Backpacking through Europe in 1994
Day 2 • September 8, 1994
Dublin, Ireland
Thirty years ago today I was in Dublin. Here is what happened:
The Garage Bar in Dublin
My Photographs from today
Day 2 – Dublin, Ireland 9-8-94
I got up at 7:40 and made it to the train station by 8:20 to catch the train to Dublin. It was £9.50. The lady I sat across from and I had a conversation about Northern Ireland, the IRA (the Irish Republican Army), and British rule.
It was only two easy buses from the train station to the hostel. This hostel is huge - a few hundred beds. It is an old monastery, complete with stained glass and a sanctuary - but now the sanctuary is the cafeteria.
After changing, showering and resting, I called home. Mom was relieved to know I was still alive.
After that I set out, camera in tow, to capture Dublin. I took a tour of Dublin castle, built in the 13th century, and the state apartments, Ireland’s version of the White House.
I saw the room where important dignitaries, including Margaret Thatcher, have stayed; chandeliers weighing over a ton; and the book of Ireland, which contains among other things the last poem Samuel Beckett wrote - before he died two days later.
I also had coffee in a world class cafe, toured the Ireland photographic gallery, and most exciting of all, I found The Garage Bar. This is the bar that U2 owns.
Bob Bodziak (a friend of Kyle Gilson), came here on his travels, met a guy named Harry McQuade who worked there, and promised Harry to send something for the bar when he got home. Bob took his Michigan license plate off his car and sent it, and I promised him I would find the bar and check to see if they ever got it.
Well Harry doesn't work there anymore, but John and Michael do, and they knew where Bob's plate was. Not stuck in some corner, but proudly (and prominently) displayed directly behind the bar!
I was so fired up to see it there. After an hour and a half of talking to these guys I went to the hostel to change period I called Olivier - I'm so excited to see him again.
I got out my picture of me standing on the flag, sign the front and autograph the back for U2, taped a business card on it, and went back to the Garage. Michael and John seem to be truly impressed that I did that. It may only be a wild fantasy that U2 will actually notice it, but...?
In my second night in a row of getting free things, I was given a pack of cigarettes to sample by a new company. I hung out in The Garage for two hours, until the Kitchen opened. The Kitchen is the nightclub U2 owns, right next door.
It was an exclusive night at The Kitchen, invitation only + £5. I had the money but no invite. I talked to the bouncers for a few minutes though, and they invited me in.
Rumor has it that Bono was there the night before, but I wasn't to be that lucky tonight. I wish I hadn't been so exhausted because the place was kick-ass, but I was absolutely drained after two hours in there. I walked home about 1:00 AM, and once again, was asleep before I hit the pillow.