Dublin Goes Down to Donegal

Dublin is known as a Gaelic Football (hereafter just called "football") powerhouse. Year in and year out Dublin is always involved as the football tournament winds down. This year was no different as the men's team prepared to square off in the semi final against northwest-corner-of-Ireland Donegal at Croke Park one day after Penn State beat UCF in a thriller.

Penn State yesterday, Dubs today? Blue guys sweep at Croke Park this weekend!? #dublinvdonegal
— Cory Hanson (@HansonCory1) August 31, 2014

The day of the Croke Park Classic, Kerry and Mayo played a spectacular semi final replay over in Limerick- much to the dismay of many fans here in Ireland who view Croke Park as sacred GAA ground. To have a Gaelic game, especially a football semi final, pushed out by an invading American sport was unthinkable.

But the GAA didn't foresee the semi going to a replay, and the schedule was what it was. Kerry overtook Mayo in an historic battle, and the winner of Dublin and Donegal would take them on in the final later this fall.

During the week, we kept seeing references to the big game in the local press. Whenever a matchup like this rolls around, the media don't only cover the upcoming sports action. Donegal is a rural county in western Ireland with a small population. Dublin is, well, Dublin. Overtones of the plucky country folks (a bit exaggerated) taking on the wealthy and sophisticated (very much exaggerated) Dublin were everywhere.

National publications like the Irish Times and Irish Independant were a bit more balanced, at least as far as this American could tell, but the Dublin-centered tabloids certainly had a pro-blue bent.

On match day, I was watching the game on RTE online while monitoring the Twitter feed of #dublinvdonegal.

Fair play Donegal! Lets get a goal for every cancelled #GarthBrooks concert #gaa #dublinvdonegal
— Colm McGlinchey (@ColmMcGlinchey) August 31, 2014

In the second half, Dublin mostly lost the plot, and Donegal started pouring in goals. Twitter became even more "Let's beat those city folk!" than some of the papers had.

Dublin fans were a bit less impressed...

Feckin hell #madness #dublinvdonegal
— Meghan Craughwell (@Bosco0111) August 31, 2014

Donegal rode the second half hot streak to a decisive victory at 3-14 (23 total) to 0-17 (17 total). That's a wide margin in this game, especially for a team that was a 6-1 underdog, as many happy Tweeters who had bet on Donegal on the moneyline.

my tenner at 6:1 looks safe now :-) #dublinvdonegal #gaa
— james_mc_f (@james_mc_f) August 31, 2014

Should have mentioned the priest this morning was wearing green and yellow vestments! Clearly more effective than the Jersey #dublinvdonegal
— Sorcs (@sorcsfs) August 31, 2014

This Sunday, hurling-crazed Kilkenny takes on Tipperary in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final. The hoopla has been big in the national media, but the local Dublin rags have been a bit more quiet on the subject... wonder why?

Kilkenny hurling blasted Dublin in the Leinster (eastern Ireland region) final earlier this season on our first-ever visit to Croke Park. I'm not sure who I want to win, but I'm hoping for a great match with an equally entertaining Twitter feed on Sunday.

Arbour Hill Cemetery

Thanks to the good people at Heritage Ireland (OPW), we have so many wonderful historic public spaces preserved and well-presented right here in Dublin. Some of the OPW sites are big blockbusters like Kilmainham Gaol, but many are free, small, out-of-the-way spots of incredible, if understated, historical significance.

I took a free Wednesday tour of Arbour Hill Cemetery, famous as the final resting place of the 1916 freedom fighters, most of whom were executed just across the river at Kilmainham Gaol.

Like so many things in Ireland, the British history here is impossible to ignore. This cemetery was originally for British military personnel, and the different markers for officers and enlisted men are obvious in the burial sites nearest Arbour Hill Church.

British Graves

The church itself used to be a prison chapel, the burial yard used to be the prison yard before it was built into the expanded cemetery thanks to World War I.

Today, the best-known occupants of this cemetery are the 14 men executed by the British after the 1916 Easter Rising. Many of these names are familiar to me- not because I read them in the history books, but because almost all of these men have streets, train stations, and buildings named in their honor. Many also have monuments other places in the city.

