Ireland day 0055. Monday 22 November 2021- Riverbank

Ireland day 0055. Monday 22 November 2021- Riverbank
Today’s summary We spent the morning in the flat doing our respective language homeworks.   Took train to Dublin in afternoon and walked along Liffey riverbank to look at EPIC emigration museum briefly.
Today’s weather Bright sun all day.   No wind.   Cool at about 6C
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Today’s overview location
(the red cross in a circle shows where Val and I are at the moment)
Close-up location
(Click the button below to download a GPX of our short walk):
Liffey walk
Commentary

I’ve noticed that my blogs lately have been getting longer and longer, so I’m going to make this one short.   Partly to give everyone a break (including me!) and partly because the day was a bit less eventful than some in the recent past.

Anyway, we started with mixed news on the Yaris front.   The car did, miraculously, pass its NCT test, but at the same time, the Vehicle Registration Document went missing.   We need both before we can buy it: our friendly car dealer is confident the paperwork will be located, but for the time being we will just have to hold our breath.

Swiftly on the heels of the semi-progress with the car,  the more mundane task of language homework urgently beckoned.   Val, because she has a Gaelic lesson tonight, and me because I have to go shopping in Spanish tomorrow night.   So the rest of the morning was spent ploughing our way through obscure verbs, and although I found Spanish quite hard, I do have to say Gaelic sounds even harder as it appears to have no regular structure to it and it isn’t anything like any other language you might have learned before.

Brain-cells suitably exercised, we walked down to the station to get the next train to Dublin.  They go every 15 minutes or so, so we didn’t have long to wait.   We got out at Connolly station and walked round the back to join the Royal Canal towpath.   We followed it down to where it joins the Liffey a bit further south, so now I have walked the whole section from its terminus up as far as the Botanic Gardens and another bit beyond, near Castleknock.

By the time we reached the river, it seemed a long time since breakfast, so we stopped and had our packed lunches watching the world go from our perch on the embankment.   There was time do a quick inspection of some of the river traffic, noting especially the mechanically impressive “Giano” tugboat and the historically impressive “Jeanie Johnstone” barque a little further upstream.

By that stage, it was getting dark and quite cold, so we headed across the road to the shelter of the EPIC Irish Emigration museum to find a welcome cup of tea in a café on the concourse.   It’s a fascinating spot, with the main museum in a gallery below the concourse, and to which we will need to dedicate a full day’s visit in the near future.   But the concourse itself was interesting enough – apart from the café – and in particular the Irish Family History Centre which helps you uncover the missing details if you have an Irish branch in your family tree.   This was of particular interest to Val who has family originating from the Kilkenny area, so she’s going to make an appointment with a professional genealogist to see what she can unearth.

By then it was time to dash back to Malahide – fortunately the fast train only takes 20 minutes – and for Val to see if her revision met the exacting standards of her Gaelic tutor.  So now I better get ready for my turn tomorrow, or risk humiliation if I don’t know how to buy a litre of leche or to tell the shopkeeper that his pantalóns are a size too big.

 

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

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At the lock where the Royal Canal meets the Liffey The Giano tugboat – a super-powerful model, of patented design.   Down by the docks this afternoon
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Val doing a river inspection Staying close for warmth!
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The Jeanie Johnstone barque (actually it’s a replica) moored on the quayside.   The original vessel carried famine victims west from Ireland to start new lives on the east coast of North America and brought timber back east to Europe.  It made sixteen “famine” voyages between 1848 and 1855, each with up to 250 passengers on the 7 week voyage.   Not a single life was ever lost, largely due to the skill of the captain and the ship’s doctor. Inside the EPIC (Irish Emigration or “Every Person Is Connected”) museum on the Liffey just down from Connolly Station.  The main museum is on a lower floor, but today we only had time for a quick cup of team and a canter round the interesting boutique-y shops on the concourse.   Will probably merit a whole-day visit soon
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Statue erected in memory of Luke Kelly, of the Dubliners, and who died in 1984.   It’s an impressive monument, nearly 3 metres tall, and is situated on the banks of the Royal Canal just behind Connolly Station
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