Dublin

10-12 August 2007

Well, this was to be my last city break (as Im leaving London at the end of the month) so we decided to make it a good one and five of us - Paul, Hayley, Reisha, PJ and I headed over to Dublin, Ireland for the weekend in search of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We caught an 8pm flight out from Heathrow and it was about 11 before we got our junk dropped off at the hostel and headed out for a night of partying at Temple Bar (no comments guys! not the actual Temple Bar anyway just around the area as it was close to our hostel). Had a great night out drinking Bulmers (cider) as we'd started the evening with a couple of those in the departure lounge and finished the night off by dancing away at Fitzsimmons to R&B until the wee hours - note Dublin (along the Liffey) is beautiful at night, yay for Ha'penny Bridge!

On the Saturday morning we were up fairly early to grab hostel breakie (addicted to soya brown bread now!) and head to the Guiness Storehouse before the queues got too long - good thing we did too as they were all the way down the street when we got out 3 hours later! Was nice to walk along the Liffey in daylight this time despite the light showers, took lots of reflection photos!

Had a great time at the Guiness Storehouse, this was my third brewery in the last couple of months so interesting to see how they set it up and promote their beer differently. Here they had a great overview of the ingredients, including an indoor waterfall, got to see how the old barrels were made - what a mission! And was great to have my first pint of Guiness from the top of the Storehouse with a 360degree view out over Dublin

That afternoon (after a quick pub lunch) we headed to Kilmainham Gaol which played an important part in Irish History as it held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish Independence. Many of the leaders of the 1916 Easter uprising were held and executed here. We also saw "Madonna and Child" which Grace Gifford (who married Joseph Plunket hours before he was executed here) painted on the wall of her cell in 1923 in the famous Victorian Wing (pictured below)

We caught the tram back to town after wandering through the grounds of the modern art museum, pretty impressed with how green the grass was here we were all a little bit too tired to wander in and have a look around but that didnt stop me taking random squirrel pole pictures! Caught the tram back through town to the hostel and had a couple of hours to chill before heading out once again to check out the Dublin nightlife. With 50% of its population under 25, Dublin is very much more lively at night.

We finished off a busy Saturday by heading out to dinner at Cafe de Siene, it was a beautiful place, long and narrow with the decor changing as you moved into it depths and eventually ending up in a greenhouse looking room which turns into a dancefloor after the sun goes down. I was feeling a little bit under the weather (evil cough has resurfaced but will have a chest x-ray when I get back to London) but a few mudslides (made with Baileys - the Irish cream!) helped fix that!

After two big nights we had a late start on Sunday morning, checking out of the hostel and wandering through town taking the touristy photo by the Molly Malone statue which commermorates the beautiful fishmonger (and theme of the song) who piled her trade on the streets of Dublin, but died young, of a fever. It was erected in 1987 to celebrate the city's first millennium and is known colloquially as "The Tart with the Cart"

Once everyone had grabbed some breakie, our first stop that morning was Trinity College. Here I played tour guide by reading out the blurb in Reish's Ireland Lonely Plant while we looked around. The line for the Book of Kells (an ornately illustrated manuscript produced by Celtic monks around AD800) was huge so will have to add that to my list of things to do when I come back and visit. We did check out "Sphere within Sphere" a modern sculpture in the courtyard outsdie the new library that is supposed to "speak of the challenges with which technology faces us" For me it was a reminder that we were killing the earth, not only on the surface but with deep irreperable damage to its heart and soul, anyway... Trinity College's Modern Art Museum closed on sundays so we drowned our sorrows with a bit more Guiness at ODonaghue's

The next touristy thing to cross off the list was Christ Church Cathedral. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Cathedral,_Dublin for background info. It was a pretty impressive building though we didnt bother to venture inside and instead just took some fun pics outside, great that it was so bright/warm out that everyone could wear sunnies instead of the raincoats we'd donned the day before

Outside Christ Church we wandered past some people eating fish and chips and Paul couldnt refrain from asking where they had bought them. Good thing he had too as we ended up just around the corner in Leo Burdock's, inadvertantly stumbling upon an Irish Treasure and the best damn fish'n'chips Ive had in a long time!

Dublin castle was only open between 2-5 on a Sunday but by the time we snaked through the queue in the rain the next available tour was 3:45 and we had to be at the airport at 5 so decided it was a bit tight and settled for checking out some amazing pieces as part of the 2007 Sand Sculpture Festival and watching a bit of Gaelic football (similar to Aussie rules) at the local pub back in the Temple Bar area.

Think we managed to cram quite a lot into a weekend especially with five different people's moods/expectiations to consider. Although not normally my style it was kind of nice to travel with a group of people seeing as my 7 week Europe trip (starting on the 2nd of September) will be completely on my own it was nice to have some company for my last city break.