I pass by Davy Byrne's pub
And think, “I must go there for a pint.”
It’s just off Grafton Street, ye know.
And there’s the Ormond Hotel (Sirens chapter)
But I must get on the M-50 to Dun Laoghaire.
It’s now 9:30.
I get off the M-50 and drive along the highway,
I go through a town and find another highway.
Water is to my left. So beautiful!
I take a picture and miss my turn.
So I ask for directions from a lovely garda.
“Oh, I know exactly where ye want to go.
I used to pick mushrooms there
when I was a boy. Shame what they’ve done
To that land now. A real shame. It’ll take you
No time at all to get there.”
I follow his directions to the T…
And end up at the Martello tower.
The Coast Guard tell me I’m almost there.
10:30 I missed the first panels.
I drive around Sandycove
And around Sandycove
And around Sandycove
And around.... well, you get the picture...
I see cliffs in the distance. I want to jump….
End up back in City Center Dublin!
I pass the Gardai station again
in Dun Laoghaire... and keep driving
Eventually,
I see a little red pub: Dunpheys Pub
1:00 (I’ve missed Lunch.)
I beg them to tell me where IADT is.
“I’ve heard there’s a blue, boxy building,” sigh I.
One kind gentleman says to another,
“Oh, I know where that is.
Tom’s son goes there.
Here, let me draw you a map.”
He proceeds to draw each traffic light,
And tells me which lane to drive in.
I make it! Just in time for the 2:00 panel.
When I return to my hotel room,
An email awaits me from my friend,
“Jeanne,” he says, “You MUST go to
Davy Byrne’s pub, the Martello Tower,
(Opening Ithaca chapter-
where Buck Mulligan descends the stairwell.)
Sandycove, the cliffs of Killiney…
That’s real Joyce country.”
I smile as my keys click the reply…
Been there, done that.
© Jeanne I. Lakatos
