Out to Sea

We left Dublin shortly after midnight this morning and we're now making
headway south to the Mediterranean. I'm getting acclimated to my first
full day of work since the library was closed in port.

I spent my first 3 days walking the streets of Dublin as I had no long
stretch of time to do any trips outside the city. Yesterday, I stayed on
board to give a tour of the ship to Anne Kenney, the Dean of Libraries at
Cornell University, who was here for a conference and was interested in
how this unusual library works.

This being the 3rd time I've been to Dublin, I had already seen most of
the important sites in town. I spent most of my time shopping for
supplies I could not bring over on the airplane such as shampoo and shave
cream in larger than the 3oz. sizes allowed on a flight. Three ounces of
these products is hardly enough to last for a 6 week voyage.

One site I did go to this time was the old Jameson's whiskey distillery in
town. Although the working distillery moved to the country almost 40
years ago, the company keeps a presence in the City to celebrate their 250
year old history in Dublin. The tour was pricey (13.50 Euro) for what is
essentially advertising for their product, but it was enjoyable just the
same. The highlight of the tour was a complimentary sample of their fine
beverage which was unfortunate for me since I no longer imbibe. It didn't
go to waste. I was able to easily to dispose of my sample to one of my
companions who was glad to have a second.

I didn't spend all my time shopping for essentials. I indulged myself and
bought some fine (and extremely overpriced) Cuban cigars which still are
not allowed in the States. The cigar shop was called 'The Dependable Cigar
Emporium" on Grafton Street, the City's shopping mecca. The shop had a
real old world gentleman's club (the old meaning of the term, not a strip
club) feel to it. If any federal Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms agents are
reading this, the cigars will be long gone by the time we approach the
shores of the U.S.

Tomorrow will be the first Sunday at Sea of the 2nd cruise. If the
weather permits, they'll be a barbecue for all on the sun deck. Because
it is the beginning of the 2nd part of the term and classes just began
today, most cadets will have classes for at least part of the day. Next
week there should be no classes for our second Sunday which also happens
to be the 4th of July. Irregardless, I still have to work because the
library is open every day we are at sea, holiday or not. BOO hoo! My
rest comes when we're in port and that's still 12 days or so away.

OOPS! Got to go. We just hit a big wave and a whole shelf of books came
crashing down. I've got to put them all back. It was lucky that no one
was standing nearby. All in a days work in a ship's library.