The memorial site is tasteful and somber. At the back wall, the Proclamation of the Republic of Ireland (like the American Declaration of Independence) is inscribed in English and Irish on either side of a cross.

1916 Memorial Site

The fourteen men were buried in a pit right here and covered with quicklime to quickly break down the bodies. The British didn't want the bodies to be stolen and used as rallying points for the rebels. The bodies weren't stolen, but the people were disgusted enough by the executions that the tide turned against the British anyway.

1916 Burials

Of course, JFK spent a moment here during his 1963 Ireland visit. According to our tour guide, the memorial wasn't quite finished coming up to his stop in Dublin, but public sentiment (and donations) helped put on the finishing touches before the second coming President landed in Ireland.

http://jfkhomecoming.com/timeline/arbour-hill/

As I've said before, they love them some JFK here in Ireland. Just love him. I still can't figure out why. They tell me it's because he was president of the most powerful country in the world... and Irish and Catholic. I call foul on both of those. The first one is easy- he wasn't born in Ireland. Had he been born in Ireland, it would be constitutionally impossible for him to become President. He was straight-up New England East Coast Old Money- decidedly American. End of discussion.

Catholic? Well, he did some infamously un-Catholic things with Marilyn Monroe and at least a dozen other actresses, socialites, and prostitutes around the world- possibly while he was here in Ireland! No judgement, but I wouldn't put that guy on a church mosaic as a celebrated example of good old fashioned Irish Catholic values, would you? Well, someone thought it would be a good idea.

http://www.photopol.com/galway/jfk.jpg

Anyway...

The last corner of Arbour Hill is a dedication to the men and women of the Irish military who have served in various UN missions since the Republic of Ireland joined up. Ireland is a small country that is usually neutral in international conflicts, but its small military has seen action in a number of peacekeeping operations through the years. As an American who grew up with my home country almost always involved in some conflict, it was interesting to see the different meanings and reasons for armed operations held by the people here.

Next time I'm in that part of town (maybe on a trip to Phoenix Park or Collins Barracks), I'll stop by again to read the Proclamation and the names of the men who died for the freedom, peace, and prosperity of Ireland. Hopefully we can all be inspired by the courage of these people to keep the peace process moving, in Ireland and the rest of the world. 

College Football Kickoff in Croke Park

First, thanks to my blog friend Rachel in Ireland for writing a great post and taking a great photo of the two of us with our Iowa gear in the stands at the game. It's great to have blogger buddies who also appreciate American Football.

The big day was upon us, Penn State was set to take on Central Florida at Croke Park at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. EST- timed perfectly to end just before the noon games), but there were supposed to be pregame festivities on in Temple Bar, so we headed up a bit early to check out the action.

The VAT House Sign

There was supposed to be a "tailgate" in Temple Bar to celebrate the game. We didn't know what this actually meant when we read the headline. If it was to be in the Temple Bar area, it couldn't really resemble anything like a real American parking lot tailgate. Where would they put the pickup trucks?

The VAT House had their standard promo sign for the game, welcoming as they always are to foreign sports fans. Beyond the VAT House was the melee, the "tailgate" of legend. As we suspected, it wasn't anything at all like a tailgate except that it preceded an American sports game and was full of partying Americans. It looked like it was just a sort of pregame gathering place before catching a shuttle to Croke Park. Where were the barbeque grills? Where were the footballs being thrown? We might have been tempted had there been bratwurst, pork burgers, or turkey legs being cooked, but sadly we weren't in Iowa City.

After taking some pictures with a few PSU fans with Iowa fan friends, we headed up to the stadium for the pregame festivities. Right away we noticed a different vibe in Croke Park than that before the Dublin hurling match. As the stands filled up, the sounds of Jay Z, not those of Enya, filled the stadium. Both teams had brought small bands along, and these skeleton crew pep bands did their best to fill cavernous Croker with their teams' fight songs. 

