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Outside the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College

Temple Bar
I end up staying in a hostel a few doors down from the famous

Temple Bar, in the trendy/touristy Temple Bar area, which is packed with nightlife every day of the week.  Well, this is Dublin.   And so that's where the Temple Bar a few blocks from my apartment in Los Angeles comes from.  But I still want to find out how the Temple Bar area got its name, thinking there couldn't have been a bar at a temple, even in Dublin.  Turns out that the William Temp family used to live in the area, and boats could dock at his bar (bar used to mean dock, or quay) along the river. 

Guinness Tour
Guinness is as Irish as Coke is American, so I go check out the Guinness Torehouse in Dublin.  The tour is even more impressive than the Coca Cola Tour I did during the Atlanta Olympics.  The tour combines the flat-screens and dancing spotlight logos of a Comdex computer convention with the thumping tunes and bass of a warehouse dance club, against a gee-whiz Willa Wonka-style factory backdrop.  With even a few Great Glass elevators.

I learn all about how Guinness is made (with hops, barley, water and yeast), distributed (all over the world), and advertised (with commercials from the 50s featuring a toucan mascot).   And it turns out that when the Guinness manager in the 1950s had a bar argument over which is the fastest bird, he had an idea to publish a book with world records to settle future bar arguments that must happen in bars everywhere, and so we have the Guinness Book of World Records.

Trinity College.  I take a quick tour of the grey cinderblocky buildings, and check out the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript.  No, it doesn't glow in the dark.  It's an illustrated copy of the Gospel, called illuminated cause some of the ink reflects light at some angles.  At first, I'm thinking, come on, it's just an old book.  But the excellent museum displays and videos building up to the book do such a great (queue-reducing) job explaining the artwork and making of the book, by the time I actually get to the book, I feel all ed-jumacated and appreciative with the appropriate oohs and aahs at calligraphic technique.  Turns out Trinity graduated many of Dublin's famous authors, so to see what the grads wrote I visit the....

Dublin Writers Museum
The museum describes that Dublin has produced several famous writers (usually associated with London.  Because for some reason, Dublin's famous writers all left Dublin after Trinity college.)  The museum has original copies of varoius Dubliners' works, including Jon Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Bram Stoker's Dracula, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde's works, and James Joyce's Ulysses.  The museum description says that Ulysses was banned in London and the U.S. for obscenity but doesn't explain any further.  To solve the mystery, I head over to the nearby...

James Joyce Museum, where I learn that the obsecne passages include detailed descriptions of "bodily functions."  Hmmm, the plot thickens.  I go to the reading room to track down the obscene passages in the original copy.  Turns out one of the obscene passages' content is definitely Cartman-esque: a detailed description of a guy sitting on the can, reading a newspaper, taking a shite. 

Dublin Literary Tour.  This 10 euro tour features two actors who do mini-skits from famous Dublin writers' works as we visit four different pubs over 2.5 hours.  The acting's a little light, but heck, any acting looks good to the beer-goggled buzzed group.

Roots: St. Kevin St.
Walking around town, I discover there's a St. Kevin Street on my map.  Now while I'm used to seeing my last name on billboards and ads, I've never seen my first name.  So I walk over to St. Kevin Street to check it out.  Turns out that St. Kevin (Caoimhin) established a monastery in Ireland and is the patron saint of Dublin. They've built a church in his honor which I visit, just off St.Kevin St.
St. Kevin Street sign and post office.

I type my name into the web site Behindthename.com for a brief history which is interesting; you can do the same to see what you come up with.

Episode 2. Attack of the Clones

In my hostel, I meet up with an Aussie, Toby, who hasn't seen Episode 2 yet, so we check it out.  And besides, I want to know what the beginning words say since I've only seen it in Swedish and Norweigan.  Afterwards, Toby gives me the Australian scoop on the movie.  The actors who played the young Uncle Owen and the wheelchaired Shmi's husband are actually famous Aussie actors.  And the Jango Fett actor is a famous Maori (native New Zealander).  The Aussie influence makes sense, since Episode 2 was filmed in Sydney; I visited Fox Studios a few weeks after filming when I was there during the Olympics.

Beyond Dublin
My friend Ciara recommends I check out the seaside town Howth, just 30 minutes from Dublin.  Then to check out Ireland's famous countryside scattered ruins and dramatic scenery, I do a 3-day bus tour to see Blarney Stone at Blarney and, Western Ireland.

My friends Yvonne and Ciara,  both fr. Ireland, give me travel tips:
Yvonne Guinness Tour, St. Stephens Park	Ciara Go outside city to Howth, etc.

Trinity College must have a great Literature department or something in the water, because most of Ireland's famous writers went there. 

I get some apples from Molly Malone, the public art statue which some locals apparently call "the tart with the cart."

Temple Bar is a great place to stay, until the sound of steel kegs rolling across cobblestones wakes me up in the morning.  In bed, I keep thinking, "OK, that must be the last keg" to klangity-klang along, but it never is...

So that's where the name Cooper comes from. The Guinness wooden kegs, or casks, were made by as many as 300 woodworking coopers. By the way, from my pose you can see I'm anticipating Spiderman, released in the U.S. but not in Ireland yet!

When you take the Guinness Tour, you get a free drink at the 7ths floor Gravity Bar which has a great view of the Dublin skyline.

Copy of the Book of Kells I got off the Web cause No Photos.

James Joyce Statue several blocks from his own museum.

I find St. Kevin's Church from the 8th century, located in a cemetary park.  I find a couple making out around the corner and want to say, Hey, come on... 

The famous St. Patrick (as in Day) baptised people at a well near what is now St. Patrick's Cathedral

In my Temple Bar hostel, I meet up with Toby from Australia.  We see Episode 2 and talk about the loose ends for a few hours - like Uncle Owen should recongize C3PO in Ep 4 since they've been on the farm together in Ep 2 for several years.