Dublin

Monday October 11, 2010
It was a busy day today, so this post is rather long.

Avalon House hostel, where I stayed for a few nights.

I woke up in time to take advantage of the provided breakfast at the hostel as usual, which was quite good as far as hostel breakfasts go.
Today I wanted to take the free walking tour of Dublin, and there was a guide meeting whoever wanted to go on the tour at 10:30 am at the hostel, to guide us to the main meeting point for the tour starting at 11:00. Unfortunately I didn't quite make it back down from my room at 10:30 am and just missed him. Yeah, I know some of you would be thinking "yeah, that'd be right, that's just typical of you Ned". But I wasn't the only one, there was a French girl called Meta who also just missed him, so we headed off to find the meeting point ourselves. On the way, we ran into another guy from Brazil who had a name similar to "John" and had also just missed meeting the tour guide at 10:30, so he joined with us too. With the help of my GPS on the iPhone, we found the meeting point no worries. There was a big bunch of people there for the tour, and there was a Spanish speaking group, and an English speaking group which included quite a lot of Canadians and Australian's, some kiwis, Europeans, etc.
Our tour guide was pretty cool, he was a home-grown Dubliner, and was a pretty funny chap, and quite informative.

My tour guide for the Sandeman's free walking tour. I think his name was Peter.

The gate of Justice at Dublin Castle.

The gate of Fortitude at Dublin Castle.

Dublin Castle, with the Record Tower in the centre, the sole surviving tower of the medieval castle dating from 1228. The Chapel Royal is to its left.

This is a shot of Dublin Castle, the round tower is the only surviving part of the original castle since the rest was destroyed by fire. It dates back to 1228, and was used as a prison during one period. The only prisoner to escape from it was a bloke from a famous family who was held hostage; he escaped through the drainage system, walked back to his home in the middle of winter and got frost-bite in his toes. This made him angry, and resulted in various conflicts, which I can't remember the details of.

Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle.

This is the Chapel Royal, beside the Records Tower in Dublin Castle. Our guide mentioned a few things about it which I can't remember, but the intricate designs and wood carvings and stained glass windows inside were impressive.

Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle.

The South side of Dublin Castle.

The lawn we are standing on here was the original location of the Black Pool, which in Irish is Dubh Linn, which of course is how Dublin got it's name. The lawn is now used as a helipad, since the buildings just to the north, the Southern part of Dublin Castle, are the state apartments, and are used by the Irish Government for official engagements. Important politicians visiting the city will stay there, so they'll fly in in the helicopter, the red carpet will be rolled out for them to walk up, and they'll stay in the State Apartments.

Dublin Castle from the South side.

As you can see from this photo, the buildings were built at different times and so there are distinct styles of architecture here, all in the one spot.

A wall built to the south of Dublin Castle.

On the other side of the lawn, there is a wall. See originally the area behind the wall was a bit of a slum, and it was rather unsightly, which would not do for a view for the State Apartments. So the government had two choices: either clean the slum up, rebuild it, make it all look nice; or hide it by building a wall in front of it. As you can see, they went with the latter option.
On the west side of the lawn is the famous Chester Beatty Library, which houses a lot of valuable and rare items such as manuscripts, miniature paintings, prints, drawings, rare books and various other artefacts. Apparently it has one of the most extensive collections of books on the Old and New Testament.
After each site we visited, our tour guide used his catch phrase "okay folks, let's wander on". Each tour guide seems to have their own catch phrase, which they say over and over.
So we wandered on as directed, and our guide told us a story about doors in the city. A lot of the buildings were built at a time with strict building codes, the buildings had to adhere to a certain kind of architecture, and the only place where they architects could really be creative was with the doors.
There have been quite a few famous writers come out of Dublin, including Oscar Wilde and Jonathan Swift. Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels and the famous satirical piece A Modest Proposal, amongst many others. This is how our guide explained the idea behind A Modest Proposal: he said that Swift pointed out that there were three main problems in Ireland: firstly, there were lots of poor people. Secondly, these poor people were having too many babies, and couldn't afford to look after them properly. Thirdly, people needed more meat in their diet. So Swift anonymously wrote this essay in which he suggested that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies.
There were three main reactions to this essay: The first group of people thought it was just ridiculous and should simply be ignored as nonsense. The second group realised the author was mocking the authority of the British officials and the illogical, cure-all schemes which were proposed to fix things such as population and labour issues in Ireland at the time. The third group, which luckily was only small, were like "hey, yeah, what a good idea, this guy's onto something man!"
Okay, the next site was the Christ Church Cathedral.

The Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

This church is popular amongst tourists because of a cat and mouse. A cleaner one day was cleaning out the organ pipes and pulled out a mouse trapped in the pipe where it must have gotten too narrow for the mouse to fit through, and so it was trapped and died. Then following the pipe back, he found a cat trapped in the larger section of the pipe, which must have been chasing the mouse and got stuck in the gradually narrowing pipe. So the cat never caught the mouse. The cat and mouse in the pipes have been preserved for tourists to look at.
Dublin has been occupied by Vikings during various times of the city's history.

A representation of a Viking house plan.

This photo shows what the typical Viking house looked like. There were twelve Vikings sleeping in the main living area, which they also cooked and ate in, then a bathroom, and a tool shed and an animal pen.
When the council were building their new head-quarters, they found a very well preserved Viking settlement buried where the building was mean to be built.

Near the council headquarters, Dublin.

Many people wanted this settlement to be preserved as it was found, for it was an amazing example of well-preserved Viking history. However, the bosses of the council building had already signed agreements for the building to be built, it went to court, and they won, so the Viking Settlement was removed or demolished, and an ugly multi-story concrete building was built in its place. Of course they all deeply regret that decision now, an amazing piece of Viking history was lost forever. Our guide reckoned this was the greatest act of public vandalism in history.
Next we saw the Arts Centre, where U2 played one of their first gigs and won a battle of the bands competition there.

The Arts Centre in Dublin where U2 played one of their first gigs.

They also met their long-standing producer there, I think our guide said. And they now own the pub across the road from the Arts Centre.
Next we went to Dublin's internationally renowned Temple Bar area, which is meant to have a very lively nightlife scene.

The Temple Bar, Dublin.

It seemed a bit touristy and over-priced. Our guide had a personal connection with the Temple Bar, because when he was younger, his Dad had decided to buy a pub, and he narrowed it down to a pub a few kilometres away (can't remember the name of it now) or the Temple Bar. This was before the Temple Bar area had been developed into the pub scene it is now, and his old man ended up buying the other pub, which does alright, but the Temple Bar would have been an absolute gold mine, they must rake in the money. Thus our guide was guiding us on a tour instead of relaxing on a tropical island in the sun with a cocktail as he may have been had his old man bought the Temple Bar instead.
Next we went to the river Liffey.

Ha'penny Bridge, Dublin.

This bridge is the Ha'penny Bridge, which was constructed to replace the seven ferries which were being used to cross the river, which had slowly fallen into poor condition. Renovations were recently carried out on the bridge by Harland and Wolff, the builders of the RMS Titanic.
The next bridge down the river is the O'Connell Bridge, which is unusual because it's meant to be the only traffic bridge in Europe that is wider than it is long.

O'Connell Bridge, Dublin.

It also has a plaque dedicated to Father Pat Noise.

The plaque on O'Connell Bridge dedicated to Father Pat Noise.

It was installed in 2004 as a hoax by a couple of pranksters. Father Pat Noise never existed, they made him up. Nobody realised it was a hoax until 2006, when a journalist brought it to the attention of the council who then began to question exactly who Father Pat Noise was, but nobody seemed to know. When the story broke, the pranksters owned up, and the council stated that the plaque would be removed since it was unauthorised. However there was a backlash from the public, they didn't want the plaque commemorating their Father Pat Noise removed, and lots of people left flowers and messages by the plaque. So in the end, the council decided to leave it there, and it's still there today.
In the photo of the Dan O'Connell Bridge above, you can also see the Spire in the centre. This is the Spire of Dublin, which is a 121 m tall stainless steel spire which was meant to be unveiled at the turn of the Millennium, but they ran a bit behind schedule and it wasn't finished until 2003. It cost €4,000,000, and was built where Nelson's Monument used to stand until someone blew it up in 1966.
Next we went to Trinity College, Ireland's oldest University.

Trinity College, Dublin.

