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Welcome to the “Georgia Wasp…”

This blog is modeled on the Carolina Israelite. That was an old-time newspaper – more like a personal newsletter – written and published by Harry Golden. Back in the 1950s, people called Harry a “voice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.” (For his work on the Israelite.)

That’s now my goal as well. To be a “voice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.”

For more on the blog-name connection, see the notes below.

In the meantime:

June 14, 2026 – The last post talked about my recent two-weeks-in-May visit to Ireland, and how it “kind of worked out as planned.” That included not being able – because of high winds – to clamber to the top of Skellig Michael, “a rocky island off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland, with a Gaelic monastery and a World Heritage Site.” On the plus side, we were able to end the trip with the planned visit to “the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin on our last night.”

So much for the summary. Now for some nuts-and-bolts, day by day details on how the trip really turned out. For starters, the planned 7:50 p.m. flight from Atlanta got delayed a good 45 minutes. And as usual on such a red-eye I got little or no sleep. Leading to my partner’s note:

On that day of arrival, May 7, after finally getting in touch with our taxi driver – a bit of a mix-up at the airport – we made it to Clink i Lár and relaxed with tea and a scone as we waited for check-in time. After a bit of jet-lag recovery we took mass transit to the Jameson Brewery.

Which is being interpreted: For the three nights in Dublin we stayed at Clink i Lár, “35 Abbey Street Upper.” One site added, “True to its name – which means ‘in the middle’ in Irish – Clink i Lár puts you exactly where you want to be. Located on historic Abbey Street, our brand-new hostel is the ultimate base for exploring Dublin.” And an aside: Waiting to check in, my partner took a picture of me, standing, bent over, elbows on the horizontal bars in the picture above, chin cradled in hands, looking for all the world like the tired, jet-lagged traveler I was.

Meaning that despite the aggravating taxi mix-up at the Dublin airport we still got to the hotel an hour before check-in. But the lounge chairs at the back of the top picture were very comfortable, as we sat and enjoyed our tea and shared a scone. Later that afternoon I took a walk the three minutes or so over to the Ha’penny Bridge and across the River Liffy, then left along the river past the O’Connell Bridge, where D’Olier Street magically becomes Westmoreland Street. (Like back home in Georgia, where they routinely changed street names at every intersection, mostly to “fool the Yankees during the late War of Northern Aggression.”)

But seriously, late that afternoon – after “jet-lag recovery” – we used our TFI Leap Card for the seven-minute ride over to the Old Jameson Distillery Tour on Bow Street. The tour “takes you through a re-created distillery which is visited by over 350,000 people a year.” One site noted that on the tour you learn “about the ‘Grain to Glass’ process on a fully guided 45-min English or French tour. Discover the story gallery and soak up the atmosphere in the heart of Smithfield.”

Rick Steves said the tour “feels corporate, overpriced, and put together for tourists.” But the 2026 DK Ireland book said the first-rate tours of the beautifully restored building offer “a worthy monument to the world’s leading producer of Irish whiskey.” Me? I liked it, but that may have be because at the Grog Bar you each get a sample glass. I got the Jameson with ice, while my partner got Jameson Lemonade, and they both tasted pretty good after a red-eye flight followed by long day getting adjusted. (My partner rarely drinks so I had to finish off the Lemonade.)

For some reason I didn’t write a lot about what we did next day, May 8. My partner noted that for breakfast we walked a couple of streets down and had breakfast at the Lemon Jelly Café, “a fresh, young café located on Millennium Walkway in Dublin City centre.” And that we walked and took a bus to Trinity College, then did the same getting to the National Museum of Ireland.

For myself, I noted that we had lunch at KC Peaches – 37 St Stephen’s Green. (Offering a “wide range of hot foods, healthy salads and tasty treats,” free of “all the additives, preservatives and chemicals you find in so much of the food produced today.” And that we shared a Peaches (Chicken) Caesar Salad, more than enough for two.) And that the service was fast. As I posted on Facebook, “You can measure the fastness of the service by the high level left in the pint o’ Peroni.” (A beer I acquired a taste for when hiking Italy’s Way of St. Francis in 2022.) The point being, I could only take a couple of swallows before the healthy salad arrived.

