Loving Dublin

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I'm in Dublin, back where they speak english and drive on the same side of the road as at home, novel really.

Now Dublin is a city that appears to have it's act together, good public transport, easy to get from the airport to the city and enough history to go around.

Spent the first night after arriving at the hostel, (really nice actually, conveniently located with all the mod cons expected) at the theatre seeing a play about life in the estates of england in the 60's called 'Saved'. It got rave reviews and was quite enjoyable, although a bit too confronting in the last scene before the interval. But that is the pivotal scene of the whole play, not to mention it has had a chequered history so to speak in the forty years it's been around for. It started out being banned and since then has been seldom seen in English so it was somewhat special to be able to see an English production of it. Plus it was great to take in a bit of 'culture'.

After a day of tripping around the sites, the gaol and the Jameson distillery (bit of a scam that one as they don't distil there anymore, but a nice drop anyway) I got to catch up with a couple I met on the Anzac tour. They took me to an Aussie bar, go figure I'm in Ireland and I end up in an Aussie bar watching Ice hockey with a bunch of Fins! oh and Finland won against the US in the world cup so they are through to the next round.

The National Gallery was one of those places you go to to escape the cold and dampness of Dublin and are pleasantly suprised. While the layout is a bit convoluted, due to a few add-ons over the years, the gallery itself was well worth the free admission. The added bonus was a collection of Northern Ireland works of art currently on holiday in Dublin due to some extensive renos taking place at the Ulster gallery in Belfast. Of course the main thing to see while in Ireland is the book of Kells at Trinity. This little old book has been around for a while, since around 800AD and is kept in the dark at the Trinity College old library.

Now the Irish love their food, and it's safe to say that I've been making a guts of myself. Lamb shanks and mash, sausages and mash, all big serves and all impressive. Bring on Spain I say for some lighter food. Oh and the weather in Dublin I've had 16 seasons in the one day, sun, rain, cold, sun, rain, still cold, but I'm absolutely loving Dublin and could quite easily add it to the list of places to revisit.

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Photos

Where the gallows once hung
The two white bricks above the balcony are where the gallows once were. This was back when they had public hangings, before camera phones and youtube.

Oscar Wilde statue
The plinth had a selection of his quotes on it.

Temple Bar
Just about every bucks night, hens night and 50th birthday party in all of Ireland and probably the rest of Europe is held here

Comments

[Stecarey]

Good stuff !
Good stuff , our wee Gary ! Glad ya liked Dublin !!