Ireland Part 2

Another major stopover for us in the city of Dublin was the national museum. We found some truly amazing commemorative artwork. The collection is called "Leabhar na hAiséirghe", or "Book of the Resurrection", by Irish Artist Art O'Murnaghan from 1924 to 1928 and 1937 to 1952. The collection commemorates those who had died in the 1916 Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Each of the 26 pages took up to a year to complete. What really struck me when we were at the museum was how little Irish history I knew... I had heard about the IRA and the war of independence, but I really couldn't tell you the details. So much of the special exhibit (which I show below) relied on an inherent knowledge of the struggle within the visitors, so I needed to do some extra reading to put it into context. Here's the wikipedia link for those of you who'd like to see a better summary than I could give at the moment. Needless to say, the Easter Rising was a significant insurrection attempt by Irish nationalists that was crushed by the British, but which spurred on the more intense conflict in 1919 which won Irish independence (minus Northern Ireland). 

Here are some of my favorites from the exhibit: 

   

Of course, we found the city had other art to offer as well-though more modern.  I absolutely loved this one, and recall taking a picture of it (on a construction wall I believe), but I can't quite recall where. May you all have nebulas in your brain. Neural nebulas...

And of course- more beer (for Michael) and an Irish coffee (for me! How could I resist, after trying my first one in San Francisco with Mom1 and Mom2?)

I felt this advice might apply in Wales too....

We climbed up onto the balcony to have a drink in this bar. It was right along the river and just as crowded as any other bar in the Temple Bar district. The banjo was appealing. :) We did some people watching for a while. 

I think I mentioned the WIND in the last post about Ireland! Yep, still there!

I liked these colorful doors. 

Other extras: Michael really liked the world war army bunk kit at the museum. I think if he could, most of his things would be from world war army surplus. 

The best way to sample Irish cuisine when you have only a few mealtimes in which to do it: pots! Yummy... I've gotten my friend Lei hooked on Irish soda bread now. The local supermarket bakes it sometimes. 

Dublin was awesome, but next time I go to Ireland I really, really want to travel around the countryside. I guess I'm going to have to rent a car or a horse or something. And bring more waterproofs.