My Day at Croker!

I decided to make most of my Tuesday off, so after an early rise, I got the 15b into town. I walked the 20 or so minute walk towards Croke Park and the museum entrance at the Cusack Stand. I collected my ticket for the 11 am stadium tour and booked my Skyline tour for 12.30. I managed to get the stadium tour for half price, 6 euro by booking online, as Croke Park had a special offer on for mid-term, also I had a discount code for the Skyline which gave me 20% off, costing me 20 instead of 25 euro. As I arrived a tad early, I had enough time to explore the Museum which was included in the cost of both tickets.

As you enter the museum on the ground floor, the first thing you observe is a visual backdrop depicting the games within the GAA. The museum itself traces the birth, growth and development of the GAA in Ireland and abroad and its role in the national movement and culture revival. The museum hosts temporary exhibitions, with the current one providing an overview of the history and development of the association overseas from 1884 to present day. The exhibition covers the GAA worldwide, focusing mainly its development in Britain and America. This exhibition includes artefacts from within GAA Archive and externally in particular clubs overseas. Since the completion of the museum refurbishment, the museum now houses Interactive zones, Hall of Fame, trophy display case and all new exhibition galleries.  

So just before 11 am, everyone gathered in the waiting area, and we were brought into watch a 20 minute short film, A Sunday in September. The film highlighted, the behind the scenes work that goes into getting the stadium ready, the morning of an All Ireland Final. The film was commissioned to celebrated the association 125 th anniversary in 2009. After the film was finished, we all embarked on the tour of the stadium.

The tour  commences with a visit to the Players Lounge, which has a Waterford Crystal Chandelier composed of 35 Gaelic football shaped crystals which representing the 32 countries and 70 sliotar shaped ones which signifies the 70 minutes of a game. From here, we walked to a Senior players dressing room which on the walls had the jerseys of the 32 counties also the ones of London and New York. In particular position, were the 4 senior teams that won the All Ireland in Hurling (Clare), Gaelic Football (Dublin), Ladies Football (Cork) and Camogie (Galway).   

We exited the dressing room via the players tunnel with a roaring crowd playing on the loudspeaker, which I feel was a nice touch. Our tour guide, gave us a brief history of the stadium, how the stands got their names, the significance of Hill 16, she even joked about the substitutes and the seats they get. It seems their seats are of the same caliber of Formula 1 cars. We walked up the Hogan stand towards the podium, where the captain of the winning team collects the trophy, like Patrick Donnellan of Clare, did with the Liam McCarthy, just 4 weeks ago. We got to take a seat in the VIP area where the dignitaries seat during the game. It was here, our guide told us that with the capacity of 82,300, it makes Croke Park the 4th largest stadium in Europe. We strolled up to level 6 of the stadium, where the 87 corporate boxes are located. We were shown one, in our case, was the Opel box which holds 35 people. The average corporate box costs approximately a half million euro for ten years. Finally the tour concludes with a visit to the Michael O'Hehir Media Centre on the top tier of the stadium in the Hogan Stand. We made our way back to the Museum entrance in the Cusack stand, were I had to dashed for my next experience of the day, the Skyline.As the stadium tour overran, luckily enough, I had pre-arranged that 12.30 tour would wait for me.

After a brief safety demonstration, we ascend to a walking 44 metres above the ground on the Hogan stand, which is approximately 17 storeys high. The skyline stops at 5 viewing platforms along the stadium's 0.6m rooftop walkway. Each stop gives panoramic views of Dublin and see key landmarks.

The audio guides provided include historical information, and quirky anecdotes about Dublin's famous locations.

 The 5 platforms are located at key areas, such as the middle of the Hogan, Davin and Cusack stands and the corners of Hogan/Davin, and Davin/Cusack. While we were at the 3 viewing platform, we got the chance to walk onto a separate walkway, specially designed that's suspended above Croke Park Pitch. This view of Croke Park gives a bird's eye view of the field from a completely different angle. We made our way back to the Minor dressing room in the Cusack Stand, to collect our stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and day in Croke Park. 

After my experience in Croke Park, I strolled back towards town, deciding to go towards IFSC. Walking along the quays, I stopped to admire the Samuel Beckett bridge and the Jeanie Johnston which is a replica of a three masted barque that was originally built in Canada. The original was famous, despite the number of passengers and the long voyage from Ireland to North America, no crew or passenger lives were ever lost on board. Which was unheard of, especially during those famine voyages. The replica performs number of functions such as an ocean going sail training vessel and in port coverts into living history museum on 19th century emigration. I made my way along the quays crossing at the Custom House towards College Green, when it started to pour, so I dashed in for coffee to stay dry.

 Where I decided what to do with the rest of my day around town. So once the rain had eased up slightly, decided to make a visit to the Chester Beatty library. On route I got distracted by the Revenue Museum, located in the crypt of the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle. In all my years, I never knew this particular museum existed. Admission is free and open weekdays. Among the exhibits are the first set of Exchequer Returns for Saorstát Éireann, a poitin still, stamp duty machine, and examples of counterfeit goods seized at ports and airports. The library is literally a minute walk from this museum. The library is the only museum in Ireland to win European Museum of the Year in 2002. The library houses rich collection of artistic treasures and religions of the world. In the library's diversity, the collection captures much of human creative expression from about 2700 BC to the present day. The admission is free and has a nice roof garden with a view of Dublin Castle in the background.

After my visit here, I made the short walk to City Hall, which is a civic building of Georgian architecture, built between 1769 and 1779 by the Royal Exchange. The circular entrance hall, or Rotunda with its spacious dome, is supported by 12 columns. The Rotunda is open to the public, free of charge, and showcases the Georgian architecture for which Dublin is renowned. 

After my visit, decided to revisit nearby buildings, starting with Christ Church. After Niamh and I doing the Ghost Bus tour and our visit to the crypt at Christ Church, thought it was time, to go explore the cathedral and its grounds. It's the elder of Dublin's two Medieval cathedrals, the other being St Patrick's Cathedral, which was my next port of call. Last Saturday when we visited St Patrick's for Dracula in the Cathedral as part of the Bram Stoker Festival, the nearby St Patrick's park was closed.

The park was originally developed by Lord Iveagh 1897, and completed by 1904. He continued to maintain the park for number of year under a join arrangement with Dublin Corporation who took full responsibility in the 1920's. In 1988 a Literary Parade highlighting Irish writers such as Swift, Wilde, Joyce and Yeats and the Liberty Bell Sculpture were added to the park. 

After my calm and tranquil break in the park, I strolled towards Marsh's Library, which is adjacent to the cathedral and is Ireland oldest public library, built in 1701 to the order of Archbishop Narcissus Marsh who is buried just behind the library, in the grounds of the cathedral. The library has a collection of over 25,000 books and 300 manuscripts. The library is on the last 18th century buildings in Ireland still used for its original purpose. It's open to the public with 3 euro admission. 

With the day's activities catching up with me, my last excursion of the day was to the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, located on Whitefriar Street, to visit the relics of St. Valentine. Pope Gregory XVI in 1836 bestowed the relics as a token of esteem to an Irish Carmelite, John Spratt who was visiting Rome and was asked to preach at the famous Jesuit Church in the city, the Gesu. The shrine consists of a wooden casket, on top bears the papal coat of arms of Gregory XVI along with two large gold plates, between which is the inscription: This shrine contains the sacred body of Saint Valentinus the Martyr, together with a small vessel tinged with his blood. This shrine is located to the right side of the church and is visited throughout the year. 

Although after all the days excursions and activities, I was completely wrecked, it was still worth it.