June 18: Arrival in Dublin, from Spain. Loss of luggage!

Dear Friends and Relatives,

Well, it has been a checkered day, and I am beyond tired! I did not sleep well last night, as it was Friday night and people were in a party mood and loud outside our window.  So I finally got up right before 4:00 a.m., as the van with 12 of the group left for the Granada airport at 5:00 a.m.  Our flight from there left promptly at 7:00, and the flight was about an hour long.  Then, the rest of the crew, instead of deplaning and going left, like I did, turned right instead to meet their transatlantic flights.  By the way, we walked onto and off those Iberia planes on gangplanks, which gave me the same thrill it had given me when I first started traveling as a tiny tot.  The second flight also left on time, but that flight was about three hours long, and I occupied my time trying to read the Iberia magazine in Spanish, with more or less success.  

We arrived on time, but were waylaid by some tourists who were obviously illegal and for the longest time were not passed through, and I was getting antsier by the minute about meeting Paula on time, as she was supposed to land at 11:30, an hour after my arrival.  After passing through passport control, I was off to find my large piece of luggage.  All bags had been picked up, but mine did not show!  I tried to control myself and went to the baggage control center, to find that my bag had never even left Madrid and that it would arrive tomorrow morning, when they would deliver it to my hotel.  Having nothing more to be in charge of, I strode out of customs to the arrivals hall, where  Paula greeted me with a warm embrace and of course she volunteered to lend me all kind of toiletries and clothing to tide me over.  The only tricky thing tomorrow is that it will be delivered to this hotel, but I will actually be in Belfast touring the Titanic Museum, and then I will be visiting the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle the day after, so that I will not see my luggage until two days from now, when we stay in this hotel again.  Paula is lending me cremes, foundation, mascara, makeup remover, and all kinds of things to get me by, including a t-shirt to sleep in.  What a mess!!!!!

However, I decided not to go to pieces, even though we were too early to gain entrance in our room.  I did a quick washup, then repacked my bags and stored the second one in a locked room before leaving with Paula, as the time was getting close for us to enjoy High Tea at the  Shelbourne Hotel.  One of the must-do rituals in Dublin is the High Tea at the Shelbourne on St. Stephens Green.  The following items constituted the ritual:

1. Castletownbere "Turf" smoked salmon on house and brown bread;

2. Roasted Waterford ham, shallot, bound with a light mayonnaise on sourdough baguette;

3. Cherry vine tomato with goat cheese, pumpkin and turmeric bread;

4. Egg and chutney on brown bread;

5. Warm buttermilk scones, clotted cream and Shelbourne strawberry jam;

6. A mushroom mess, lemon curd, crème Chantilly, mixed berry compote, meringue;

7. The Pocket Watch salted caramel macaroon;

8. Queen of Hearts, vanilla yogurt mousse, raspberry and passion fruit center;

9. Kir Royal

And then of course the tea--Paula had a Chinese Yunan tea, while I had an apricot and almond tea that was so fine, and with a red flavor that reminded me of Pom juice and had a nice bite to it.  

Once we had completed tea, we were off to Trinity College to see its most compelling tourist attraction, the Book of Kells, kept in the 18th c. Old Library.  On the library's ground floor, beautiful pages are displayed, not just from the Book of Kells (about 800 AD), but also the Book of Armagh (807) and the Book of Darrow (675), presented by a fascinating exhibit, "Turning Darkness into Light," which sets Irish illuminated manuscripts in context, ranging from ogham, the earlier Celtic writing system of lines carved on standing stones, to Ethiopian books of devotion.  

The Book of Kells probably originated at the monastery of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, which had been founded by St. Columba.  After a Viking raid in 806, the Columbines moved to the monastery of Kells in County Meath.  Around 1653, the manuscript was moved to Dublin for safekeeping.  The book contains the four New Testament Gospels, and after the exhibit, we walked up and saw the now completed restoration of the Long Room of the library, built between 1712 and 1732.  About 200,000 of the oldest titles are stored in the Long Room.  A magnificent space.

We started to walk back, but due to mazes of streets were soon lost beyond belief, and my feet were really hurting me.  On the way, I stopped by a pharmacy for saline solution for my contacts and some icy balm for my sore foot.  We were so exhausted and had walked so much by now that I was getting testy, so refreshed ourselves by sharing a potato and leek soup, a BLT, and a lemon Fanta.  We finally found our way back home, got our room key, and now I am finishing this report to the strains of WRR and Ravel's "Afternoon of a Faun."  Good friend Paula has gone to Tesco to get me a toothbrush, and she has volunteered to lend me all kinds of things which I have need of as far as toiletries are concerned.  She really is quite wonderful about cheering me up when those little roadblocks appear!

Off to Belfast and the Titanic Museum tomorrow!  Hopefully, by the time I get back to Dublin day after tomorrow (in the evening), my suitcase will be here!  Let's hope so, as things will get a lot more complicated if it does not appear!  As ever, Sylvia / Mami

Sylvia M. Venable, PhD

Instructor, German

St. John's Episcopal School

Dallas, Texas