It almost seems appropriate that to write a weekend spotlight on Dublin since I spent a weekend there about 2 years ago. It was summer, and I was visiting a friend from college in London, who had moved there for graduate school and never left. July is pretty much dead at my company, so I'm allowed to take as much leave as I want. I'd decided on spending time at this friend's house before and after my 10-day European tour of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy (my yearly "staff tour") that summer because it meant I could catch up with my old friend as well as prolong my time in Europe without spending anything on accommodations. My friend was working very hard at the time at a new job as a paralegal so she wasn't able to take leave during my visit, which I completely understood. While she was at work, I entertained myself by watching wonderfully horrible British Television (if I recall correctly, there was a documentary on the "tele" by a pop singer who wanted to know where the hair in hair extensions came from: DNA testing and trips to various countries and she finally had her answer..."bloody" fascinating), photographing her house and garden, as well as exploring museums like the Dali Museum (which I'd never been to on my previous visits) and taking a cruise on the Thames just to get that great view of the city from the water. My friend did, however, get the weekends off, so we decided to book a flight on the cheap-o airline Ryan Air to hop over to Dublin for one of the weekends I was there since neither of us had ever been to Ireland.
I can't recall how we picked the Trinity Capital Hotel, but it turned out to be a really eclectic boutique-style hotel with really fun over-sized whimsical furniture as well as strange statues scattered about and showcased in a cloister-like sculpture garden at the center of the first floor. I imagine we picked it because it was within easy walking distance of Dublin's main drag and night-life area, Temple Bar, but we were pleasantly surprised. We both appreciated the fun decor as well as the deliciously soft beds, pillows, and comforters in our room. We found it hard to get ourselves out of bed once we laid down, in fact, and we both agreed that we could have enjoyed ourselves by just spending the whole weekend in those beds.
Somehow we found the will to pull ourselves from the down-heaven of our mattresses to do some exploring of the city. Since we didn't have heaps of time we picked a few key things to check out and mostly just ambled about taking pictures and getting ourselves lost, my favorite past-time in any city. We had actually met each other in an Archaeology course, so we were in agreement that the Archaeology museum was a must-see stop for us. I particularly found the section with preserved human bodies pulled from Ireland's famously anaerobic bogs quite fascinating. While most were quite deformed and the skin was darkened like leather, you could see very clearly that they were human. We'd learned about them in our course, so it was really exciting to see them upclose. Some even had tattoos and large sections of their ancient clothing in tact. After the archaeology museum, we had intended on checking out Trinity College, but I believe it was closed while we were there, so we headed over to Dublin Castle, which was quite impressive especially since it was right in the middle of the city. We missed the tours to go inside, but we still got some fabulous photos of the outside. I felt satisfied that I'd seen an Irish castle, and that's what matters.
For our second day, I did some asking around to find out what made for traditional Irish breakfasts, and most items sounded overly heavy for my sensitive morning stomach(bangers and mash, for instance) but fruit tarts sounded wonderful, so we made a special excursion to a small shop called the "Queen of Tarts", which we were told had won numerous awards for their tarts. We were certainly not disappointed. All of their tarts were so beautiful in the case, and I could have ordered one of each, but somehow I found the restraint to order just one, a berry assortment, which dazzled my taste buds. For the rest of the day we split up to do some exploring on our own. In my opinion, no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit to the Guinness brewery even though it is a bit out of the way, but my friend wasn't a big fan so we agreed to meet up later. This suited me just fine because I do enjoy exploring by myself and having time to walk slowly and take photos without holding anyone up. Somehow I managed to figure out which bus was going in that direction and got myself there before noon. The part of the brewery that you actually tour is designed to mimic the shape of a Guinness pint glass, how clever, right? You work your way up the circular structure from floor to floor exploring exhibits on the brewing process and the various marketing campaigns they've used over the years. They even have a station set-up to allow you to learn how to pull your own pint of Guinness. I'd spent a year as a bartender after college, so I didn't think I needed any training in that arena. Now if they'd been showing us how some clever bartenders make cloverleafs in the foam in the top, that I would have waited in line for, but just filling a glass, that I could do with my eyes closed and an arm tied behind my back. I let everyone else play make-believe bartender for a moment while I gloried in the fact that I'd actually been paid to do that. Last but not least, the top level of the brewery was a completely glass-enclosed circular bar, of course, but the 360 degree views of the city were really the highlight. It didn't hurt that you were able to take in the vistas with a "free" pint of Guinness in your hand, but since it was barely noon, I don't think I even finished it (I know, the horror!).
Now, I don't want to leave out the night-life because that is really what Dublin is famous for. While neither of us are huge partiers, we made a good showing taking in various Pubs around Temple Bar. The highlight of the evening out included spying on all of the horrendously drunk women prancing about in tiaras and sashes and ridiculous costumes proclaiming that they were celebrating someone's "hen party." A "hen party" is the British equivalent of a Bachelorette party. It turns out groups of English women fly over to Dublin when one of their friends is going to get married so they can have a raucous night out without the worry that what they did might get back to the groom. There was a definite and very real saying "What happens in Dublin, stays in Dublin!" and I could definitely see why. The behavior of these ladies was less than demure. I even saw a mother-of-the-bride (so identified by the bright pink that sash she wore) try to start a fight with a bouncer when she was being asked to leave a pub for pouring a pint of beer on a bride-to-be in another party. On a positive note, there was a bride-to-be with an amazing voice who was asked to sing at one of the pubs we were at and she dazzled the crowd. Now this pub was devoted to the traditional-Irish-style with a "lovely lad" singing Irish folksongs accompanied by a guy on a guitar opposite the massive bar. The bachelorette's friends kept telling the singer to let their friend sing and he finally obliged, the only problem: she only knew modern songs and the guitar player only knew traditional folksongs. Didn't stop her one bit though, and she powered out some awesome songs completely acapella. My favorite sight of the evening was the bachelorette whose friends forced her to collect signatures of every man she crossed paths with on a gigantic blow-up penis. Dublin's night-life was quite colored by these hen parties to say the least, but I still found it refreshing to see that old and young alike spent their saturday nights at traditional pubs singing along to folksongs. I love to see that some traditions live on, even if it's just a show for the tourists.
I'll leave you with the lyrics of the only Irish folksong I recognized having heard before my visit (which made me happy because I could sing along to that one at least), and which had a statue dedicated to the namesake there in the city of Dublin: Molly Malone...
In Dublin's Fair City
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheel'd her wheel barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!
Enjoy my pictures:
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