Not sure if it's the rain or being a female travelling on her own

---

Slept pretty late today. Too many late nights I guess. But still lots of time to check out Dublin, in the rain.

It rained here (BC style) all day, and then it poured after dinner. Can't remember being this wet. Really limited what you wanted to do around town.

As I mentioned before, it's very hard to get information about what to do, or how to do it. Finally at 5:00 today, I came across a mall, which had tourist maps, that was the clearest map I'd seen, and listed some things I hadn't even heard of before. Maybe I'll have time on Friday, before I catch a bus out to Belfast, to see some of these things, and try and get some photos taken.

I did spend a few hours at the Dublin Castle, which is pretty neat. If nothing else, for the history alone. It is actually built on an old Viking ruin, which you can go down underneath the building to see the excavation that took place in the late 80's.

Had a long chat with the hotel concierge about some of the issues I've run into (people not giving me back my change, over charging, not taking my visa), and he said it was because I was a female on my own. Had kind of figured that already, and it has left a bit of a sour taste about Dublin for me. I have booked a day trip to Blarney, Cork and Queenstown tomorrow, so maybe just getting out of the city for the day will be good.

Beautiful garden not far from city centre (St. Stephens). Walked around it a bit, but was too wet to really explore. Grafton Street (which is the main shopping drag) was busy all the time, but it's really all the same stores you would see anywhere else. Lots of touristy shops interspersed.

Decided to have a pub dinner tonight. Bad choice (at a bad location). Ordered the Irish Stew. Took almost an hour to get, they never came back for my drink order, and when I finally got it, while it was hot, was tasteless, and 98% gravy. €10 later, and only about 1/6 of my meal ordered, I packed it up and went back to the hotel. Just another thing on my list of why Dublin is not rating high on my cities to come back to.

Couple of interesting things I've noted about Dublin
- 1/4 of the women appear to be pregnant - maybe trying to self-populate after all the years of immigration?
- many people are on the "european" style of crutches (metal style that hook on your arms)
- a lot of people begging, including little children - do they not have truant officers here?
- more Irish people working here than Brits working in London. Apparently Polish is the 2nd language spoken here, which appears to be the same in London.
- the (young) Irish are typically not over-weight. Was shocked to see how many of the Brits were. And of course, compared to North America, they all look anemic.
- more expensive to stay and eat here than London - that is if you are trying to stay in the core of Dublin.

Must now turn my attitude (which is quickly turning bad), into a positive one, otherwise you know what ends up happening. Don't want to see my good luck streak turning so soon!

Till later!

---

Comments

[Sharon Howe]

Greetings from Sharon
Hi Kim Finally had a moment to check in and see how your trip is going. Interesting stuff about Dublin. Unfortunately there's the downside of travelling abroad along with some good things. Hopefully there's more good than bad. It's raining here today and absolutely miserable. There's our summer!! I haven't even gotten to my pots. I have had a "master gardener" come and look at the backyard. She's getting back to me this week with some ideas and names of plants I should plant to help soften the look in the back yard.Talk to you soon. Take Care

[John Kelleher]

Welcome to Ireland
Hi, loved reading your report on Ireland. I'm a native of Sligo (NW) and read your comments with interest. You're right when you say you're here at an interesting time for Ireland. Peace has finally broke out (politically and militarily) between North and South. The political wing of the Northern Ireland terrorist (Sinn Fein) have just agreed to share power with the Unionists (those wishing to keep Northern Ireland part of the UK). I live just south of the border and regularly go into the North for shopping etc. - they're very friendly and most everyone doesn't concern themselves with what religion they are (most Unionist are Protestant whilst Irish are Catholic). One or two other things. Actually the birth-rate has fallen a lot in Ireland. Government almost forces women back into the workforce since we're the hottest economy in Europe (for the last 10 years). For example, my wife minds our 3 kids and pays €6000+ extra in taxes for the privilege. No joking. In the 80s most young folk emigrated whereas now there are >250K Poles in the country having recently joined the EU. We're now the richest country in Europe (unbelievable even 15 years ago). Many Irish people have second homes, especially on the continent. A simple starter home in Ireland (<950sq. ft) costs over €400K in Dublin and €330 elsewhere. Quality of life has suffered but for now many are happy to be rich ;( I hope you enjoy your trip to Ireland and say how you think we stack up to other cultures you've come across. We pride ourselves on being welcoming and I'd hate to think that's changed as I've grown up. Still we're much busier nowadays that before - apparently we work longer and harder than most in Europe. Slan (goodbye in Irish), and go n-eirigh an bothar leat (good journey), John K.