11/12 Saturday. My flight to Dubin is at 8pm. This allowed me some time for last minute prep (busy at work). The flight is half full. 4 flight attendants. 3 young men, 1 mid-age lady. All super curteous. Everything is green of course. The drinking cup is very small though. A hot meal, then a hot breakfast sandwich. I watched 2 movies and slept a little.
11/13 Sunday. Dubin. Airport 2 ATMs, both expensive. 10% mark up with conversion, or 3€ fee without. Took €20 for the Air Coach bus (€10 RT). It turns out that you can buy the bus fare at a stand right in front of the bus with credit card. Air Coach 700 runs every 15 min. There's also regular bus, but I don't know where it is. Air Coach stop is on the middle island, but across the first few lanes of road, which has an over bridge to walk there. I climbed over the railing, oops.
Nice bus, outlets, comfy chairs, wifi. More like long distance bus.
My hotel is just 1 stop (just south of the train station Drumcondra).
Checked in ~3pm. No one wore face mask in the hotel. Didn't hurry out (a mistake).
Overcast, not cold. Walked around downtown. A lot of people. Only ~2% wears face mask.
Holiday lights are everywhere.
Saw a small groups with tents protesting next to the Spire.
River Liffey has swans.
Ha'Penny Bridge is nicely lit, otherwise an ugly one.
People taking pictures with their hands on Molly Malone's boobs.
Bars with kegs as tables lined streets.
Projection on Custom House: colorful large snowflakes in a loop.
Back for dinner, with foods I brought with me. Need to research how to get to Brú na Bóinne, which I have booked a ticket (€10) at 10am.
11/14 Monday. Breakfast included. Very good presentation, tasty but not filling.
Got on a wrong 900s bus. 904 instead of 901 (Matthews.ie) to Drogheda. €16 RT.
Then, I had to take a local bus to the bus terminal. There, hailed a taxi to the visitor center of Bru na Boinne (Valley of Boyne), on Staleen road. €14. There is a bus, but doesn't run until much later. No wonder the later tickets were sold out.
Reported for 10am entry ticket. I was given a wrist band for the 10:45 bus. Since I arrived early, I asked if I could take the 10:15 bus, if there were seats available. Answer is no.
The visitor center is very well made. A walkway immulates forest with simple images and videos, to semi-realistic effect. Short videos on lifes in the time of these underground tombs (5-6k years ago). Locations where the rocks were sourced. A real size replica of Newgrange's chamber and gate.
The tour is short, because only Newgrange can be visited in winter.
You walk across River Boyne. An old school bus picks you up on the north side, takes you to the gate of Newgrange, waits and takes you back to the vistor center.
We drove passed many homes. Nice pleasant rolling pasture land.
Newgrange and the nearby Knowth are the 2 largest megalith tombs dating to 5-6000 years ago. There're many smaller ones in the vicinity.
At the gate of Newgrange, an employee gave us an introduction and then we filed into the tomb.
The passway is very narrow and long, about the height of a midsize modern human, boxed by giant rocks.
All original, still intact.
The opening above the door lets light in. During winter solstice, the sun light will be low enough that it'll reach the center.
You can apply for a lottery to come witness this phenomenon the few days around the solstice.
After the tour, we were given a few minutes to walk around.
Saw more carvings on some rocks. A nice area.
The driver I talked to told me to wait for bus 190 north of the compound, a major road. After dropping all the tourists back by the bridge, he drove me to a road intersection to wait for the bus. So nice. I waited for awhile, then decided to hitch a ride, and got on one right away. The driver dropped me off at his destination in Drogheda. The Dublin bus is a block away. There were a couple of people waiting at the stop already.
Back to Dublin without any incident. The city is not as pretty during the day.
John's Lane Church is the best looking. Looks older than its age (19th century). Beautiful stained glass windows all around.
Christ Church cathedral is grand from the outside, and a lot of tourists.
Nice flooring, but not worth the admission fee.
I do like this bronze homelss guy sleeping on the bench. There're a few beehives in a sunken space.
Went to Chester Beatty museum, but it was closed (on Mondays). A nice round garden outside.
Stopped briefly at White Frier St Church to see the relic of St. Valentine.
Went to Trinity college for a seminar at 4pm. Before that, went to see the Book of Kells.
You are supposed to buy tickets online. But I told the guard that my phone is out of battery (this is true), so he let me in to buy a ticket.
Very crowded, and no photos allowed in the room with the actual book. A guard is watching over you in that room. The 2 pages presented in the case are just text, no fancy embellishment.
He told me that every 3 months (happened to be the next day), they flip the pages, and I could see 2 different pages if I come back tomorrow. Well, for another €18.5.
The "explanation" part of the exhibit before you get into the room is well done, with enlarged photos of a few pages, historical photos and explanation.
The brochure I received for my €18.5 tells me these tidbits of the Book:- The pages are made of vellum, taken from 150 calves
- Orpiment (arsenic sulphide) was used to produce a vibrant yellow-gold pigment.
- It once had a jewelled cover called a "cumdach" but this was stolen in 1007AD.
The highlight of this ticket is the Long Room. Apparently still in use.
I asked a lady who was pushing a cart of books out. She told me some category method they use here. She wore gloves.
