BACK LIST
Braving the daylight once more. it is time for serious sight-seeing.
Back to Trinity College. Up Dame Street and Lord Edward Street to Dublin Castle. Past a magnificent cathedral and on to St Audeon‘s Church. home of the Viking Adventure. Queueing takes some time (up to two hours). as only twenty moderns (at £2.20 apiece) can meet the Vikings of Dublin AD 988 at a go. The Maitre de Queue tells us that early birds (9am) can avoid this wait. The live exhibits — rotted teeth. flowing locks and all — tell you about Dubhlinn daily life and crafts. Had we thought of any
we could have asked them. The pre-time warp film-commentator
ill-health and general smelliness (which is realistically reproduced) meant that ‘a Viking kiss would have been an awful ugly thing.‘
Back in 1988. a stone‘s throw away is the Brazen Head. Dublin’s oldest pub. It seems somewhat stapled together. and has a decided tilt to it. which. I‘m happy to say. seems to have resolved itself when you come out.
Across the river. thronging multitudes swarmxtowards us as we go against the tide in pedestrianised Mary Street and Henry Street. All ‘the life and colour of modern Dublin throbs here. Contemporary Molly Malones sell their wares (plastic
questions in our dumb-foundedness.
tells us gossipy snippets: the Vikings‘
lighters. trunt. Jewellery instead of eockles and mussels) from prams. not barrows. Street-sellers call out. Music blasts from shop-fronts. vying for decibular attention. Buskers busk. People collect money for kidney-donors. naughty girls. Jesus camps and more. The streets breathe carnival. energy. bustle.
19A takes us home and tomorrow we go to James Joyce‘s Martello Tower. Sandyeove on the DART train from Tara Street Station. under O‘Connell Bridge.
At Sandycove. we sunbathe on the tiny beach. alongside the Sandycove Ladies‘ Swimming and Gossiping Club. We listen in for over an hour. as we eat sticky buns and cheese rolls.
The James Joyce Museum opens at two. Up the short track. we pass the Forty Foot Gentlemen‘s Diving Pool. The tower itselfis small and well-kept. Joyce only stayed there for six days. but by his overall time-spent in Ireland. this is probably a large percentage. Anyway. the tower is fine and appears in the annals of his books. We go back to the city. to stroll and suck in the scents ofthe night. Once again. Dubliners are flocking to town. in their weekend finery, linking arms and laughing still more. Many thanks to Ryanair and the Irish Tourist Board. See be/o w for full details of Ryanair fligh ts and the Irish Tourist Board contact addresses.
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The List 13 — 26 May 1988 53