It was used to build the quay walls in Dublin and was used from 1871-1958. dublinport.ie told how it was used:

It was a ground-breaking piece of engineering innovation in its day. Its lower section was hollow and bottomless, providing just enough room for six men to work at a time. Once lowered into position on the riverbed, the crew entered through an access funnel from the surface and compressed air was fed in from an adjacent barge. The men inside the bell worked on the river bed exposed at their feet, excavating the site where a massive concrete block would later go; all the excavated soil was stashed in trays hanging inside the bell, and brought up when the bell was lifted.

Soon, we were able to get a nice view of the Samuel Beckett Bridge from the other side.

A good example of modern architecture in Dublin was the Salesforce building here on North Quay.

Across the river was the confluence of the River Dodder and the River Liffey. That diving bell was probably very helpful in taming them.

The last bridge on the river or the first, depending on which way you are traveling, is the Tom Clarke Bridge. Standing on it, you can look west up the River Liffey or east as it flows into Dublin Harbor. The harbor is obviously one used for heavy shipping.

There was a stiff western wind on that bridge and we did not tarry long. When we went back onto the North Quay, we saw this sign.

Walking back in this direction along the river afforded us our best view yet of the Samuel Beckett Bridge. It really does look like an Irish harp laying on its back.

We needed to eat dinner, and, as I've noted before, it was slim pickings on this side of the river. J managed to find a place though, and, even though it wasn't Irish, it was close. Thus, we walked into the crowded Milano at 5:51.

They managed to find us a small table and left us with menus. I've discovered that I like elderberry. So, I ordered an Elderflower and Mint Sparkle for €4.95. J's Fanta was €3.85. When we could finally place an order, we chose Funghi di Bosco Pizza (Chestnut mushrooms, tomato with garlic, mozzarella and rosemary, finished with parsley and Gran Milano cheese) for €18.75. It took quite a while to arrive -6:28, to be exact- and, when it did, it was not cut and the temperature was tepid. But, cold pizza works, too.