Dublin with the Moning Maniacs, day 3

"Folks need to know all the scoop: that the villain icing peeps is dead, they can start making noise again, the snow is going to melt, and even though it don't look like it right now, summer is going to come."

~Karen Marie Moning, Iced

A few pictures inside the hostel might be in order...I didn't travel extensively in my "youth" so I'd never stayed in a hostel before. A hostel is essentially a dorm-like environment and popular for travelers on a very tight budget. If you want to stay where the action is and be economical about it, a hostel can be a good deal. I chose the more expensive option of a 4 bed room with its own bathroom, with reservations arranged for others attending the same event. In my case, we didn't know each other before sharing the room. There were even less expensive options of rooms with more beds and communal bathrooms and shower rooms. Here is the link to the hostel I stayed in. 

http://www.abbey-court.com/dublin-hostel

The earlier arrivals got the bottom bunks. It had been quite a few years since I slept in a top bunk. After the first few terrifying trips up and and down the ladder, I grew more comfortable with the process. And the top bunk had the advantage of being able to sit completely upright while waiting for a turn in the bathroom.

The bathroom was "snug." 

The hostel must have had an endless supply of hot water. VERY hot water. The challenge became adjusting the temperature to the right degree and opening the shower door wide enough to slip in the shower without bumping the control with the door and forcing the water colder/hotter or off completely.

The storms finally came to an end and more places resumed business operation.
I met up with my Dublin friend Laura for lunch at The Bull and Castle. I ordered the Moroccan lamb stew, Laura had the cheese board with beef dripping fried chips. There are just some foods that one must eat when one visits Ireland. For me, lamb is definitely one of those things. On my first trip, I was very nervous and thought I wouldn't like it. But I guess after days of eating things like black pudding, tuna salad and sweetcorn sandwiches, "lemonade" that is actually a Sprite-like beverage, I thought--how bad could it be? It's fabulous. Try it.

With the end of the snow, the city began the clean up. Rising temperatures and rain helped melt the snow, but a lot of slush contributed to continued slippery walking conditions. Imagine having to use a broom on snow, ice, and slush because you'd never had a need for a shovel.

The clean up efforts kept many tourist sites closed, but there were a few options open. The famous Christ Church Cathedral (a Viking church dating back to 1030 A.D. ) remained closed.

Dublinia, a museum dedicated to Viking and Medieval Dublin, was open. Laura accompanied me to the museum and provided me with the perspective of a local that grew up with the history. The only Viking history this American learned in school had something to do with Erik the Red and Leif Erikson, the Norse explorers that were the first Europeans to discover Greenland and North America.

Ireland's relationship with Vikings began much earlier.

 

After viewing the displays and learning about Viking settlement, growing Dublin, medieval medicine, and archaeology of the surrounding area, you can climb the 96 steps up the medieval St Michael’s Tower to get a good view of the city.

A lovely  arch connects Dublinia and Christ Church Cathedral. The arch seemed to me to bear a close resemblance to the arch of Hertford College in Oxford. I don't know if that's a coincidence or a deliberate architectural design.

Portions of the wall that once enclosed Dublin have been preserved.

After climbing the tower steps and walking the 2 miles roundtrip between the hostel and Dublinia, I took advantage of the coffee shop up the street. The Sweetest Thing serves sandwiches, but its attraction is really the desserts and several varieties of hot chocolate. I had banoffee pie and Cadbury hot chocolate.

After a filling snack so late in the day, I knew I'd only need a small something before heading to the evening's social event. Sandwich is not really spelled "sandwitch" in Ireland, but it was a cute idea. Although I decided to go with turkey and cheese, the tuna salad and sweetcorn seemed an interesting option.

Presto, change-O and I headed back out again to the official Moning Maniac High Voltage party at Cafe en Seine. I met Laura there and we made a new friend in Anna-Margaret, a champion cos-player from Northern Ireland (Belfast) with awesome shoes. Anna-Margaret had taken the train to Dublin earlier that day.

As we celebrated the latest book in KMM's Fever series, it seemed fitting that the brand of "lemonade" available at Cafe en Seine was Fever-Tree. A note about "lemonade" in that part of the world--it's actually a lemon-lime soft drink. Sprite and 7-Up are both popular brands of "lemonade" in Ireland.

I saw two ladies get a specially made cocktail invented by one of the bartenders. They said it tasted like an apple pie. Laura trusted me when I said it looked delicious. I thought it tasted delicious. Apparently, cinnamon is not a flavor associated with apple pie or delicious here in Ireland and in an alcoholic drink, it's an abomination. As a result, I drank 2 of them. <lip smack> Despite the cultural misunderstanding, we avoided an international incident and the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland, and the USA had a fun and insightful exchange through our mutual love of books. The music got quite loud, but we managed to communicate through our various accents and pre-conceived notions of what should and should not be in an apple pie or tuna salad, and whether making a pie with pumpkin is a good idea.

I've already mentioned that this event hasn't quite gone as planned. The copies of the new release book High Voltage, that we were to receive on Sunday, never made it off the dock in the UK because of the storm. Some travelers didn't make it Ireland until Saturday, just in time for the Cafe en Seine party--after trying for several days to get into Dublin. Karen (we'll use the familiar for the rest of the blog posts) decided she would try to make up for all the challenges and changed plans by reading a non-spoilery excerpt from the book. WOW. The scene she chose was very powerful. If the rest of the book is even half as well written as that portion, this will be her best work yet.