Dear Dirty Dublin

Stained Glass @
St. Patrick’s Church

Well, James Joyce was right. Dublin IS dirty. But the amount of litter begins to make sense once you realize there aren’t enough “bins” to keep up with the amount of garbage, which also makes sense when you learn about the Troubles. Overall, I liked Dublin. It wasn’t what I was expecting, and felt more like a metropolitan town rather than a capital city.

Sweny’s Pharmacy 

There was a lot to literary stuff to do, and I   really enjoyed going to see Sweny’s Pharmacy, where Leopold Bloom purchased Lemon soap for Molly. When we went inside, we were approached by a very eccentric man, who began to hand us each a copy of Ulysses and invited us to sit and read. Before we knew it, we were pulled in to an impromptu reading of Ulysses and a singalong of the Irish song Molly Malone. It was a surprise, but also a great memory that I’ll have for the rest of my life. Taking a picture with the James Joyce statue was one thing I really wanted to do, and the man yelling on the phone behind the statue was truly the epitome of “Dear Dirty Dublin”. His select choice of words were something Joyce could have only dreamed of using without censorship. We also got to take a picture with Oscar Wilde, and saw the Book of Kells, both of which were really cool. Furthermore, seeing the Guiness storehouse was very interesting. I really wanted to like Guiness, and I tried it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea (or rather, my pint of beer). Another highlight was Saint Patrick’s Church. It was beautiful, and the stained glass windows were stunning. I also enjoyed the stories about Jonathan Swift, and his use of the movable pulpit. I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone so well-versed in satire. In the future, I’d like to go back to Dublin and explore a little bit more, possibly into the countryside, and I think checking out Phoenix Park would be amazing, especially if there are deer.