Hello from Ireland!

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the comments, sorry if I was rude in my last message but I was very tired and feeling very lonely...

Here I am again, just have a bit to write before I go on over to the General Post Office (where part of the 1916 Easter Rising took place) to get stamps and send off another package that won't arrive in quite some time (but is is so good to get some weight off my back... if I don't mail home the bottle of Brammle (good stuff!) whiskey and chutney I got in Scotland my back will be in trouble soon)) My cold is getting better (the running nose has gone but the hurt eye and sore throat remains, I am popping lots of cough drops). This is my last day in Dublin and I am going to try and fit in as much as I can. I'm hoping to get over to the cemetery here (yes, because I am that morbid) where people like Michael Collins are buried. Yesterday at the Kilmainham Gaol I saw his walking stick, a bloodstained letter written to him that was taken off his body after his murder, a lock of his hair and a cane. The tour of the jail (where over a dozen of the 1916 rebels were executed) was quite moving... not just because of that instance but because it is where many of the poor residents of Dublin were put away for petty crimes or just for being poor during the potato famine (I bought a book about the children sent there at that time called "Hard Lessons"). I also went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art... which was interesting-- in that I have come to the realization that the more "modern" art buildings I visit the more I am entranced by the video projects and less than pleased with a board painted completely black (and that is it, just that and nothing more) and someone calling it "genius". Just my opinion that it was only called this by critics because someone was quick enough to do it and call it art and have it be different from everything else out there before anyone else could. I have also been on the Trinity College Walking Tour, a historical walking tour that went to Dublin Castle (not really a castle, only a small bit of the castle remains, so it is more of a building), City Hall, Parliament, Christ Church Cathedral (where Jonathan Swift is buried).... and I took a literary pub tour (with actors enacting the works of certain authors in conjunction with appropriate places)... we went to pubs frequented by Brendan Behan, Michael Collins (not a literary figure, I know), Samuel Beckett, etc. Then I went to the Book of Kells (very intricate drawing indeed!), Dublinia (a historical interactive experience dealing with the Vikings reign here, it was horrible (cheesy beyond belief) and regret actually paying for it... but I guess there is always something!) and the Dublin Experience (which is a sound and sight show about the entire history of Dublin, which I enjoyed many degrees more then Dublinia).... oh! And last night I went to The Importance of Being Earnest at the Abbey Theatre... which was fantastic. It started being out about Oscar Wilde's declining years in Paris and an American friend begging him to write more... then as Oscar sits there he starts formulating "The Importance" and the play starts happening around him... when it is time for Lady Bracknell to make her appearance, she doesn't show up so Oscar takes a table cloth off of a nearby table (which was a Parisian coffee table but now is a tea table at Algernon's flat in London) and puts it on as a skirt, then takes another and makes a shawl of it and then takes a decorative stuffed peacock off of a nearby table and puts it on his head to become Lady Bracknell! It was a wonderful play, the entire cast ended up being male (although at times, you really saw the people playing Cecily and Gwendolyn as women)... which in its way added all the right comedic touches. I took a little video of the scenery and photos of the curtain call, so I will hopefully be able to patch them together for my trip video that I will make when I return.

Bridget, I get to do the Guinness tour at the end of my Ireland tour...

Okay, well I must away because besides the cemetery I also wanted to see if I couldn't get in a few museums in today.... I leave tomorrow for my Ireland tour. I can't wait to get out and see some of the actually country as things in the city are generally overcrowded/polluted... what I've enjoyed here the most so far have been my experiences at the historical landmarks/museums. So I am longing for some greenery!

To my horror the other day I saw that there was an attempted second wave of bombings on London last Thursday (and Andrew told me last night that there was someone shot by the police three times in the head the other day?? Please confirm this if you know about it)... and one of the attempted places was Warren Street. This is the nearest tube stop to my dorm at University College London, Ramsay Hall. I used this stop multiple times every day and will use it again very soon. For some reason, I was already thinking that London had become a much safer place because of the tragedy of over two weeks ago but now I have gotten to contemplating that they will try to attempt more bombings until the public gets Tony Blair to withdraw from the war, if not... than either way, London has to be at the height of paranoia right now (and that in itself is a big safety concern, especially if the police are shooting people in the head). I'm glad I'm not there at present, but I will be in 10 days or so. Hmmmmmmm.

I love you all and will try to write you from the road if I can.

¬Lane of the Dublin variety