Whoops- think I just said it anyway. Oh well…
Rory is also a big U2 fan, so this was a stop on our trip that both us very much appreciated. If you’ve never watched the U2 Live from Boston DVD, I highly recommend you check it out. An amazing performance, and I’m not just saying that because they were in playing in Boston Garden.
I have old black and white photos stashed away somewhere in my college boxes (I was a darkroom rat through my high school and college years). I need to dig them out and capture some of the tributes painted to the band.
Sadly, I think Windmill Lane has gotten more colorful but less heavy on the U2 homage front. Still, the colors were great.
I forgot to bring my own can of spray paint, so I scrawled our little contribution to the lads before taking off on a little tour of my college.
Before getting to Trinity, I stop to pass by my old employer: Café Crêpe. I had been given a heads up by some of my former co-workers that the café closed down last month- sadly another victim of the lousy economy. My heart was heavy as I peered in the windows and watched it get torn apart. I spent two great years working in this place, and I’ll never forget the three sisters who ran the business with humor, sarcasm and intelligence. Nor will I forget whip smart North Siders like Rachel and Emma O’Connor who taught me what it was like to be real Dubliner. In so many ways, I found them to be so much more grounded and understanding of real life than the Trinners who sat next to me in my contemporary political theory class.
Passing the perimeter of college, we walk over to the Pav, one of Trinity’s two pubs. It’s located on the cricket fields, and in good weather you can sit out and watch cricket matches- or try to watch them. I just don’t understand that game- even after spending seven days on a Tanzanian mountain with a couple of Aussies. Did I already tell you that I once ran across this field topless as a part of my rowing club initiation. Sorry, I have no photos from those days.
I got Rory to snap a photo of me next to Provost Salmon. This crotchety guy was vehemently opposed to admitting women into the university (What would Queen Elizabeth, our founder, have thought?). After learning that girls now run around college halfway naked- and by the way, the men’s rowing team runs completely in the buff- I think he’d approve of letting us in to play with the boys.
Up at front arch, we’ve got some an eye-catching pink banner. Upon closer inspection, I learn that this is Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance Week. And to think, abortion is still almost completely illegal in this country. At least shagging appears to be condoned, right?
Ahh the fanvy campanile. Superstition told students not to walk underneath this thing- because….ah Hell I can’t remember. 
Christmas lights in Irish! (Sorry, this is not chronological but I just found this photo and wanted to squish it in)
We pick up our rental car, and Rory and I are set for adventures on the other side of the road! Locals just advise us to “drive in the middle of the road” if we got nervous. This turned out to be pretty good counsel- especially considering I only hit one car while driving.
Rory is game for unscheduled diversions, and she informs me that she’s never seen a real castle before. I see that we are rolling through Cashel, so we get off the highway to check out Carraig Phádraig, or the Rock of Cashel.
Megan comes through in delivering a cool castle!
It’s a beautiful day, and this 12th century relic was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion (thank you, Wikipedia).
When your mind’s eye thinks of Ireland, these are the images that you conjure up. At least I hope so. Darby O’Gill and the Little People was certainly a movie that had nothing to do with Ireland….
Behold the sacred and profane, earth and sun, paganism with Christianity.