Finding Pat: The Last Weekend

There are a few venues that are only open to the public on Saturdays, and since this was our LAST Saturday in town, we packed a picnic, got on the bus, and headed toward Phoenix Park to tour the Aras an Uachtarain (President's House).

It was a beautiful day to be in the Park, and there were free tickets readily available for the tour (why did we think this would be like the White House tours that "sell out" almost immediately?)

While awaiting our tour time, we went through the museum at the visitors center, had our picnic overlooking Ashtown Castle and walked through the walled Victorian kitchen garden.

Picnic at Ashtown Castle

Herb garden

Walled garden

Once we boarded the shuttle for the Aras, it was pretty obvious that this was not a "tourist" location. . I think we were the only Americans on the tour. And it was a small group, which made for a much more interesting tour as people asked questions and the guide brought the children in the group into the history of the place (he threatened a quiz, but did not follow through).

As we were heading out of the President's office, the door opened and who should come in but - Himself! Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland! As he greeted the group, I gathered my courage and gave him "greetings from Indiana" (since I knew he was an IU graduate). http://homepages.indiana.edu/web/page/normal/20153.html

Smiling, he remembered his time in Bloomington, and talked about living in the States. . . then he was off to his appointment. The tour group was very excited for me to have had this encounter, and I only wish someone had asked to "break the rules" and take a photo!!

The President's porch

View from the porch

Returning to the visitors center by shuttle, we set off on a walking tour of the park. Established in 1662 as a Deer Park, there is still a herd of Fallow Deer roaming the grounds. This was as close as we came to seeing them (too sunny for heading across that field!

Fallow Deer Herd

Papal Cross from 1979 Mass- Pope John Paul

As the day wore on, we actually got tired of walking(!) and took another exit out of the park to catch a bus back to City Center. Home for the evening, we read the paper and relaxed - - a strange thing indeed!

Sunday morning found us without a "plan" so I looked at my list and one of the last things to check off was an actual tour of the Jameson Distillery. We had done a tasting there when Alex and Carrie were in town, but the tour had been sold out that day. So, back across the Liffey with us, to the Distillery. It was a good enough tour, though they haven't actually distilled there since the 1970's. Jameson is aged in barrels from Kentucky, Portugal and Spain, and then blended from the different barrels. I still think Kentucky has a lock on the best flavor!!

Still early enough to fit in one more place before Church, we headed back to Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) for the tour. Again, the last time we had stopped in (after the Modern Art museum) the tours had been sold out. This time we were in luck, and it was another outstanding tour by the OPW emphasising the role that the Jail played in the revolution which let to the Republic of Ireland. The patriot names are becoming almost as familiar to me as our US founding fathers, and this is the place where 14 of them were executed after the Easter Rising in 1916.

Straight stairs for the guards

Spiral stairs for the prisoners (control their movement)

Eamon de Valera's cell- - he wasn't executed because he was a U.S. citizen - hugely important in the years that followed!

Looking into a cell

Church was at 6:30 at the Pro Cathedral - - we had not attended here before since it isn't really close to where we live, but thought we should visit the Cathedral before leaving town. . . glad we did.

Pro-Cathedral

I really wanted to fit in one more fish and chips dinner before leaving, so we stopped in at The Church (now a pub/restaurant) only to find out that they were OUT of fish and chips. Never mind, we had already ordered our beer and cider,so we settled for fish cakes and chips - not the same, but pretty tasty! Trad music on Sunday evening made it all the more "Irish".