Martin F, Matt, Martin R, Darren, Jen, Anna, Linda (Suth Efrican interloper), Keith W & Rob. Photo by Eryl
Friday 22nd October 1999
Quarter to eight saw the first sign of movement from the touring party, though not from any of those who had arrived the previous night. The man on the move was Matt, who had just arrived in Dublin after an eleven-hour coach journey from Bradford, but was looking remarkably fresh, in spite of that. Nevertheless, it didn't take him long to claim one of the unoccupied beds and make like the rest of us.
09:30 saw most people floating - or in Eryl's case "hopping" - around, although all looked more than a little glazed. Breakfast was a little meagre for ravenous Octopush players - two pieces of bread and a cup of either tea or coffee, but for eight quid, including a bed for the night, we could hardly complain. Still, we did make good note of local greasy spoons for subsequent days . . .
After a large degree of faffing, ankle-strapping (courtesy of Sara), room-swapping - and in some cases, hostel-swapping! - not to mention general disorganisation, we eventually left in dribs and drabs and headed into the town, with the intention of all meeting up at the information centre at 1pm. Fortunately, there was an O'Neill's pub just opposite, so we all descended en-masse for booze and some decent grub. Or, at least, most of us did: we somehow managed to lose Eryl, Marion and Doug somewhere along the way . . .
The afternoon saw various groups splitting off to do their own thing. Some went off on a pub crawl, while some went to do the cycle tour. The cyclers, Colin and Sara, returned from their 3 hour excursion saying it was an excellent way of seeing not only the main sights of Dublin, but also some others that we would never have known about. The cycle ride included a guide who cycled with us and was very informative about all the sites in Dublin that we visited, which included the guiness factory, trinity college, Dublin castle, and the Maritime museum where we stopped for a cream tea (yum, yum!). At the university (Trinity College) we saw the French Rugby yeam practicing for their match with Ireland in the 6 Nations Cup(?) the next day. It was certainly a nice view for Sara - all those fit French legs...... The cycling was not that arduous as all the sites were not far apart and there were no real hills to negotiate (much to Sara's relief!).
The hardened tourers and drinkers among us made our way to one of the two "spiritual homes" that Dublin has to offer: the Old Jameson's Whiskey Distillery.
Martin F, Matt, Martin R, Darren, Jen, Anna, Linda (Suth Efrican interloper), Keith
W & Rob. Photo by Eryl
We started off by watching a short film on the history of whiskey-distilling in Ireland and the specific involvement of the Jameson's distillery, and this gave us a really good preparation for the tour itself.
| Our guide said it was only her third day of being a tour guide, but she
certainly knew her subject, and was very interesting and informative. She explained the
various stages of the whiskey distillation, and showed us the equipment used at each
stage. The tour ended in a bar area, where we were each given a tot of Jameson's whiskey. Yummy! Matt, however, did not get a chance to relax, as he and three others chosen by our guide at the end of the film had to endure the hardship of being whiskey-tasters, on behalf of the rest of the group. The roughest Scotch whisky and the roughest American bourbon had been put together with three prime Irish whiskeys, and each of the testers had to try each spirit and select their favourite. Not surprisingly, no one chose the Scotch or the Bourbon, though Matt did show a bit of independence and selected the Bush Mills ahead of the Jameson's. |
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After a stop in the distillery shop for some souvenirs, we then went on to the "Dublinia" medieval history exhibition, where we were each fitted with a Walkman and headphones, which allowed each person to meander at their own pace through various major events in Irish history, accompanied all the while by a soft, gently-humoured Irish voice.
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By the time we reached 1500 AD, we had reached the end of the first part
of the historical tour, and we found ourselves in a large room with a scale model of
Dublin at it was at this point in time. There was a running demo which described each
noteworthy part of the city, illuminated each one as it went. We then went on to a second, interactive stage, laid out like the stalls in a medieval market. There the visitor could make brass rubbings, try on medieval armour and the like. Rob and Darren took full advantage! |
The next room was a large banqueting hall, from which we could either go through to the souvenir shop or climb the tower. Attracted by the promise of an excellent view over the city, some did climb the tower, but sadly the weather wasn't cooperating, so there wasn't much to see.
Back outside, we had a play on the "toys" - a painted scene with cutouts for three heads (see Eryl and Martin F's mugshots in the "The Crew" section) and a set of stocks. The stocks proved too much for Matt and Martin F to resist, and seeing his team mates so incarcerated proved too much for Keith W to resist the temptation to jam the lock! However, little did he reckon with Martin's unexpected turn of strength . . .
 Matt and Martin where they belong! |
 Breakout! |
All free again, we then went for a wander around the town, in the general direction of O'Neill's, where we were due to meet the others at 6pm. We found ourselves in Temple Bar, the main tourist/pub/bar area, where a brightly-lit shop filled with spangly things with absolutely no purpose at all proved much too much for Eryl. For the second time that afternoon, he was gone! We hung around trying to find him, but to no avail - he really was gone!
We made our way back to O'Neill's, where the various parties arrived one by one. Finally, Eryl joined us and another drinking session ensued, complete with much larking about with Pringles tub tops and threats of banning by the management after one Pringle top went seriously astray. (Pringle tops really do make very good frisbees......)
Martin F, Matt, Sara, Colin, Mark, Anna, Eryl, Doug, Ed, Liz, Darren
Martin R, Keith W, Linda, Diane, Marion
Several of those who after the meal had had enough and only wanted a quiet drink went back to the bar at The Belvedere where the "couples" were staying. Rob and Ed, both in fine form, then proceeded to discuss the merits of windy beer and exploding seagulls, to gales of laughter from the rest of the group.
The rest went out on the town . . .
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