Names

Today I visited Kilmainham Gaol, a 'new jail' built in the 1790s. Over the course of Irish history, it's housed some criminals, and a lot of political prisoners and poor people . In the early years of the Irish potato famine, people who were starving would com mitt petty crimes to go to jail, because they knew they would be fed there. The British government decreased food rations to discourage this, but they also made it illegal to beg on the street, so later in the famine many people were imprisoned for begging or steeling food. Children as young as 8 years old were put in jail for crimes like stealing grass or stealing 2 loaves of bread. (Those of you who don't know much Irish history, as I didn't before planning this trip, might find it interesting that there was plenty of food in Ireland during the potato famine, it was just all being shipped internationally by the wealthy landowners, only the peasants who happened to rely on the potato as their food supply who suffered.) Anyway, while I was there I saw the cell of one of the prison's more famous occupants:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Clarke_%28Irish_Republican%29

When I mentioned to the tour guide that one of the men involved in the 1916 uprising shared a name with my dad, he told me a bit more about Tom Clarke the Irish man - how he was a revolutionary politician / fighter who was quite instrumental in leading or instigating the Easter Rising of 1916. And he pointed out the cell where he was held by the Brits until his execution days after the rebels were defeated. And the yard where the executions took place, with a black cross marking where they would have stood blindfolded and faced a 12 man firing squad:
So it was interesting to learn about a famous Irishman who share's my Dad's name. (At least first and last) and I plan to buy a book recommended by one of the museum staff who declared "Tom Clarke is one of my favorite names!"

When I was in London in 2004, no one noticed my name. Here it was remarked upon first at the immigration stand when I got off the ferry from England. The guy at the booth said "Clarke?" and I said "yes, it's a British name but my family has been in America for several generations." At least one other person has commented on it as well, in the last 24 hrs. I don't know if the Irish have more of a sense of family history being important than the Brits do, or if they're just friendlier in general, but I think it's interesting. I wonder what it must be like for people who come here for the first time with truly Irish names - do they get even more questions?

The hostel is ok. I had a hot shower last night - perhaps the water is only cold in the middle of peak showering hours? And the staff directed me to a nearby pub for dinner, where I had a really quite decent green salad (at least it had more than one kind of lettuce, and I've been craving uncooked vegetables after London and Spain.) Of course I had to try my first pint of Genuine Irish Guinness, too - I must admit I like it better here. I don't know if it's actually different or if I'm just in the right frame of mind to be drinking Guinness, but I quite enjoyed it and I've never gotten into the stuff at home. I am booked on a literary pub crawl tonight (complete with genuine actors reading passages from famous Irish literature, some in the pubs the stories take place in) so I imagine I can have another if I'm not feeling up to a whiskey, which is (of course) the other Irish national beverage.

So other than the gaol I wandered about a bit today, picked up a map from the tourist office, and visited the surprisingly unhelpful bus office, bought a sim card for my phone - I can send text messages to US phones for only 15 euro cents, but I don't know what it might cost the recipient of the text message. Buying a sim card was much easier here than in Hungary - there I needed a home address in Hungary, an ID with my US address, etc. Here I just needed 10 euros - they wouldn't have even taken my name had I not used my credit card to pay. I visited the Chester Beatty Library and had a lovely lunch which included rice (another thing I've been craving) and chicken (No pork or sausage, thank you very much Spanish cuisine!) They have an interesting display of old religious texts and objects including a lot of 'illuminated' texts, the most impressive of which were Buddhist and Hindu. I plan to return to the hostel and have a snack and then I will go on the pub tour.