Dublin with the Moning Maniacs

“I love books, by the way, way more than movies. Movies tell you what to think. A good book lets you choose a few thoughts for yourself. Movies show you the pink house. A good book tells you there's a pink house and lets you paint some of the finishing touches, maybe choose the roof style, park your own car out front. My imagination has always topped anything a movie could come up with. Case in point, those darned Harry Potter movies. That was so not what that part-Veela-chick, Fleur Delacour, looked like.” 

~Karen Marie Moning, Darkfever

I discovered the Fever series early in 2017 and read through the collection during a period of frequent travel. Social media provides the opportunity for people of all interests to find each other and so I discovered the "Moning Maniacs" on Facebook--a group of devoted fans of Karen Marie Moning's Fever and Highlander books. Aside from discussions and theories about the events in the various books, one topic resurfaced frequently--the annual convention of fans timed with the release of each new book. Set primarily in Dublin, the fans frequently requested a convention take place in Ireland. The author decided Dublin would provide the appropriate celebration of book 10, High Voltage, in March of 2018. 

I originally didn't plan to go to the festivities, but on cyber-Monday, at the urging of a co-worker, I checked on the cost of flights to Dublin for that time of year. Round trip, direct from Chicago, airfare lower than most of the shorter distances I was used to, convinced me I should make arrangements.

One expects typical weather in Ireland to reach a high of 40 F in the beginning of March, with a strong chance of rain. Apparently the "Hoar Frost King" (a character in one of the books) had other ideas for the event. A winter storm named Emma from the west and a polar vortex called "the Beast from the East" collided -- creating intermittent blizzard conditions. Fortunately for me, I had a direct transatlantic flight scheduled to land during a lull in the storm. I headed to the airport wearing my "Barrons Books and Baubles" T-shirt to identify myself as a "Maniac," should there be others on my flight.

Take off occurred an hour behind schedule, but we landed in Dublin without incident. Others were not so lucky. The Facebook group became very active as fans from around the world reported the difficulties getting to Dublin. Some of the more lucky ones landed elsewhere in Ireland and were able to take the train to Dublin--while the trains were still running. Others tried for days to reschedule flights that were diverted to Brussels. Some would never get closer than London.

As Dublin city buses stopped service today, the Aircoach route from the airport to the city center continued to operate. Travelers experienced frigid conditions as we waited for the full buses to take us to the O'Connell Street bridge. 

Happy to have arrived and checked into my lodging at the Abbey Court Hostel, just a short walk from the bus stop, I met my roommate Jillian. After a quick shower, I tagged along with Jillian to meet up with Niki and Emma. We headed to the Shelbourne Hotel to find others gathered for lunch. Hot soup and Irish coffee warmed us up after the 20 minute walk.

Most of the tourist sites and many shops either closed for the whole day, or closed early as the authorities suggested everyone "stay home" by 4:00 p.m. Some restaurants and pubs served an abbreviated menu because they hadn't been able to get all the food supplies they needed to offer their full menu. With little else open, and wanting to stay out of the cold, our merry group of 4 (me plus 3 women the age of my kids) headed back to the hostel via several pub stops. 

The Stag's Head is a special location because the architecture inspired fictional Barrons Books and Baubles store in the book. (And they were serving warmed Port.)

Temple Bar looks very festive, even in a snowstorm

Standing room only at Temple Bar--because of the storm or the live music, or maybe both?

A webcam stationed on the pharmacy across from Temple Bar gave us the opportunity to send a message to people back home (or those stranded en route). I'm the one in the gray coat.

 Calling the end to our night, we crossed the Ha'penny Bridge and took in the River Liffey and "love locks" secured to the bridge itself.

We'll see what adaptations are made to tomorrow's schedule,

since tourist sites are likely to be closed again and bus service has already been canceled. I'm happy to be here, despite the weather and look forward to whatever may be in store for us.

***Not all images are mine.