After a few long days, we were ready for a slow and easy day... When we woke up in the morning, we set to check out a work of art called the Famine Memorial. It was made to memorialize the pain and suffering and starvation during the Potato Famine (aka The Great Famine/Hunger).
During this time period of the mid-1800s, about 1,000,000 Irish died, which represented 20-25% of the population. Another 1-2 million fled the country in search of opportunity or food. Some were lucky enough to be able to afford passage on ships who would set sail for a better future, called 'coffin ships.' They were called that due to the hardship faced in the tight, unsanitary conditions, which were perfect for the spread of disease. The journey was rough- often well over 30-40 days straight in tiny wooden ships, where passengers were crammed in by the hundreds, and rarely allowed on deck. Although fares were about $30 on average, it was still enormously profitable for shipping companies, who could cram over 1,000 passengers on some ships, and earn tens of thousands of dollars of profits.
The memorial was actually less than a 1/4 mile from our hotel, and we'd walked right past it more than a few times... I wasn't sure how we missed it, but I think its because we were always focused on the water to the left vs. the memorial to our right. In any case, it definitely leaves a mark to see the haunting looks on the people's faces.
Our second destination was another mile and change away, so we walked through the shopping district again and bought a few odd things- which included a few rapid COVID tests. They're available on every block there, and are very inexpensive. I read somewhere that whereas the US focused it's financial resources on developing a vaccine, other countries focused equally on the vaccine AND on developing testing. As a result, there are many companies offering very inexpensive tests. We found them as low as 3 for 10 euro!
When we got to King's Inn park, we found we were locked out from the access entry point...so we had to circle ALLLLLL the way around it to see if there was another open gate. (Spoiler alert- there was not.)
Like any good hoodlum, I was circling the park looking for any vulnerable areas of possible penetration, but there were none! And my big fat skull was too thick to slip through the fencing, so were a bit dejected that we wouldn't be able to see it. And then miracle of miracles...we saw the tree and bench, right next to a locked gate on the outer perimeter of the park! We took this photo through the gate, and although we did not get to sit on it, this was good enough!
The tree was planted sometime in the later 1800s, and has slowly started to grow on/over the cast iron bench placed next to it.
It was quite a walk back to the hotel, but we wanted to get back by 2:30pm or so, as Rich had front row tickets to watch a musical he's wanted to see for years- The Book of Mormon!
The seat was much more affordable than seeing it in a major US city, and he had a great time (so did Ryan and I...we nibbled on Skittles and watched the end of Titanic...also an evening of culture and culinary delights).
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