Ha'penny Bridge

Coming to Dublin early was an excellent change in my original plan. It caused me to switch my hotel to the Abbey Court Hostel, which is in an incredible location. This place is kind of amazing too. It’s full of kids, as you would expect, but aside from the usual dorm rooms with shared facilities, they have these private rooms with full baths that make it affordable for a solo budget traveler to stay in the heart of Dublin. It’s right on the river just across the bridge from Temple Bar. I included a photo of the ceiling of my room taken from the bed to give a sense of the dimensions. It is small, but so worth it given the location. And the bathroom is actually huge. The shower is one of the nicest ones I’ve had anywhere. I’m so glad to be staying here. It’s not just kids. There are a surprising number of people over 60 — couples and solos. So it’s mostly kids and some pensioners. The staff is so helpful. Most of them are not from Ireland — some Italians, Indians, and Spanish — and they just bend over backwards to make sure you’re having a nice stay. They organize walking tours, give advice about things to do in the city, and set up activities for guests — last night there was a ping pong tournament. I passed on that, but I had lunch in the hostel’s restaurant and hung out in the hammock room for a bit. The last day has just been about resting up for the Pizzas, who I’ll be so happy to see starting tomorrow morning when I meet Joe & Sue at the airport. Since we’ll be coming back to Dublin, I haven’t done much here except walk around. I saw an ad for New Jersey on one of their buses which I found ironic. And I talked to a man in an REI kind of shop about his trip to the renaissance festival in New York. He wanted to tell me that the people were nuts but didn’t want to be rude. I told him I know because I have a friend who goes to them in full renaissance dress (Hi Ronnie!). Since Temple Bar is so close, I’ve spent most of my time wandering there. I did go to the exhibit on the Irish Potato Famine, which was very emotional but extremely well done. It received an award in peace and reconciliation because of the way it handles this tragic and controversial topic. It’s hard to tell stories of oppression and outright evil. I’d compare it to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. The Japanese were very clear about their message — governments left unchecked can do evil things, and by this they meant their emperor’s dictatorial rule over the Japanese people. At this exhibit, rather than say the British or the Protestants were evil, they focused on telling stories of individuals who made awful decisions — sometimes ignorant of the effects and sometimes indifferent. It broke things down to allow the visitor to see how self interest and greed of individual landowners, businessmen, and politicians led to the deaths of more than a million people. It also did a thorough job of explaining how negative views at the time of Irish Catholics made it easier for people to ignore the crisis or to find ways to blame the victims. And like the museum in Japan, it also focused on those that tried to help, including a Turkish sultan who wanted to donate £10,000 to the cause but was asked to only donate £1000 because Queen Victoria had donated £2000 and she had to be the largest contributor. He agreed so as not to make the queen look bad, but he then decided to send ships to Ireland with food supplies. At the end of the exhibit, there was a copy of the letter written on behalf of the Irish people to thank him.Read more