Hello all!
I had so much fun last night! Started the night off by walking with Jordan to the hostel that Fiona and Lisa were staying at - The Generator. We met them and had a couple of drinks. By chance, Josh and Donna who are from Melbourne and I met on the South America tour were also staying here so I met up with them for a quick catch up too! They're in France when I am too so might see them again.
We were standing around enjoying a drink and turned around to look at a group that was forming for an Irish dance lesson. Before I knew what was happening, Lisa and I had been dragged in by the dance instructor and we were a part of the lesson because one pair needed another pair to dance with! At first I was a bit worried because I'm terrible at dancing, but everyone else was too as it turned out so we all just laughed, crashed into each other and tried our best. Jordan had a go too, I laughed so much while we all danced that my stomach hurt!!
Then we headed to a bar that a few people at my hostel had told me about - 'The Church'. This was one of the most unique bars I've ever been to, because it was in the former St Mary's Church. Yes - a bar in a church! There was an organ and everything! Arthur Guinness was married in this church too! Lisa and I had a beer tasting plate each. For 8 euros we got four fairly good sized beers to try. I had Guinness, red ale, Leffe and Hoegarden. They were all pretty nice! The other great thing about this place was the music. We danced and sang to 'Twist and Shout', 'Mambo Number 5' and heaps more catchy popular songs. Jordan even requested 'Thriller' which is my favourite song EVER so I sang all the words haha.
Then we headed to the Temple Bar area. It was insane! People everywhere! We went to a bar called 'The Stag's Head' which had cool live music and we were lucky enough to get a booth. We went to one more bar and then made our way to the same pizza shop we ended the previous night at. The funny twist this time was that they started playing 'Uptown Funk' by Bruno Mars (super catchy song, I love it!) and some other great music so whilst waiting in the queue the four of us unintentionally turned the pizza shop queue into a dance floor. Everyone started dancing! It was so much fun!!!
Walked back to the hostel with Jordan again and then went to sleep.
This morning I had a bit of a slow start but that's to be expected after St Paddy's night I think!! I slept in and missed breakfast but never mind. Then I set off for the day. Today was beautiful and sunny, it was gorgeous! I was so lucky with the weather because today was the day I decided to walk 50 minutes to Kilmainham Gaol. I walked along the river in the sunshine (ran into Josh and Donna again!) - it was lovely!
Kilmainham Gaol was built in 1796. It's mostly famous because of its political prisoners. I learned a lot today about the Great Famine and the unrest from 1916-1922. The Great Famine occurred between 1845-1852. A disease called Potato Blight ravaged potato crops and potato was the staple diet of a lot of Irish people because it was cheap. Due to these crops not being available to eat, people starved to death. One million people died and 1.5 million people emigrated. During this time the prison was pushed beyond maximum capacity because people became so desperate for food that they began to steal food and were sent to jail. As well, the government sent all beggars from the streets to jail as well. 9000 people passed through the jail in 1850 and there were only 100 cells, so the conditions were awful.
The Easter rising in 1916 happened on Easter Monday. Rebels took over the GPO and declared Ireland independent. However there were 1600 rebels and 20,000 British soldiers soon arrived, shelling the city and killing 500 people. The rebels surrendered and the 16 leaders were executed. Initially the public hated the rebels because they caused chaos in the city, but when the leaders were executed they sympathised with the families of those killed and public opinion changed to side with the rebels and their fight for independence. Between 1919-1921 the people of Ireland were part of a guerrilla war with the English fighting for independence. Eventually a treaty was offered that said that Ireland could be independent but the Ulster region (in Northern Ireland) did not want to become independent so a civil war then broke out between the north and the South and that's why to this day Northern Ireland is a separate country to Ireland!
You had to join a tour to see the gaol so I joined the next available one and killed time beforehand in the museum. Then we went on the tour and saw the cells of the 1916 rising leaders and some other areas. Unfortunately the main part is closed all of this year for restorations, but they dropped the price to 2 euros to compensate so no complaints here!
I walked back to town via Phoenix Park which was lovely to walk through on such a sunny day. My next stop was the National Leprechaun Museum. Here I did a 50 minute tour with a guide (because I was travelling alone I got the last spot on the tour starting just as I arrived!!). We walked through various rooms including a giant's house where the furniture was proportionate to what human furniture would look like to leprechauns. Our guide took us through the museum giving us information and telling us stories. Leprechauns today have changed appearance significantly from traditional Irish folklore. Initially leprechauns wore brown clothes because they are fairy folk and needed to blend in in the forest. They also wore red pointy hats. But over time due to people associating Ireland with green shamrocks and green fields, and a Walt Disney movie that portrayed them as green, the perception of leprechauns turned into what it is today!
Here are some facts about leprechauns....
They make shoes to earn their gold. If you look away from a leprechaun they disappear and you will never see the again. If they make a promise they have to keep it or they die.
The rest of the tour we learned about fairies and were told stories about a popular Irish story character called Cu Chulainn (pronounced coo Cullen). And I learned why the Angelina Jolie movie 'Changeling' is named so. Her child goes missing in the movie. Apparently fairies in Irish folklore are quite dark creatures. Due to living underground making them weak, they apparently steal human baby boys to help aid this (I don't quite know how, it's all irish story telling and not all of it made sense to me!). They called this stealing of the baby a changeling because in the baby's place they would leave a stick or twig which they would turn into a clone of the baby, but it would be an angry, sooky version of the baby.
I walked back to the hotel and have been having a bit of a chill out ever since. I'm now contemplating whether I should go and see 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' at the movies tonight. It starts in 45 minutes though so I think I'll decide in the spur of the moment!!
Back to London tomorrow night but I'll post about my day (going to Trinity College) before I leave for the airport!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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