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Published: August 24th 2008
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Destination Dublin
Full credit to Cathay, who checked our bags through three of the busiest airports in the world and still got to Dublin on time and in one piece! So after scores of planes, trains, buses, tuk tuks, taxis, motorbikes, boats and plenty of long walks later, we have arrived in Dublin. Its certainly a bit of a shift, both in terms of weather (32 degrees in Bangkok down to 12 in Dublin) and culture - and no, its not just Irish folk here, its an incredible mix of Africans, Eastern europeans, working class Irish and upper class Irish ... quite the melting pot
The flights (three of them ... Bangkok- Hong Kong, Hong Kong-Heathrow, Heathrow - Dublin) were fairly uneventful, apart from Andrew pulling a back muscle that it seems is crucial to moving in your seat - one hour into a 13 hour flight! Only that, and the horrendous rat maze that is Heathrow, were low points, otherwise, we were fairly happy.
To our great pleasure, the border official we encountered in Ireland (we had to explain a fairly complicated situation - which doesn't lend itself to an easy border experience), was one of the friendliest ever. He insisted that Kelly should have married an Irishman and offered to hold me back at the border while she met some 'nice lads'. Fortunately, after about 20 minutes
of taking the mickey out of Andrew, we were through and relieved to see our bags again - a minor miracle. With bags in hand, we finally headed out of the airport and into Dublin proper.
As I have already mentioned, despite being summer here, the first day was constant driving rain and low double-digit temperatures. We were not quite prepared for this.... so fortunately the B&B we were at (staffed by the lovely Patrick who was just the perfect Irish host) had an umbrella for lending.
We've walked around, gotten wet, applied for a bunch of jobs (Kelly has even had an interview already!) and found a flat for the first month (On Capel St in town with two nice Croation lads, if anyone is interested). We are learning about the quirks of Dublin, like red traffic lights that still show a green arrow straight ahead, the complete lack of eaves on stores- despite the awful weather, the fact that almost nothing is open on a sunday morning, and where to get the cheap eats from.
The city itself is beautiful and we've had enough time to wander around at least the central part. its a
The bell tower at Trinity
The heads above the arches are apparently Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and... someone else (note the lack of any classics training here ..) very walkable place (probably 20 mins across the dead flat CBD) and the buses and trains seem fairly reasonable for getting around (and all the buses are double deckers which is fairly cool). A good proportion of the streets are cobblestones and the majority of the buildings are restored solid stone or else new buildings that integrate very nicely.
Major sites so far:
- The Liffey - the river running through the centre of town is fairly unavoidable but not terribly exciting. The bridges are nice, if you're into that sort of thing
- Trinity college - the main uni in town. Somewhat of a weird thing this, being a strongly english university. regardless, full of great history and a tour guide with both a gift for speaking fast and cracking jokes that went straight over the head of the bulk of the tourists - classic. Also, the location of a beautiful old library and the book of Kells .. basically a very old bible with stunning illustrations ... beautiful.
- Grafton street - no, we didn't pop back to NZ, this is the main walking street full of buskers and shops. Really nice, and part of the
Sharps on the Liffey
About 100m down the road from our flat .. nice regular walk to recruiting agents who favour this part of town.
- St Stephens green - a lovely little park at the end of grafton st. Not much to it but plenty of history I'm told - including Bono and The Edge grazing some sheep here once (long story behind that)
- Merrion square - again, a nice little park in the middle of some very expensive real estate
Phoenix park - huge (like, unbelievably large) park to the west of the city centre where the president lives and everyone rides their bikes (there is also a zoo here and apparently deer that roam free .. cool). Too big to explore in one day, we've got plenty more to see here.
- And yesterday, we went down to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Done Leerey - go figure) to see a world festival culture. Some great indian drumming, reggae and classic irish folk music was only slightly dampened by the cold, driving rain! Also, this is the other harbour for dublin and where a lot of the yachting is based.
Not too bad for a week that we also managed to cram a bunch of recruiter and job interviews into (Kelly
One day soon
Once we get those euro dollars in hand, this is where we shall be headed! (Photo in the temple bar - basically more pubs than you can shake a stick at in close quarters) is winning so far with an interview count of 5 .. Andrew's on 2 but working hard on catching up!) as well as finding a flat and taking receipt of about 40 kgs of additional clothes in!
Its all fairly hard work and, to be honest, a little overwhelming at times, this whole 'go it alone in another city' thing, but it all seems to be going well so far, so that is good. At the end of this month (assuming we find jobs!) we'll be finding a long term flat at which point - bring on the visitors!
So that's it for this blog, we'll put it into hibernation for now and send out update emails every month or so instead (you should get one, if not, just email us or leave a comment on the blog and we'll add your email address). Hopefully, in a couple of years or so, there'll be call to ressurect the blog for another trip on the way home .. we're definitely sketching out plans.
Anyway, be great to hear from you and even better to see ya. hope you enjoyed the blog and stay in touch!
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Anna Cushen
non-member comment
oooohhhhh
ooooohhhhhh i'm sad that you are not going to be writing your blog any more!!!!!!!!!! it makes me happy when i am stuck at work in my crappy desk to hear about your exciting adventures and know that if i can just hold on a little longer, a little longer i tell ya, then it will be my turn! will look forward to your emails though. hope the job hunt goes well, i'm sure it will, you are both stellar people and i'm sure you will get stellar jobs to match. Mwa Mwa. Love Anna.