Globe Corner Blogs

For those of us who can’t travel to Dublin every June 16th for the annual celebration of Bloomsday, a new biography of James Joyce has been released in time for your local celebration of the genius behind Ulysses. Gordon Bowker’s James Joyce introduces us to the life models that inspired Joyce’s most famous characters, including Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom.

On June 16, 1904 James Joyce asked his to-be wife Nora on their first romantic outing. He chose to set the entire work of Ulysses on that day, a decision which has been commemorated every year since 1954 on the streets of Dublin with public readings in the squares and re-enactments of the novel’s most famous scenes. Because Ulysses  is so geographically placed in the city, it is possible to follow the characters around each chapter, and many fans take guided tours through Dublin, tracing the route of Joyce’s infamous Leopold Bloom. For the brave and die-hard Joyce fans, a breakfast of organs starts off the celebrations. (Joyce’s character, Bloom, for whom the day is named, begins his June 16th with a tasty fried organ.)

I am one of those readers for whom a description of place, even a place name, is not enough. Once a work of literature has captured my imagination, I must travel to its source, to see the houses, streets, and landscapes that inspired my favorite scenes.  So in 2008 I flew to Dublin to participate in my first Bloomday celebration, and I’ve been marking the day ever since.

This year I had a quieter acknowledgement of Bloomsday. I didn’t even have it in me to walk to my local JP butcher, Meatland, to see if they had any organs on hand. Instead, I cooked up a “trinity” of three fried eggs, the breakfast Joyce’s other famous character, Stephen Dedalus, enjoys in the opening pages of Ulysses.  (I have had a long-standing fictional character-crush on Stephen for several years, and fried eggs are easier to stomach than fried kidney.) Then, after breakfast, as I do every year, I returned to the book itself for a private reading, and found myself suddenly transported without guidebook, map, ticket, or suitcase, onto the streets of Dublin.

Last week I had the opportunity to go to both my native hometown of Boise, Idaho and my adopted hometown of Seattle for a vacation. I had a lot of family to see, so I had to limit my time in Seattle to 36 hours, but there’s a lot one can do in 36 hours in Seattle! Recently, the NYT edited a book of the best of their feature “36 Hours” highlighting weekend jaunts across America. Of course, if you’ve never been to Seattle before, then Pike Place Market and the Space Needle are probably musts. But if you’ve lived in the Emerald City like me, and it’s been a while since you’ve been back, then your trip might look a little different.

So here ’tis, my 36 Hours in Seattle itinerary:

As soon as we landed, my husband and I were famished. Six hours on a plane with only crackers will do that. But we REFUSED to eat at the airport, and instead booked it for the nice new Link Light Rail, a high speed train that zips from Sea-Tac airport through South Seattle and deposits travelers downtown. They’re currently laying track to extend the rail to Capitol Hill and the University District, two hoppin’ neighborhoods with plenty to do. When that happens, the Link Light Rail will be a nascent T…one of the only ones out West. So, we hopped on the train for a mere $2.75, took the train downtown, hopped on the 43 bus that deposited us on Broadway Ave, the main street that runs through Capitol Hill, a funky neighborhood of awesome restaurants, lots of nightlife and a few great bookstores. It’s also where parts of Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug Perfume take place. From there it was but a mere block walk to Dick’s, the ultimate burger joint and a must for any Seattleite carnivore. Here there are basically four things on the menu and you can’t customize. So the line moves fast, you get your food immediately and it’s perfect every time. So magical.

An Irreverent Curiosity - by David Farley

First and foremost, David Farley is a (self-proclaimed) awesome dancer. Secondly, Farley is the author of An Irreverent Curiosity and has travel essays in Travelers’ Tales Best Travel Writing 2009, Travelers’ Tales Prague, and 30 Days in Italy–as well as in numerous magazines and newspapers. And wait, there’s more: he also writes for WorldHum.com. We had so much fun asking Rolf Potts some questions we decided to see if one of our other favorite travel writers would answer and even be up for our version of The Hemingway Challenge.  He was kind enough to respond.

1) Do you prefer aisle or window? (Please explain.)

Always the aisle. I like to move about the cabin whenever the spirit strikes me and if I’m sitting at the window, I’m stuck there, lest I want to pester the person sitting at the aisle (which I don’t). Extra special bonus lovely seat: the aisle seat in an exit row.

2) Have you ever pretended that you were Canadian while overseas?

Never. And I never will.

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