Dublin Day 2: The Religious Experience

Friday, my second day in Dublin, was characterized by trips to 3 different cathedrals. Only one of which had anything to do with the actual definition of religion.

I started my day off quite strong by knocking over the Nespresso machine in my room and spending 30 minutes trying to put it back together. Once it was reassembled and I was properly caffeinated, I started out to the Hugh Lane Gallery. A museum committed to mostly contemporary Irish artists, it also french a small collection of French Impressionism with works by Renoir, Manet, and Berthe Morisot. It’s biggest draw though is it’s reconstruction of Francis Bacon’s London studio. In 1988, the museum received the donation of his entire studio, still left exactly as it was on the day he died in 1992. Over 7,000 items, plus the walls, floor, and ceiling were removed, archived, and then reassembled to look exactly as it did. It’s an amazing feat and amazing to see in person. It almost looks like a shack in the middle of the room, complete with actual windows. On one side, I’m guessing where the door was, there’s a little alcove of glass walls so you can pretty much step inside the studio. I’m not kidding when I say I cried. I stood in that spot for at least 20 minutes, taking in every detail. All the piles of junk, the paint cans, the posters on the wall. I’d step out to let people in then go right back when they left. To be in the actual space where one of your favorite artists created his work, to be surrounded by his stuff, is overwhelming. I had a similar reaction when I saw Van Gogh’s palette at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. These are the items that were used to make your favorite paintings, works that have inspired you, have moved you in some way or the other, that connect with you in some emotional way that you can’t describe. This was my church.

After I dried my eyes, picked up a book of interviews with Francis Bacon, grabbed a sandwich for lunch and a floral print windbreaker from my new favorite store TK Maxx, I headed out to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I did stop at Christ Church first but St. Patrick’s was cheaper. Fun fact: St. Patrick’s is actually a protestant church, it was originally Catholic but after the reformation (Thanks Henry VIII) it became protestant and has stayed that way. I jumped in on a guided tour that had started when I entered, I wanted to get the feel for tour guides before my day at the Cliffs of Moher. I learned quite a bit not just about the church (it was built over a river, the Guinness family funded it’s remodel in the 19th century, and there are people buried in the walls) but about Ireland as well (the story of the Celtic cross, the meaning of the Irish flag). The cathedral was smaller than I was expecting but still magnificent. You really can’t go wrong with a medieval church.

After my traditional religious experience I headed off to another cathedral of sorts. A cathedral for certain people: The Guinness storehouse. I was hoping to just go up to the Gravity Bar on the top floor and have a beer with a side of amazing views. Turns out, you need a ticket and make your way through some real Willy Wonka bull shit to get up to the Gravity Bar. I waited in line for at least an hour to get in (they had two cashiers working, on a Friday, at 5pm), as it turns out though, if you buy your ticket online you can walk right in. BUT it takes about 45 minutes for their system to update so it was almost pointless to buy one while waiting in line, which moved quite quickly as people gave up on waiting and left. I could’ve just taken the elevator straight up but if I was paying to get in I was going to get my money’s worth. Halfway up, I stopped into the tasting room to learn the proper way to drink a pint of Guinness. 1. Don’t sip. Take good sized drinks from it, otherwise you’ll just be tasting the bitter head. 2. Let it sit on your tongue for a couple seconds. 3 Swallow and breathe out your nose. Voila. Now you know how to drink beer like a professional. The Gravity Bar has an almost 360 degree view of the city. Until I was up there, I completely forgot there were mountains just outside the city limits. The bar was pretty busy, which is usually a nightmare for me but I was able to move through the crowd pretty easily without the use an elbow. They offer a few other beers besides Guinness but I didn’t bother because you only get one free beer with your ticket and I wasn’t paying for anything else. So I chugged my beer the proper way and dipped out. I’m sure I was in long longer than I was inside.

I spent the rest of my evening in my room. A guy did message me on Growlr and after a good conversation asked if I wanted to meet up for a drink but I declined citing exhaustion from the day. Which wasn’t untrue, I was on my feet for 7 hours and my shoulder was so sore from my bag I thought the strap had actually cut into it (it didn’t). So I ended up ordering a pizza and laying in bed while I watched SVU. That’s my religion.