If you remember the hoopla back in Keene over Cool Jewels’ colorful Main Street facade, you’ll understand why I snapped a picture of this pharmacy in Dublin’s Temple Bar. So far, I’ve snapped very few photos in the city proper; instead, I’ve been rubbernecking like mad, trying to get at least a cursory sense of Where I Am before I try to capture anything about that Where-ness. After the blur of arriving, I’m still waiting to find my metaphoric feet, waiting until not everything I see seems foreign and unusual.
On Thursday’s first jaunt into downtown Dublin with that girl, I couldn’t begin to frame what I was seeing into discreet, digestable pieces: here a purple pharmacy, there an iron rubbish barrel. When I walk the streets of Keene, I can lightly ignore everything that looks usual and reach for my camera only when something jumps out as different: a certain slant of light, a shadow I’ve never seen before, a corner that never before caught my eye.
Here in Dublin, everything is catching my eye, and ear: even the ambient soundtrack of birdsong is different, with me trying to hold my Inner Birder in check while magpies and rooks and European robins flit and strut their Backyard Birdness around me. I knew to expect the oddness of everyone driving on the left; I knew that crossing streets would be particularly dangerous since my muscle memory automatically looks left-right-left when I look both ways, a habit that gets you run over on this side of the Atlantic. But even after having visited Ireland on a whirlwind over 15 years ago, I’m amazed and perplexed by the level of disorientation. How long does it take before you find your feet in a place, before common birds seem common, purple facades seem normal even in a “historic” district, and the flow of both life and traffic seems ordinary again?
I don’t know how long it takes to find your feet in a foreign place, but I know this stay won’t be nearly enough: if anything, I feel like a mountaineer using a single weekend as a kind of base camp, a place to acclimate to unaccustomed altitude before embarking on any serious treks. After more than a decade living in New England, I still feel like a flatlander there, so perhaps a certain level of Outsiderness is a good thing, the eyes of a foreigner catching the ordinaries that fly beneath natives’ threshold of perception.
As much as there is of the odd and unusual here in Dublin, some things I do understand, and some photo opportunities are simply too good to resist. Just as any decent journalist will go to extremes to protect her sources, I’m not telling exactly how I got a snapshot of Dublin’s funniest urinals. Let’s just say that local color is found in the most surprising of places.
Feb 11, 2006 at 4:57 am
You’re obviously getting to places in Dublin the rest of us don’t manage to find! – Or maybe we don’t go looking? I’m tickled that our robins are European. I thought there were robins (ours) and American robins. Hope the disorientation doesn’t stop you enjoying the rest of your stay. Enjoy!
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 10:45 am
Love the photos.
Had a teacher who took photos of lightposts all across Europe. Other subjects as well, but started there, and kept up the theme. Live is lived in the details.
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 11:58 am
I lvoe that you just did that trip on the spur of the moment! That purple facade is worth the trip. Why do they call it a bar, if the sign says it is a pharmacy?
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Its the Temple Bar Pharmacy. Temple bar is a section of dublin.
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 2:03 pm
OMG, what a shot! Judging by their, um, erect posture those pictures are having the desired effect on those gents’ egos. How appropriate that one of those ladies is capturing the amazing sights with her digicam. Wonder where *her* blog is? 😉
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 4:09 pm
You might want to wait and come back on Monday instead of Sunday. We’re scheduled for a blizzard today in NY that’s supposed to move up the coast. You might not be able to get back.
(Gee, extra day or so in Ireland — how awful ;))
Seriously, rather than getting stuck at the airport somewhere, can you extend your stay a day or two?
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 4:10 pm
You might want to wait and come back on Monday instead of Sunday. We’re scheduled for a blizzard today in NY that’s supposed to move up the coast. You might not be able to get back.
(Gee, extra day or so in Ireland — how awful ;))
Seriously, rather than getting stuck at the airport somewhere, can you extend your stay a day or two?
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 7:54 pm
To travel and to truly see–not with the eyes of the tourist, which miss so much of the real and wonderful in search for the prize of novelty–that is always a challenge. It seems like you have met it! Whether you’re in Keene, or you’re on the road, your eyes are always OPEN!
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Travelling is such a great way to learn about other cultures and histories, but even more we end up learning about ourselves. We learn to be a little more open and adventurous and perhaps even a bit more tolerant too.
There used to be a fabulous Tea Room caled Bewleys in Dublin. It was world famous… they tell me it’s going to close, if it hasn’t already. Say “Hello” to Dublin for me! Enjoy your mini holiday!
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 9:56 pm
Love the last photo. Hilarious. You can never acuse the Irish of not having a sense of humor, as a rule.
Hope your trip continues to be fun. Wait til you see what weather we have in store for you!
LikeLike
Feb 11, 2006 at 11:57 pm
LOL!
I envy the Ireland trip….
I lived in England for a year and I don’t think I ever got oriented properly- and I never did learn to look the right way when crossing the street either!
LikeLike
Feb 12, 2006 at 9:55 am
What fun! Hope you’re having a great time.
LikeLike
Feb 12, 2006 at 10:06 am
This Sunday morning, I am seeing the pictures of a very snowy NYC on the TV. I hope you decided to stay some more time in Ireland, and not all frustrated in an airport.
LikeLike
Feb 12, 2006 at 10:07 am
What a great shot! :o)
Spur-of-the-moment trips are the best. When I take long-weekend trips to other countries (I currently live in India, so there is lots of opportunity) people always ask, “don’t you want to wait until you’re able to spend more time there?” But if you wait, you end up never going. Even three days is better than never-
LikeLike
Feb 12, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I’m green with envy. Marvelous photos – thanks for sharing.
LikeLike