The Sun and Swans Were Out in Dublin
Dublin arrival, September 16th, 5:30 am!
Our favorite memories of Dublin coincide with the slow trickle of wedding guests arriving into Dublin, and the fun, unforeseen encounters that the city provided. Dublin is full of the quaintness you dream it to be. There is nothing loud or showy in the city. It has a matrix of streets, many of which are cobbled. Pubs are at your fingertips — when you have an hour before an event, all you need to do is turn around for a Guinness. Palace Bar in particular had the thickest Guinness, and had the happy situation to be right next door to where we all stayed. Dad and Julia met authors there, and each night tended to end there for most. Stefanie, our German friend, came to our wedding with a broken foot. After she flew into Dublin, we met her and Horen at the Palace Bar — and so another gem of a memory began there.
Megyn and Emma both arrived before us, and Debbie just hours before. We had two days of just us girls seeing the city before others joined, and Megyn had money to buy us rounds of Guinness in honor of our grandfather, and so we cheered to Eric McCarty, Harvey Hull, and Boo Radley at The Long Hall Pub.
When we applied for our wedding certificate, Debbie waited at a pub and Megyn and Emma brought us our passports that were forgotten in our hotel room. The registrar was The Joyce house — apparently if you say that to a taxi driver, they will assume the writer’s abode. Ah, the tune of the city was beautiful at that point.
After we applied to be married, we walked with Debbie through Merrion Square, stopping at Sweny’s Pharmacy as the first place on the literary itinerary. Here we met the owner, who was like a linguist pharmacist (not sure exactly what he does), who served us tea, sang traditional songs, and went through the McCarty heritage. We then saw Oscar Wilde’s house and statue, W.B. Yeats’ abode, and ended at the Long Library. Our walk was our only day of true rain in the city, and a proper introduction to its culture.
The long library was a dream. Each step you took resonated with the shear volume of manuscripts housed there, and the beauty of its display was tantalizing. The Book of Kells was fascinating enough, and incredible to witness. Who doesn’t like gilded, medieval letters turned into art? Here Katie and Natalie joined - our friends from England who became the hit of the party. They followed our itinerary faithfully, and became friends to all.
The following days turned to a blur. At the Stag’s Head Pub we met for the first time with Emmie and Robert, Matt and Julia, the Perin crew, Mary Jo and Jim. We had Guinness Stew and Toasties.
One day consisted of the Guinness Factory and the Jameson Distillery. Touristy yes, but exciting non the less. Between the two tours, we all met up at The Brazen Head (established in 1198!) for more stew and brew. Veronica, April, and Dan arrived jet lagged for the tours, as our friends Scott and Lora landed into Dublin and met us for food at The Church afterwards.
At St. Patrick’s Cathedral we met up with Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jim. Paying respects to the resting place of Jonathon Swift, we walked through the cathedral and surrounding grounds as a large, and exhilarated group. After all, we were together in Ireland — a dream that began before the Pandemic, and now a reality.
Between Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Museum of Literature Ireland, and the Mulligan’s Pub, we moved at a leisurely pace. We remember stopping for ice cream, more toasties, and at one point, I even escaped to get a tattoo! Luckily Emma came with me, and got her ears pierced.
One morning, Jamie and I went out shopping. We picked up wool sweaters and gifts, walking through St. Stephens’s Green together. We were about to be married, and the sun and swans were out in Dublin.
The tour bus came for us one morning, to begin our journey to Western Dublin for the wedding. Joel arrived as the bus engine was on, and together we left the city with hearts full and anticipation building.
