Origin of the city name, Dublin and other interesting factoids

The first early Celtic habitation was beside the River Liffey and the city's Irish name, Baile Atha Cliath (the Town of the Hurdle Ford) comes from an ancient river crossing that can still be pinpointed today. By the 9th century, Viking raids had become a fact of Irish life, but some of the Danes chose to stay rather than rape, pillage and depart. They established a vigorous trading port where the River Poddle joined the Liffey in a black pool, or dubh linn. At the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, the Irish defeated the Vikings and broke their military power. But again many of the Danes remained, marrying with the native Irish, adopting Christianity and building churches. The Normans, having consolidated control in England, moved west in the 12th century and also merged with the Irish rather than ruling over them. Until Elizabeth I (1558-1603), real English control over Ireland was restricted to the narrow eastern coastal strip - the Pale - surrounding Dublin. Beyond the Pale, Ireland remained unbowed, and raids from the fierce Irish warriors constantly threatened Dublin's Anglo-Norman stronghold.

bray head

Look, a link to the bray head train--it looks really great! For those of you who are blog challenged, click on the word "link" For more links with descriptions and more pix, scroll past the pix and click on the blue words.

The train tracks to Bray Head

a view of bray head

here is the link to that gives the train info here is a site with pictures

Howth day trip

I am "thinking" of taking the train to Howth the afternoon of the 25th, have a seafood dinner, take the train home, and go to bed early. Seems like a good way to tackle jet lag. I still need to check the train schedules...Any interest? Howth, a peninsula nine miles to the northeast of Dublin city, is a beautiful place to visit. Named from the Danish word Hoved (Ho'vud) for Head by the Viking raiders who settled around Dublin in the tenth century, Howth has been immortalized forever in "The Greatest Novel of the Century" Joyce's Ulysses. The little village of Howth is a delight in itself, complete with its fishermen and nice seaside homes. If it's fresh fish you're looking for, this is the place. Other than that, you won't find a lot of shopping here. And you don't need it, because the real attraction is the view. The cliff walk is an amazing experience, even in the rain. The peninsula is home to 177 species of birds, many of which you see hanging out near the water. At one point, I had rounded the cliff a bit, and there was nothing but the wind and the water and the birds and me. I couldn't see any houses, and there were no other people around. Lovely. To get to the trail, take a left out of the train station and walk along the main road. The road veers left and goes up a hill, and then walk a little more and you'll get to the trail�it probably takes about 20 minutes. To get to Howth, take a DART train from Connolly Station for �3.20 round trip. It takes about 30 minutes to get there, and the trains run fairly often. Howth is the last stop on the line.

Hurling

Hurling is a traditional Irish game, played by two teams of 15 people. It is played with a stick (called a Hurley) and a ball (Called a Sliothar). At each end of the field there is a Goal (like a Soccer Goal), but the posts rise up similiar to Rugby or American Football. If a player hits the ball over the goal, but between the posts it is worth 1 point. If he hits the ball into the net it is worth 3 points. From a scoring perspective, the scores are shown as follows 1-13: 1 goal and 13 points = 16 points. Every year in Ireland there are the All-Ireland Hurling championships, where each county plays a knock-out competition until you come to the final, which is normally played on the first Sunday in September. Ireland itself is divided into 32 counties and 4 provinces. The counties in each province play each other until you have 4 provinicial winners. They then play semi-finals and then the final. The big counties are Tipperary, Kilkenny and Cork. The game is played throughout the country at local levels, with almost every town and village having a hurling team and each place having its own pitch. So if you are in Ireland and see people playing in a field with sticks, stop and have a look. Hurling (in Irish, iománaíocht or iomáint) is an outdoor team sport of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks and a ball. The earliest known recorded game of hurling is from times before the Common Era. The game, played primarily in Ireland, is arguably the world's fastest field team sport in terms of game play. One of Ireland's native Gaelic Games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, number of players, and much terminology. There is a similar game for women called camogie. The object of the game is for players to use a wooden axe-shaped stick called a hurl (in Irish a "camán", pronounced kam-awn), or a hurley, to hit a small ball called a sliotar (pronounced slith-er) between the opponents' goalposts either over the crossbar for one point, or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for three points. The ball can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air, or struck on the ground with the stick. It can be kicked or slapped with an open hand (the hand pass) for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than three steps has to bounce or balance the ball on the end of the stick, and the ball can only be handled twice while in his possession. Side to side shouldering is allowed although body-checking or shoulder-charging is illegal. No protective padding is worn by players, and although a plastic protective helmet with faceguard is recommended, this is not mandatory for players over 21.