Trinity College, Dublin.

Trinity College, Dublin.

It's meant to be the 43rd best University in the world. Earlier on, it was seen as a Protestant Ascendancy, and Catholics weren't allowed to attend the University for much of its history.

Trinity College, a building that was used in one of George Lucas' films.

George Lucas wanted to use this building for a scene in one of his movies, but University was like "nah, sorry mate, it's not really convenient for us." So George Lucas, undeterred, had computer generated images of the building created which he used in his film, and of course the film made a lot of money. The University were then like "hey, that's our building, you owe us royalties..." and George Lucas was like "nuh uh, they're computer generated images, sorry folks, no royalties for you". I bet the University people were kicking themselves for turning him down in the first place.

This photo is of a woman catching a bus, but she had to run to get there in time, and I've never seen someone so old run so fast.

Wolfe Tone (1967) by Edward Delaney, in St Stephen's Green, Dublin. This guy was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and is regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism.

"Famine" by Edward Delaney, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.

These statues portray the hardships of the Irish Potato Famine, a really sad part of Ireland's history. Ireland's population decreased by 20-25%; one million people died, and a further one million people emigrated from the country. It was a real turning point in Ireland's history. At that time, the country was part of the UK and was governed from England. And our guide said that at the time, there were shiploads of food being exported from the country. A governments primary responsibility is to look after it's people, and the government failed spectacularly here.
The famine changed the political and cultural landscape too, the Irish knew they couldn't trust the British Government, so it became a rallying point for various nationalist movements.
To finish with, our guide told us about the 1916 Easter Rising. There was a shipment of German weaponry coming in for the planned rising but it was intercepted, so some supporters of the planned rising thought it wouldn't be able to go ahead. Many actions were called off, but the rising still went ahead a day later, but with a lot less Volunteers than there would have been. Only a minority of the Irish public were behind this rebellion, and the Volunteers surrendered after a few days. After the surrender, the Volunteers were generally unpopular, but after seeing how the insurgents were treated by the British, the Irish public gradually came round and there became widespread support for the rebels of Easter 1916. A broad political movement under the banner of Sinn Féin formed, and the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1919.
The group of about thirty people applauded our guide, and he received some tips (since it's a free tour and these freelance tour guides aren't payed by the tour guide company, the only money they get is from tips). Because he was such a good guide, I was very close to giving him a tip...but I couldn't quite let go of the money. I find it so hard to hand over money when I don't need to. A related piece of advice I can remember from my Gran is "never turn down money offered to you". So maybe I get my frugalness from her.
As is usual with these Sandeman's free walking tours, they have a deal with a pub and the guide takes anyone on the tour who's interested to this pub for a meal. I decided I might as well go along, and had a typical Irish meal of beef Guinness stew, mashed potato and veggies for €10, it wasn't a bad meal.

A traditional Irish meal: beef Guinness stew, mashed potato and veggies.

Dublin is actually quite an expensive city; it's ranked as the 25th most expensive city in the world, and the 10th most expensive to live.
So yeah, that was a very interesting tour; I learnt a lot about Ireland that I didn't know. Well, I knew very little about Ireland to start with.
Afterwards I walked back to the hostel with Meta, and a bit later we went to see St Patrick's Cathedral.

St Patrick's Cathredal, Dublin.

It was closed for public entry, and it would have cost €5 or something to go in anyway, so we just had a look at the outside then went and did some shopping. I bought some pasta to cook up in preparation for lunch the next day, and I did so in record time because I had a Porcupine Tree gig to get to!
I booked my ticket for this gig a week ago, and planned my touring around Ireland so that I was in Dublin tonight to see Porcupine Tree, which I was very much looking forward to. I've seen them twice before, in Melbourne for their only two Australian tours, and they've been my favourite two concerts ever, and that's saying something because I've been to quite a few concerts. So my expectations were high.
I'd told Meta earlier that I was going to see Porcupine Tree tonight. Like most people, she hadn't heard of them, so I described what they were like, and she said she'd give them a listen later on and come with me if she liked them. She'd listened to them and was coming along.
I'd gone for a walk earlier in the day, at about 4 o'clock, to find where the venue was, and there were three people lined up at the door. The first guy in line was French, but was studying Law at Trinity College. He'd seen Porcupine Tree in Paris, and reckoned he couldn't understand why there were so few people lined up, in Paris at that time there would have been hundreds of people lined up already.