ETATS NNEP Banner

Knightro the Knight

Pregame Flag Presentation from a Low Angle

We really felt homesick during the pregame flag ceremonies. They knew their audience for this one, as more than a hundred staffers brought out banners for each team, the Croke Park Classic logo, and huge American and Irish flags. The Dublin Gospel Choir sang the US and Irish national anthems, and from our endzone seats, we could see (but not yet hear) two F-16 fighter jets barreling at the stadium. 

It was a standard well-executed flyover, common in the States at big sporting events. As rehearsed, the jets flew low over the stadium, and the loud blast of their engines hit the crowd just as the singers were finishing the anthem. 

It really sent a charge into the stadium, but it apparently startled and upset some Dublin residents. Unfortunately, no advance notice went out to the local residents who wouldn't be expecting low-flying fighter jets buzzing their city on a normal sports day. Some folks took to Twitter and Reddit asking things like...

I think Cork is finally invading Dublin.

RE: Thank f*ck! I thought it was something to worry about.

Ah f*ck sake lads, now we'll have to get sweet talking Bill Clinton over to smooth out the Irish American relations. I'll get the saxophone.

That was loud alright. Heard it in beaumont hospital. I thought it was a plane coming down! Jaysus

My elderly neighbour just flung open the window and yelled "damn Ryanair bastards!" at the sky.

Sorry to all those who were disturbed by the surprising display. I read in the Croke Park Classic pregame materials that a flyover would be part of the festivities, but most of the disinterested local population wouldn't have sought that out. They were mostly getting ready to watch the Kerry/Mayo Gaelic football replay that was moved from Croke Park to Limerick because of the American football game.

When the game got underway, I smiled when I saw the helpful display on the scoreboard describing some of the action for American football beginners. We first noticed it on an early false start call, but saw it for a number of other penalties throughout the game.

Scoreboard Explanation

At halftime, with both schools' bands numbers limited by travel expenses, the entertainment was a display of hurling by Leinster (eastern Ireland) and Munster (southwestern Ireland) junior squads. They weren't playing on a regulation-size field, and didn't have the goalposts for single-point scores, but it was intriguing and exciting for the Gaelic games noobs in our section. It also was, according to an Irishman we talked to after the game, "The most exciting part of the day..."

Halftime Hurling Demonstration

A Polite Request in English

The second half of the game really saw the action crank up. Both offenses were moving the ball, and a number of big plays on both sides brought the sizable crowd to its feet. UCF took a very late lead in the 4th quarter before Penn State drove the ball into field goal range on their hurry-up package. PSU took the 26-24 win on a field goal as the last second ticked off the clock. We stayed for the trophy presentation as the fireworks and blue and white confetti flew.

After the long trip home, we were just in time to catch the second half of the Iowa game as they beat Northern Iowa back in Iowa City. As a dedication to all those rooting for the Hawkeyes, I proudly displayed my black and gold pride all over Croke Park. We miss you and we miss football, but events like this certainly help.

Cory at Croker

New eBook Guide: Temple Bar Area Walk

Another short walking tour for the book! This one isn't as detailed as the Urban Park Scramble, mostly because the directions are easier and more flexible. It is meant to be a quick glance at some (but not all) Temple Bar highlights. The user is encouraged to diverge from the walk and enjoy the atmosphere of Temple Bar whenever possible.

Download the PDF here and check out the rest of the guides as they are finished on my Free Dublin eBook page here on the blog!

Thanks for the encouragement. As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged from the Contact page above.

“Temple Bar Area Walk” by Cory Hanson

Version August 27, 2014

Licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike 4.0 International License.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Beers in Brussels

After a busy morning walking around Brussels, we were ready to enjoy the real draw to Belgium, a staggering selection of fantastic beers.

Belgian Flight

We dropped into a bar recommended by Rick Steves near the center of Brussels and took a look at the impressive selection. The bar atmosphere was amazing, simple wooden tables, no televisions or platters of bar and grill food, just beer and bar snacks. 