marathon surfing

well i'm sitting in the airport in chicagoe, waiting for the delayed flight to take me home (although chicago and delayed flight are somewhat redundant) as i"m sitting here i realized, if i'm lucky--and the way things look no--the next time i fly should be TO DUBLIN!!!!!!! so of course i started googling about found a different site on the marathon that i hadn't seen before--kevin if you have any good ones that give tips for spectators--routes etc, please post them for those of us who can't actually run 26.1 miles (is that the right distance?) anyway, here's a site i think is good for us spectators--but it also gave info for participants kevin did you know you get a free breakfast with irish music the day before. It's the international race breakfast to welcome oversees runners!! no wonder they call it the friendly marathon! to see the site, click here

GO KEVIN

Molesworth Court

It is official. I received confirmation this morning on our third apartment. This is a 2 bedroom apartment on the third floor of Molesworth Court on School house Lane. Schoolhouse Lane is located off Kildare Street, directly behind the Dublin Mansion House. See map. Main Bedroom with Double Bed and separate bathroom Bedroom 2 with 2 single beds Sitting Room, Dining Area and Kitchen, Parking "Located in the most fashionable part of Dublin, Molesworth Court Suites offers four-star accommodation to the discerning visitor who wants more than just a hotel room. Tucked quietly away off Molesworth Street, you are located in one of Dublin City's most exclusive and central locations. Stroll out around Dublin's Georgian streets, government buildings or city parks. The Molesworth Court suites are located in the heart of Dublin, just around the corner from Trinity College and St. Stephens Green. The National Library, Government Buildings and the National Museum are but a stone's throw away, and Grafton Street, popular with shoppers, is within easy walking distance. "

Dublin Castle

Time to start thinking about the wonderful sights to see around the ancient city of Dublin. Here's a few pix of Dublin Castle which is at the south end of Parliament Street, very close to our Parliament St Penthouse lodging. And darn close to the pastry shop, the Queen of Tarts. Here's a some recent reviews from tourists to Dublin Castle and the guided tour. We toured Dublin Castle earlier this month and found it very enjoyable. The tour covered a large section of the castle and even went underground to view some of the old city wall, corner tower, and moat. This building is rich with history and our guide did a great job bringing it to life. From the state rooms to the throne room, the furnishings are exquisite. Most fascinating to us was the going underground to seeing some of the old castle. It is ancient and well preserved. I highly recommend this tour and it is well worth the small fee charged. I loved the Dublin castle tour. The guide was so informative and spoke eloquently and passionately about the subject as we toured around. She had hundreds of little snippets and facts as we went round. I enjoyed the tour, the history of the state rooms, the functions of the rooms, the furnishings. I loved knowing who had stayed there (Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher etc.) and what the rooms had been used for (Irish Oscar winners parties, U2 charity functions etc.). The throne room was stunning and the guide explained Irish history in a basic but fascinating manner. She was also the only Irish tour guide we met on our 4 days in Dublin - and she spoke Irish too! The original part of the castle was unbelievable - underground and ancient. Also explains the foundation of the name DUBLIN. I think it was great value for money and enjoyed this look at Irish history immensely. This is the website for the castle. Check out hours they are open, history, maps, etc.: http://www.dublincastle.ie/home_no_fla.html

Long Run

I told you earlier in the week that I planed to run 26 miles this weekend. Well after thinking about it I decide to run only 24 miles. My reasoning is I wanted to wait until race day to see if I can finish the 26.2 miles. If I ran the distance before race day it seem like it would take away some of the suspense and excitement. It is a good thing that I only ran 24 miles. Even with great weather, it was the hardest run I've done so far. I'm not sure I could have finished 26.2 miles today - unless I crawled the last mile. It was 50 degrees when we started at 5:00am on Sunday, and only about 60 degrees when we finished at about 10:00am. My muscles ached, I got some blisters on my toes, and chaffing in places I don't want to talk about. It is getting closer - only 6 more weeks. I can't wait to see everyone.