Punters lined up at Tripod to see Porcupine Tree.

However when we got there just after 7 pm, the line was hundreds of people long! Doors opened at 7:30 pm, and we got in before too long.
The support band was called North Atlantic Oscillation, who are a post-progressive rock and electronica band from Edinburgh, Scotland.

North Atlantic Oscillation, playing in support of Porcupine Tree.

And I was quite impressed by them. Then I was eagerly anticipating Porcupine Tree.
The band came out and played a stellar set! Completely lived up to expectations, they were just amazing! I was listening to the concert with such pleasure and just thinking "ah, this is how music should be!" Everyone else was loving it too. I was about five or six people from the front of the stage. Left of me was a girl from Paris, but she was studying at Trinity College. Right of me was a Polish girl, but she'd been living in Dublin for six years and she was with a few Dubliners. In front of me were a few odd attendees: a bloke in his thirties I'd say, and an older man of about sixty-five, who I guessed was his father. But the two of them stood like statues, the old man with his arms crossed most of the time, while the rest of the crowd moved and swayed and even jumped around for the livelier moments, just really feeling the music. But yeah, these two guys didn't really fit in. The young guy must have been like "yeah Dad, come and see this band with me, I reckon you'd like them, they're a bit like Pink Floyd". Another guy to my left was really getting into it, he had dreadlocks and was doing a bit of head banging, jumping, really enthusiastic, a real fan, that's what I like to see. He reckoned he'd interviewed Stephen Wilson (the lead man of the band) five years ago, and had his email address too. And he agreed with me that Porcupine Tree are one of the most under-rated bands in the world, and also the greatest band in the world. If you haven't heard them, you should do yourself a favour and check them out! Albums like Stupid Dream, In Absentia, Deadwing... they're just works of art, you can listen to them over and over.
My favourite part of the gig was when they played a song from an earlier part of their discography: The Sky Moves Sideways, an epic 18 minute piece of psychedelic progressive rock mastery. I could rave about this band all day. I'll just add in here a few comments from the last.fm page from other people who attended the gig:
"Awesome gig, thumbs up!"
"Absolutely amazing gig!"
"Amazing gig, one of the best nights of my life!"
"It was a incredible gig! So worth travelling from Nottingham for this gig! 2 hours wasn't enough, WE WANT MORE!!"
"@Nattey you weren't the only person that travelled from Nottingham for this gig. Highlights for me were TSMS, Time Flies and Sleep Together. Brilliant gig. NAO weren't half bad either" [TSMS stands for The Sky Moves Sideways].
"I never thought I'd hear The Sky Moves Sideways live in my lifetime. Oh, how wrong I was. Blown away."
"Unreal gig. think I can die a little happier now."
"The best gig iseen and listened to in years. fantastic sound and great performance. lol hands up for PT."
I didn't take any photos of the band because they hate people photographing them when they're playing. I guess they think everyone should just be enjoying the music. I did take a photo of Gavin Harrison's drum-kit though:

Gavin Harrison's drum-kit.

Gavin Harrison is widely considered one of the greatest drummers in the world, I think he's pretty amazing. And the bassist from the band is Colin Edwin, originally from Melbourne. He always wears a beret, and always has a kind of whimsical, serene smile on his face.
Yeah the sound was amazing too, it was in "Dublin's best medium sized music venue", called Tripod.

After Porcupine Tree played at Tripod.

It opened in 2006, after two and a half years in planning, so careful attention was payed to the acoustics, and "it boasts a perfect line of site from every point in the venue".

Inside Tripod, Dublin's best medium-sized music venue.

The sound desk in Tripod.

Leaving Tripod after seeing Porcupine Tree.

The venue reminded me of the Palace Theatre in Melbourne.
This would have to be the highlight of the trip so far. The idea of riding back to Belfast to see them the next night crossed my mind, but no, I couldn't justify it.

A girl in the hostel that came to see Porcupine Tree with me.

We walked back to the hostel, and I spent a while surfing the net and blogging on one of the computers there before getting to bed.

Ride stats:
No riding today