And noted that the great lunch came after we visited the National Museum of Ireland – the Archaeology one on Kildare Street – by way of Trinity College. (Their Book of Kells exhibit was booked up, meaning “maybe tomorrow?”) And before visiting the Chester Beatty library and museum, on the grounds of Dublin Castle. Established in 1953, it houses the collections of mining magnate Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. (It opened in February 2000 and was named European Museum of the Year in 2002.) Another place well worth a visit. Topping off the day we dined at the Gin Palace Dublin, Dublin, said to be a minute’s walk from Clink i Lár. They advertise, “After a long walk around Ha’penny Bridge, come to this bar and have a rest here.” And we did.

Next morning, May 9, started with an Eggs Benedict breakfast at Jay Kay’s cafe, across the alley from Lemon Jelly. The meal featured lots of crispy bacon and Irish butter for the toast. (Not ice cold and brick hard like at home. Smooth spreading.) “I never eat like this at home!” We again walked and bus-rode to get to the Book of Kells exhibit. My partner went in while I hiked over to Merrion Square “to see the world-famous statue of Oscar Wilde, lolling contentedly on a high granite rock.” (I wrote, “They celebrate him now, after he got convicted and sentenced to three years hard labor,” after which he wrote things like “De Profundus,” based on Psalm 130.)

After that I hiked across the Sean O’Casey bridge to past the Irish Emigration Museum, to the cafe where I had a real Irish Coffee, with Jameson’s. (It was a windy, blustery day.) Then hiked back to Trinity College, met up with my partner and went over to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. I noted a couple of things, first that hey’re part of the Anglican Communion, and second that some guy named Guinness funded a massive renovation of place when it was falling-apart:

Throughout the centuries episodes of flooding, bad weather and political unrest have taken their toll on St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Much of today’s Cathedral is the result of a major restoration between 1860-65. This was funded by the Guinness family, best known for their famous Irish stout.

Which to me provided an excellent reason for that projected visit to the Guinness Storehouse, and even – between now and that last full day in Ireland – maybe order a pint or two myself?

And to top the day off (after doing three days laundry), we went to dinner at TP Smith’s Bar And Restaurant, a two-minute walk down Abbey Street Upper from “the Clink.” (Where “European and Irish cuisine blend seamlessly with a cozy atmosphere and excellent service.”) We shared an order of “authentic Irish Beef Stew, steeped in Guinness. Very tasty.”

Thus ended our last night in Dublin, “before heading south to the REAL Ireland.”

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The upper image is courtesy of the Clink i Lár website.

Rick Steves on Jameson. Page 108 in his 2024 Edition guide to Ireland. The DK quote is at page 100.

The lower image is courtesy of The Oscar Wilde Monument: Celebrating Ireland’s Literary Genius.

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Re:  The Israelite.  Harry Golden grew up in the Jewish ghetto of New York City, but eventually moved to Charlotte, North Carolina.  Thus the “Carolina Israelite.”  I on the other hand am a “classic 74-year-old “WASP” – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant – and live in north Georgia.  Thus the “Georgia Wasp.”    

Anyway, in North Carolina Harry wrote and published the “israelite” from the 1940s through the 1960s.  He was a “cigar-smoking, bourbon-loving raconteur.”  (He told good stories.) That also means if he was around today, the “Israelite would be done as a blog.”  But what made Harry special was his positive outlook on life.  As he got older but didn’t turn sour, like many do today.  He still got a kick out of life.  For more on the blog-name connection, see “Wasp” and/or The blog.

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Other notes provided by my partner included that she “put on a brace at Book of Kells experience … bad handicapped access.” And that after the Cathedral visit she put her feet up while I got a beer in hotel bar, while attending to the laundry.