Dublin, Ireland
We arrived in Dublin amidst blue skies – a rarity in Ireland. The weather is a daily topic of conversation, especially with the locals. Depending upon who you talk to it rains anywhere from every other day to 4 out of 5 days. The luck of the Irish was with us as we enjoyed sunny, but very cool weather during our three days in Dublin.
We did enjoy the beautiful weather and walking around Dublin, but in retrospect wish we had cut that time to just one day in Dublin and then headed to the countryside. We tend to prefer more remote, non urban, less touristy areas so the feel of Dublin just wasn’t quite our thing. However, if we hadn’t experienced it we might have wondered what we missed.
There is no shortage of pubs in Ireland
Even though I’m not a beer drinker, everyone in Dubin drinks Guinness, so I had to “give it a go”.
The area also makes for some interesting “people watching”.
Loved this tree at a park right in the center of town.
Beautiful Oregon Maple at Trinity College
Visiting Trinity College was a favorite stop in Dublin, especially the old library and the Book of Kells.
George Salmon. a one time Provost of Trinity College opposed the admittance of women to Trinity. The story goes that women would be admitted over his dead body. Shortly before his death, Salmon’s daughter wanted to enter Trinity College so he made the change allowing women. Ironicly the first female student at Trinity College Dublin was to arrive soon after his death in January 1904. According to our guide, his body was buried in the courtyard so women entering the college literally do so by walking “over his dead body”.
One of the best parts of strolling through Dublin is enjoying the unique and extremely talented street performers.
Check out this guitar made from a gas can.
These guys were incredible – they looked like statues until you put a coin in the bucket, then they moved in sync – so cool!
By far my favorite street performers in Dublin were this group called Key West. They are well known in Ireland and I think we’ll start hearing them in the states soon – loved their music!
The sounds he made on this box drum were amazing.
The food in Dublin was not really what we expected, but we did have some amazing deserts and pastries – I see sugar withdrawals in my future.
Depending on your interests there are a lot of directions to go in Dublin. Tired of the more touristy sites, we chose on our last day to visit the Dublin City Gallery. Then, quite by accident we came upon The Dublin Writer’s Museum which ended up being one of our most interesting stops. The self guided tour with headsets took you through the small museum of artifacts. Irish history is replete with literary giants like Jonathan Swift, W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde & James Joyce. The museum shared this rich history from Irish poetry and storytelling, to such great literature as Gulliver’s Travels, Dracula & Ulysses.
The Irish are master wordsmiths – their quips and eloquent prose are ubiquitous such as this little ditty:
May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies and quick to make friends. And may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.