The old library is undergoing a redevelopment project, digitally catergorized and moved into a climate control facility.
No wonder about 1/5 of the Long Room is empty.
There is a nice copy of Book of Kells here, also in a glass case.
Another treasure in the Long Room is Brian Boru Harp, the oldest harp in Ireland and in 1922 was adopted as the official symbol of the Irish government. The lighting is so bad, that my photo isn't fit to be published here.
No one knows about Neil Lecture Theater. It took me awhile to find it (so I was unpolitely late). A non-descriptive room with loose uncomfortable chairs. Pretty ugly. Looks like a classroom to me. A seminar by Dr. Emily Monty (Brown University and TCD Fagel Fellow), as part of the Trinity Centre Dublin for Early Modern History Seminar Series. She talked about collonial maps in the Fagel collection (The Library of Trinity College holds the finest surviving Dutch private library of the eighteenth century). Interesting. But I was still jetlagged, having trouble staying awake.
I only took one phone with me, and its battery died. Almost got lost. Asked to use Google map of a stranger to see where I was and where my hotel was.
Got back to chow down some food, took the other phone, and went back to Trinity College for a lecture hosted by school of theoretical physics in Rober Emmet Theatre at 6:30pm. Also, no one knows where it is.
An ugly auditorium. It's not on physics, but A Tale of Two Volcanoes, by Prof. Werner Nahm. It's about where a volcano is, and the speaker's conclusion is Alaska.
11/15, Tuesday. Overslept. Woke up ~10:30, missed 2 events.
Had a big breakfast. Kept me full all day.
Walked through Garden of Rememberance, very nice. The Abby Presbysterian church was closed. Its tall spire reflects in the cross-shaped pool.
Walked by James Joyce Center (I didn't go in). I cannot understand the appeal of Ulysses.
Walked in Hugh Lane gallery. A surprisingly nice collection of paintings of Irish origin. I rather like paintings by Walter Frederick Osborne. Also surprised to know that W.B. Yeat's father John Butler Yeats is a painter. A curiosity here is the studio of Francis Bacon, painstakingly moved here from Bacon's home. You can only peek in through the glass windows. 3 stools with listening headphones in the adjacent room to contemplate the messiness.
Visited the hungry tree in Kings Inn park. A nice park.
National Museum of Ireland, Decorative Arts and History.
There's a gallery for Eileen Gray. I also liked one functional mechanical clock that is hung over 2 floors high.
St James church was closed. You can get your Camino De Santiago stamp here. Not sure if they expect you to walk across the ocean.
Next door is Guiness storehouse, also a tourist attraction.
Chester Beatty Museum is a gem. Many old illustrated manuscripts from the 12th century, clay writing of 3000 year old. Showcased according to their origins. Indian Peninsula, Arab, north Africa, far east. 
Poems, scriptures, astronomical drawings. Writing on bamboo leaves, on silk scrolls. Lots of papyrus before Christ. Many are in fragments.
Some also have names of the painters and calligraphers. For example, this Panj Ganj poem by Jami, is written by Sultan Ali Mashhadi.
Walked by Stephens Green park, very pleasant.
A sizable green park in the middle of the city surrounded by elegant buildings.
Walked into Royal Academy, no one seems to care about a stranger walking around. There's a poster outside, advertising talks and events here.
Then I walked into the Freemason building. You can sign up for a tour of the grand lodge. But no one stopped me when I walked around. Not much to see though.
Walked into a demonstration outside of Leinster House (seat of Irish Parlement - Oireachtas).
I got confused of it and the National Museum of Archeology next door.
Earliest Irish script Ogham.
National Gallery was ushering visitors out when I walked in 20 minutes before closing time.The library was open late, but I wasn't allowed to go up to the shelves and the reading room. Need to go online apply for a reader's ticket. That took a couple of days.
There is a small exhibition in the groundfloor on W.B.Yeats.
I was allowed to visit that one (Tues + Weds till 7pm).
Yeats' letters, manuescript, photos, his Nobel Prize medal, Florence Farr's psaltery, photos of his muse Maud Gonne.
This week is the science week in Ireland. I signed up for a 6:30pm televised event at Teagasc Food Research Center in Ashtown, a short train ride (€2.15) + 10 minute walk. I arrived late (missed 2 trains because I couldn't figure out how to get to the elevated train platforms from the street level). Just in time for the main event: a televised 60 minutes show. I had a few minutes to chow down a few cut sandwiches, and tea outside of the exhibition room. 6 talks: Elena on water use in clean food, Carlos on blood plastic, Eduarda on insect food, Diane on seaweed. Most audience came in cars, but few were like me, came on train.
11/16. Went to the dining room as soon as it was open to order the breakfast to go. They were slow. Seems they never delt with meals to go.
I barely caught my Air Coach bus.
Heading to Spain today.
For non-EU passengers, boarding pass isn't issued online. Had to go to ticket counter for passport check. Took some time.
Summary
- Dubin isn't very pretty, but pleasant. Few nice buildings among many austere ones.
- People are super nice. English is easier for me to attend culture events.
- Warmer than Seattle. Everywhere is very green.
- COVID precaution: none.
- WiFi widely available, even on city buses, and suburban trains.
- My favorite is Chester Beatty museum.
