Dawn Xiana Moon: Intelligent folk pop with influences from jazz and traditional Chinese music. From Chicago.

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Monday, September 07, 2009

A Primer in Luring Tourists

Phase 1: Mention Vikings. Phase 3: Profit! But what's Phase 2?

Stained Glass, Dublin

Dublinia would have been much better if we were in elementary school. But even then, some placards had grammatical errors, one needed updating (2007 was in the future), and enough paint had worn off others that letters from multiple words were missing. The verdict? Half interesting history lesson and half boring. However, the building itself is beautiful, and it's worth walking around the entire exterior.

Speaking of Vikings, the oldest of Dublin's two medieval cathedrals was built by a Viking king. Most of Christ Church Cathedral was built and rebuilt centuries after the original, so it's not terribly different from other cathedrals, but the crypt is still medieval. We heard the choir rehearsing for evensong while we were there, and they sounded amazing. Interesting find: the crypt has a mummified cat and mouse on display - apparently they were running through the organ pipes and got stuck. They're famous: James Joyce references the cat and mouse in Finnegan's Wake.

After much walking, we were hungry. Leo Burdock's Traditional Fish and Chips has nowhere to sit, so we ordered food and walked a few blocks down the road to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which has a large garden (with an homage to Ireland's writers). We sat down and noticed the people on the bench next to us were also carrying paper bags from the same chippie. And so were the people near the fountain. Great minds think alike.

To finish the day, we decided to look for some music. Arlington Hotel Bar was recommended on Couchsurfing Zone Dublin (which is run by locals) as a good place for Irish music and dancing. Why it was recommended, I have no idea, because the bar was packed with tourists, the music consisted of boring covers backed up by synthesizer and guitar (to be fair, they did play two traditional Irish songs), and two of the four dancers looked like they hated their lives. The dancing was fine, but the men looked like they wanted to be anywhere but on stage for a crowd of tourists - who didn't notice, and cheered and hooted anyway.

Labels: Dublin, Ireland, travel

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