On this day, June 16th, Ulysses written by James Joyce, takes place. Whilst celebrating Bloomsday with fellow Irish people and enjoying ice cream, we went into the Martello Tower where the events in episode one take place. It also happens to be a museum. It was very interesting to see the room were Joyce lived for 6 days in his 20’s. I also enjoyed the live reading, which took place on the top of the tower. It was a very fun experience for me to actually be in the exact same area where episode one took place. Seeing the children today splash around in the bathing area (the open swimming hole) allowed me to imagine exactly what the setting looked like in the book. I found it every helpful to be present in the same setting as the chapter.

After the museum tour, a couple of us walked along the bay/beach area and were able to picture life in 1902. This was just too much fun to imagine what life was like back then. As we were walking, we became extremely giddy and decided on impulse to kick off our shoes, roll our pants up and dip our feet into the icy blue water. I don’t think I could ever swim in it without heat similar to Atlanta’s. A windy day swim is a big pass for me, I couldn’t just take a dip especially during weather similar to today’s.

On a side note: it was also very precious to see families ranging from elderly to small toddlers dressed up in their Bloomsday attire which is basically clothing from the early 1900’s. SO. CUTE.