We ordered a selection of different Belgian beers to start- a lambic, a kriek, a wheat ale, and a light ale. Lambics are traditionally brewed with wild yeast and bacteria, resulting in a slightly sour taste. Many real beer nuts go crazy for these beers, and they certainly have some interesting characteristics (the beers, not the beer nuts). More on lambics later. Kriek beers are straight sour lambics mixed with fruit juice for some balancing sweetness. Black cherry is a common choice. The citrusy unfiltered what beers that are becoming such a popular summer beer in America have been made here for a long time.

We decided on a straight lambic and a Delirium brand beer for our first round. Delirium is an internationally-exported beer made here in Belgium. In the States, it can fetch $10 or more a bottle. The lambic here wasn't particularly sour and was served slightly warm and flat (rather like a cask ale) in an insulated clay pitcher.

Delirium and Lambic

After a round of beers, a little snack was in order. We ordered another round of beers (a dark tripel for Cory this time) with a cold sausage. We saw a lot of these room-temperature sausages being served with mustard and were curious. It was much like a cold (but more flavorful and less slimy) American hot dog, and the mustard was spicy spicy spicy. Perfection!

Cory with Beer and Sausage

After all that beer it was time for... more beer! We had scheduled a visit to the Cantillon brewery that afternoon, and it looked like it was just  beyond our tourist map. We asked at the Tourist Info center and they assured us in brusk and hassled tones that it was right there, impossible to miss.

Well... we missed it. It wasn't on the road going off the map, but slightly off this main drag on an unmarked lane. They didn't mention that at the T.I. Oh, well. We found it and got our tickets for the tour.

Mash Mixer

The Cantillon brand has been here in Brussels since 1900 making traditional sour lambics... and boy are they sour lambics! We learned (even beer geeks can learn new things!) that many commercial lambics are blended to make them cheaper and more palatable to modern beer drinkers. So that's why my lambic at the bar wasn't very sour. I had no idea how sour beers could be, but I would learn soon enough!

Lambic beers ferment with a combination of wild yeast and bacteria- very much like natural sourdough bread. Because they rely on wild atmospheric yeasts/bacteria mixes, these beers get a terroir much like wine of coffee grown in particular regions. The yeast in the attic of the Cantillon brewery will be different than the yeast in Moscow, Buenos Aires, or San Francisco (also famous for wild yeast). 

To capture the wild yeast and bacteria in the air, the beer is cooled after boiling not in sealed chillers, but in large, open copper vats called coolships. The beer sits here, exposed to the air, dust, and everything else that carries the wonderful fermenting microbes.  

Cantillon Coolship

Once inoculated with fermenters, the beer is fermented for a long time. These wild bugs aren't bred for fast fermentation like commercial beer yeasts. After fermentation, they are aged in the presence of oxygen to round out the flavors.

Aging Barrels

Once aged, fresh, unfermented beer is mixed in with the fermented and aged beer as a carbonation primer. This fresh wort/aged beer mix goes into bottles where the same fermenting microbes go to work on the new sugars in the fresh wort to carbonate the bottle. This is very much like my beer bottling process- except that I use cheap sugar instead of freshly-mashed wort.

Cantillon Bottles

At the end of the self-guided tour, we were able to try the straight unaged lambic as a baseline, followed by one of two aged beers. The geuze is the standard old beer/fresh beer mixed and carbonated (conditioned) in the bottle. Kriek, as stated before, is aged beer mixed with fresh fruit juice for sweetness and conditioning. We got one of each.

Kriek and Geuze

Boy were these beers sour! Each sip was a powerful mouth punch. I can understand that this is an acquired taste- but sadly we have yet to acquire it. Clearly this was the good stuff of traditional sour lambic beers, as other visitors were buying cases of 750mL bottles to ship home. We counted it as a unique Belgian beer experience and continued on our way.

Later that night, we had another unique Belgian classic beer served in a unique glass. Kwak is a malty and beautiful dark ale that comes in bottles, but is traditionally served in round-bottomed glasses on a wooden stand. 

According to legend, the wooden glass holder was designed by Mr. Kwak for coach drivers to enjoy his beers on a bumpy horse-drawn carriage without spilling. Whatever the reason, they are still served like this today.

Kwak Beers and Glasses

We spent the rest of the evening walking around Brussels and getting ready for our day trip the next day. To Bruges we go!