Dublin Days

We started off our Irish adventure with three nights in Dublin.  Chad has been there before, but this was my first time.  First impression, as I said in an email to my parents, "It's like England, but with more Irish people".  No kidding.  (And my apologies to any Irish readers!)

We managed to cram a lot into our three days in Dublin, just as I will cram a lot into one post about most of it.  Some highlights...

Fresh from Brussels - on one of the many bridges crossing the River Liffey, which runs through downtown Dublin.

We arrived a bit early to town so took a walk around while waiting for our hotel room to be ready.

What is there to do while waiting but stop in at a pub for some samples of Irish craft beer? Chad will update his beer blog shortly for those interested in our Dublin adventures in beer.

We made a stop at the National Library, which is amazing both for its architecture (unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the reading room inside) and in the size and age of its collection.  Want to know who lived at a specific address in Dublin in 1790?  You can find out here.  There is also a huge and impressive exhibit on the life and works Irish poet William Butler Yeats that we spent quite a bit of time perusing.

In the sun in St. Stephen's Green.  'Green' sounds so much more sophisticated than 'downtown park'.

For those Irish who need a Tim Horton's fix.  Yes, seriously.  And no, we didn't have any.

First Guinness in the home of Guinness!  We couldn't even wait to start drinking before the picture was taken.  And, yes, it does taste better fresh in Ireland than it does at home.

All the musical greats eventually visit Dublin (this one is for you, Shaun!)

I'm sure Ireland feels better knowing that Chad is guarding Dublin castle.

The back of the castle - it's huge!  And clearly has been substantially rebuilt over the years since the first building was put on the site in the 1200s.

Outside St. Patrick's cathedral.  Unlike the Germans, the Irish make you pay to go inside their cathedrals so I can't tell you how it compares to those we saw earlier in the trip in Aachen and Cologne.

We spent the morning of our first full day at the Guinness Storehouse doing a tour (more details to be published on Chad's blog).  These are the gates of the Guinness St. James Gate brewery on the land for which Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease back in the 1759.

We then started the afternoon by going to check out the sparkling new national Criminal Courts in Dublin (apparently we are still law nerds at heart).  We ended up watching a bit of a very intense murder trial, like something you would see on Law and Order.

In the afternoon we took a long walk through Phoenix Park, which the Irish brochures claim is the largest city park... in the world?  In Europe?  Either way, it's massive and we spent hours walking through it in the sunshine. (A note on sunshine: we've actually had quite a bit of it since arriving and no rain.  I'm not sure what's going on here, but I do suspect our fortunes will change very soon).

This is the Wellington monument and the tallest obelisk in Europe. (From Chad: they built this over 44 years to honour the undefeated-in-war Duke of Wellington, who was from Ireland. Mostly because he was the general who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.  At the base of the obelisk are 4 bronze plaques depicting war scenes.  The metal used for these comes from some of Napoleon's cannons captured at Waterloo, which were melted down and transformed into the plaques.)

Originally four designs were considered.  The first was chosen, apparently, "In defiance of all rules of art and taste".

Having a coffee after the long walk!

Our second full day we spent the morning at the National Museum of Ireland learning about Ireland's history.  I must confess that I knew embarrassingly little about what went on over here over the years, in particular the Easter uprising in 1916 and the civil war after that.  I sure know a lot more now!  It was a great exhibit and free, as are many museums over here.

In the afternoon we went and watched a preliminary round of the Dublin International Piano Competition at the Royal Dublin Society.  Aren't we cultured?  The competitors were pretty amazing - I have rarely seen fingers fly that fast.

Walking home along the dirty canal.  Not sure how they get these boats in or out, since the bridges don't seem to raise or swing around or move at all.

Exhausted after a day of learning, we headed to our local pub for some Irish music.  This is a picture of the picture showing the pub in the background on the day of the Easter rising in 1916.  Luckily I had gone to the museum that morning and knew why this was significant, had anyone stopped and quizzed me on why I was taking a picture of a picture (ahem, Janela).

Enjoying some live music (and Guinness, of course) on our last night in Dublin.