It feels great to be back in Ireland! I love it here! I arrived in style at the Four Seasons Hotel (thankyouverymuch). After a little nap and a freshening up, I got my map and hit the pavement. The hotel, while it is nice, is not close to ANYTHING so I had quite a hike to get to the touristy area (St. Stephens Green, Trinity College, etc.) I'm kind of glad in a weird way that my hotel is far out becuase I was able to walk through the 'everyday' Dublin- bike messengers, business people talking on cell phones, Moms (or nannies) walking their kids home from school, etc. The neighborhood I'm staying in is called Ballsbridge and is very nice- I saw some real estate postings for a 2 bedroom flat selling for 250,000EU. Yikes!
Saw the famous 'Dublin doors'. Alot of the residences are plain-front brick townhomes and Dubliners have gotten a reputation for the variety of colors they paint their doors. I'm not sure if there is a historic significance to that or not, maybe I'll find out sometime! *Edit* I asked a cabbie and he said 'well, luv, it's really just to individualize, isn't it?' LOL!
Walked up to St. Stephen's Green- a large park in the middle of the city. Sat on a bench and ate my grilled cheese/tomato (yes, tomato- I figured I eat tomatos while I'm in Ireland) sandwich then walked around and window shopped. Almost cried in relief when I saw a Starbucks (how sad is that)but my carmel macchiato hit the spot on such a cold day!!
Tuesday, 9/15
Met Ambassador Dan 'Steelers Owner' Rooney today- very nice man- seems like he definitely knows what he wants! I mentioned on the way out that I was from Pittsburgh and his eyes lit up. But then he asked if I'd been to the new Heinz field and I said 'no' and then I think I really lost him when I didn't know that the G20 was going to be held there next week!!!! (do your research, Erin!!!) But he was very nice. After work, I walked up to Grafton Street, which is a pedestrian thoroughfare of shops, bars, etc. Dublin's big on shopping. I really can't tell who is from here and who is a tourist but it felt nice to actually be someplace that I didn't stick out like a sore thumb! Definitely seems like there aren't alot of Americans, though. Watched street performers, took photos and got a pint of Carlsberg (can't do Guiness!!) and a fish and chips.
Wednesday, 9/16
After work, I had a nice walk around the city with my co-worker and his wife. We went up O'Connel street and then back down to the Temple Bar area. Saw the castle and the River Liffey. Dinner was a 'steak burger', which you would think is a hamburger, right? No...just a ball of ground steak in gravy with fries. Hmm....these Irish are not known for their food!
After work, I had a nice walk around the city with my co-worker and his wife. We went up O'Connel street and then back down to the Temple Bar area. Saw the castle and the River Liffey. Dinner was a 'steak burger', which you would think is a hamburger, right? No...just a ball of ground steak in gravy with fries. Hmm....these Irish are not known for their food!
Lots of people walking around- all the students must come out right after school and not go home until 7 or 8 because that's all you see! Saw the aftermath of an unfortunate bus/tram accident- didn't look like everyone walked away unscathed on that one! Scary to see. Love the architecture and they do alot with flower baskets in the Grafton Street/ Temple Bar area!
Interesting note: my co-worker's great-great-grandfather was a missionary to New Zealand and helped settle the country! (Think of the U.S's George Washington-type..) The things you learn about your co-workers on these trips!
Thursday, 9/17
Done work today at noon and hit the streets. (well, I cheated a little and did a hop-on/hop-off bus ride around the city!) Saw the gate to the Ambassador's residence on the tour and the guide talked about the new US Ambassador- I had to pinch myself to realize that I had just been talking to the guy that morning!!! Weird....
Friday, 9/18
Took a day off and booked a coach tour out to the country with 30 of my favorite octagenarians! Really, everyone was very nice. The tour went out to the village of Trim, where there is a castle ruin that Stacey and I had seen on one of our previous trips but didn't get to go in. Our tour guide was a local guy who said that as a kid, he used to play in the ruins- climb up the outside wall and run around what was left of the insde! Oh man, how fun!!!!!
We also visited the pre-Christian site of the Hill of Tara (didn't get much out of that except for good exercise dodging sheep poop and some good photos of the countryside!!) and then made our way over to the coast to a fishing village called Howth. 
I decided that if I ever get reincarnated, I'd want to come back as a country dog in Ireland- I mean- how much better can life get??? Running around in the fields all day, no leashes, no hot weather, a nice fire at night (because, of course my owner would be like that....) I wish I'd gotten to go to more in the country, but I'll save the Northern Ireland and Scotland trip for another go!! To see all of my photos, you can visit my kodak gallery page:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=16294gsw.35i0cvv8&x=0&y=-bl6ryr&localeid=en_US
We also visited the pre-Christian site of the Hill of Tara (didn't get much out of that except for good exercise dodging sheep poop and some good photos of the countryside!!) and then made our way over to the coast to a fishing village called Howth. I decided that if I ever get reincarnated, I'd want to come back as a country dog in Ireland- I mean- how much better can life get??? Running around in the fields all day, no leashes, no hot weather, a nice fire at night (because, of course my owner would be like that....) I wish I'd gotten to go to more in the country, but I'll save the Northern Ireland and Scotland trip for another go!! To see all of my photos, you can visit my kodak gallery page:http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=16294gsw.35i0cvv8&x=0&y=-bl6ryr&localeid=en_US
Erin - this blog is so much fun! I Google Earth-ed some of the areas you talked about. We can't wait to go to Ireland in October. We're spending a couple days in Dublin and the rest of the week on the west coast. It'll be wild! Thanks to you, I'm especially looking forward to seeing all the country dogs!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo cool! I would love to go there. My mom has been of course and like you, she blended in with her red hair. Let me know next time you go and I'll see if I can skip town for a week. hehe.
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