bloomsday weekend

We will be in Dublin the weekend of Bloomsday.

THE date is as well known to students of English literature as the beginning of the first world war is to military historians: June 16th 1904 is Bloomsday, the 24 hours into which James Joyce compressed the wanderings of a Jewish Dubliner--a decent, lustful, advertising salesman named Leopold Bloom. He is the principal figure in Ulysses, a sprawling, difficult novel that marked the start of the modern movement in English literature. Its adoption of an original style known as stream of consciousness made it one of the seminal works of the 20th century <http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2745294>.

James Joyce's Ulysses follows a number of characters, Molly and Leopold Bloom, for example, as they cross and re-cross Dublin, on, well, 16 July. This is both good and bad. Good because there will be a number of activities. Bad because there will be even more tourists than usual. My question is whether any of us have read Dubliners (me), Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (me), or Ulysses (me)? Or Finnegan's Wake?; although if you have read that, then you can lead the tour. If not, perhaps we will avoid things Joycean; although I think we will find that impossible.

I'm interested in showing you the following (E = costs; * = highest guidebook rating):

O'Connell Bridge (centerpiece of Dublin)

South Central

• Bank of Ireland (home of Irish Parliament until Act of Union, 1801; exhibit on "200 years"): across the street from
• Trinity College (oldest college, for years free to Catholics--provided they become Protestant!; 18th & 19th century buildings and quads), includes *
• Old Library (9th century Book of Kells; 7th century Book of Durrow; often very long lines, 8 euros) E*
• St. Stephen's Green (place for pnishment to 19th c., then a private park, then Guinness made it a public park; Georgian square, memorials to Joyce, Yeats, etc.) *
• Leinster House (from 16th c., though largely 18th/19th c. Palladian; now seat of the Dail--Parliament)
• Merrion Square (more Georgian--that is the 18th c.--square) *
• National Gallery of Ireland (esp. 17th-20th c. Irish painters) *
• National Museum of Archeology and History (esp. Road to Independence room focusing on 1916-1921; Kildaire Street)
  

Temple Bar (although I am sure you will be in this area a lot at night anyway; aren't you staying near here?) *

• Meeting House Square (so-called because used to be a Quaker Meeting House; Krystal will tell us more about Irish Quakers)
• Wall of Fame (pictures of some group called U2; and the immortal Shane McGowan; and isn't that Phil Lynott; perhaps best to see at night)
  

Northside

• Custom House (beautiful 1781 building completely rebuilt after a bit of both during the War of Independence--the Republicans burnt it to the ground in 1921; a visitors center explains all, 1 euro) E
• Dublin City Gallery (The Hugh Lane; less important, perhaps; but a great collection; I'd like to see this)
• General Post Office (built 1818; taken over by republicans during Easter Rising 1916; Pearse read statement of independence outside this; of course, successful military engagements don't work by taking over a post office and it was put down; Pearse, Connolly, etc. became martyrs when put to death--this was in the middle of WWI, which was not going well for the UK, and so they took a dim view of treason; still bullet holes in edifice)
• Parnell Square and Mountjoy Square (although now we are getting in the Joycean area; still the home of more spit-and-sawdust pubs as opposed to the more trendy Temple Bar area) *
  

West

• Chester Beatty Library (Islamic and Far East Art; I don't know it, but it is Highly recommended); connected, I believe, to: *
• Dublin Castle (see Michael Collins the movie; this was the center of British rule from the 13th century, Lord Lieutenant, etc.; an old edifice but more modern interiors; toured this years and years ago, but I remember it as interesting even when I was much younger; 4.50 euros) E
• Four Courts (built by 1802 by same architect that did Customs House; almost totally destroyed in 1922, this time not during war of Independence against the British but in the more vicious Irish Civil War that pitted the Irish Free State army run by Michael Collins and former members of the IRA against, well, the IRA; one really should take my Irish History course!; not open unless courts are in session)
• Guinness Brewery and Storehouse (see Jeff Lange's email; I am not encouraging drinking [I hope the above suggests there is a lot in Dublin outside drinking], but this is really recommended by friends and guidebooks; 14 euros--discount if booked online) E*
• Kilmainham Gaol (Robert Emmett and Charles Steuart Parnell were inmates at one point here; but Pearse, Connolly, and others of the 1916 rising were housed here; and this is a real shrine of the Irish Nationalist viewpoint, 5 euros--2.10 with student id) E
• St. Michan's Church (Just for one reason--Roger Beck remembers seeing the mummies in the crypt, touching leathery skin and all; this one has to be included for the creepiness factor!; 3 euros--2 with student id) E