Top of the mornin´ to ya!

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In Dublin's fair city where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow,through streets broad and narrow,
Crying cockles and mussels alive,alive-oh.

Sitting low on the edge of the River Liffey, Dublin is a marvellously contradictory and vibrant place, the locals are more sophisticated than you might have expected, but can be small-town friendly too, and the city's tense history and rebellious nature, hidden by the inevitable accoutrements of modernity and affluence, appear when you least expect it.

We loved it!

After spending a night in the not so glamorous Hayes (just outside of Heathrow) we headed over to sunny (and it was for 4 whole days ... amazing feat) Ireland first thing in the morning with Kerry´s parents Norma (it was Norma´s birthday on the Wednesday!) and Bill. Our base camp was to be in the heart of Dublin city in George Bernard Shaw´s previous residence, the charming (and a little too noisy) Harcourt hotel.

Highlights from Dublin were:

(in no particular order)

1. Dublin itself. Just such a welcoming city.
2. Trinity College and the The Book of Kells, an ornately illustrated manuscript, produced by Celtic monks around AD 800. It is one of the most lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive the mediaeval period.
3. Dublin Castle and viking exhibit at Christ Church / Dublinia.
4. Visiting my Granda Mick.
5. Visiting my Grandmother´s grave and showing Kerry our old house in Harold´s Cross.
6. Dublin taxi drivers. Some of the best tour guides and guaranteed craic.
7. The amazing Guinness storehouse / exhibition / museum, with a complimentary point at the end.
8. Talking of the drink. Irish stout deserves a mention.
9. Pub grub: Irish stews, oysters and the Harcourt hotel burger!
10. Kilmainham Gaol, one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Europe, covering some of the most heroic and tragic events in Ireland's emergence as a modern nation from 1780s to the 1920s.
11. The National Modern Art gallery (in the now refurbished Dublin Hospital).
12. O´Connell street, supposedly Europe´s widest street, and the pedestrianized Grafton street.
13. Lunch with Anne and Pauline, old friends of my Mother.
14. The city parks, especially St. Stephen´s Green.

To end this blog, an Irish drinking toast:

May your glass be ever full,
May the roof over your head be always strong,
And may you be in heaven Half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Adios.

Next up England.

Kai and Kerry.

PS Big shout out to Monte crew and the Sydney Kids crew.

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Comments

[Geaster]

Nice photos
Good to see you are keeping up the artistic photography Kai. Sounds like you are having a wonderfull time. Say hello to olde London Town for me when you get there. Geaster

[scratchie]

You are a machine
Kaistar Thats a fantastic bloggage> and Mr Kerry is looking fantastic. You have a future in photograhpy, send more as the journey grows

[Bel]

Can't wait for the next instalment. hi from the Sydney kids crew. Bel x

[A.J. Browne]

There is not nearly enough vomiting or thrusting going on in this holiday of yours Kai. Lift your game. The public want pictures - and the public gets, what the public wants.

[g]

I'll bet Kerry drank you under the table. :)

[Wiggles]

Kaister, is the half pint of Guiness meant to show us how much you managed to drink before you fell over?????

[Ilana]

Happy travels
Great reading your blogs and looking at the pics of rellies and old friends :) Looking forward to the next instalment!

[Penny]

Nice photos
Lovin' the blog. Really good to see that you are immersing yourselves in the local culture! Piccies are fab. Looking forward to the next K2 instalment.