Bloomsday!

Every year, June 14^th is celebrated globally as Bloomsday, a celebration of the works of James Joyce. Apparently, several of his works are considered some of the premier works of modern literature, especially his novel, Ulysses. People celebrate by dressing up as characters or by going to local events. Of course, since he wrote many of these novels in Dublin and/or set them in Dublin, there were many events around the city featuring/re-enacting scenes from the novels. Unfortunately, many were ones that you would have to pay for (like a traditional Irish breakfast, seeing the James Joyce museum, etc). Well, the only ones that I was interested in doing were trying to find some of the characters walking around and going to the reading of some of his works in the park. Since the readings were in the afternoon, Kelsey and I decided to go to the weekly Temple Bar market (the Temple Bar is a famous area where many pubs are and it’s right near the large river running through the center of Dublin). It was a really cool market: many types of fresh bread, cheeses, jams, etc). I decided to get a loaf of cranberry raisin sourdough bread because it sounded amazing (which it is) and blueberry and raspberry scones (which are also really good). We walked around the Temple bar area to see what kind of shops there were and to kill some time waiting for the reading. You can tell it’s ‘historic’ because the cobblestones are distinct and hard to walk on as the mortar between them has eroded a great deal. We also wandered over to Grafton Street, a large street of just shops, akin to downtown Charlottesville, but with a much better shopping selection (including a mall). Finally, we went to the reading. We only stayed for a part of it though, because my feet were hurting and it was about to rain. Apparently they had a small puppet show and other funny things after we left, but I didn’t see them. I went home and watched a movie because I was tired. 

people posing as statues!!!

me in front of the arch to St. Stephen's Green

a small part inside

they have carriages!