Dublin didn't have many of the picturesque camera moments like Edinburgh. In fact, my camera had a lot of trouble with the poorly lit situations we ran into there.
It also wasn't the cleanest city we've visited. That distinction would go to York, which was devoid of the small pieces of litter lying in Ireland's capital's streets.
We even had worse weather in Dublin than in any other city I've visited on this little European jaunt. Clear skies on Friday and Saturday morning gave way to a rainy Saturday evening and cloudy Sunday.
Yet Dublin still stands as my favorite place from this trip. Even though it wasn't the prettiest and didn't have any single outstanding activity like hiking to the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh or listening to the Evensong in York Minster, I would rather go back to Dublin than any other place.
It isn't because the activities we did were all very good, though they were. It isn't because the city was cheap, because it wasn't. It wasn't even because all the Irish people in the United States brainwashed me into wanting to love the Emerald Isle with their own proclamations of its beauty, though I did want very badly to like it.
The fact that I liked Dublin stemmed from the people there. As a whole, they were probably the friendliest I've ever run into. From the man who discussed the combination sink/hand dryer in the bathroom with me for five minutes to the bouncer at a pub who spent more time asking where you were from than your age, the Irish had a more welcoming and interpersonal attitude than I've run across anywhere else in Europe. Not once were we made to feel like stupid, crass Americans. On the contrary, we were usually welcomed with smiles.
Before launching into the details, let's establish the basics of this trip. It is the only trip out of England I've taken with Syracuse London. That meant that in addition to Deb and myself, there were 11 other students, a professor and an administrator traveling with us, whom I knew in varying degrees.
It also meant someone else organized our flight and about 60% of our activities, and that we payed an upfront sum before the trip to cover these expenses. These prepaid activities were, in order: A "walking tour" of the 1916 Irish rebellion for independence, a tour of the Kilmainham Gaol prison museum, a trip to nearby Sandy Cove and the James Joyce tower/museum and a "musical pub crawl." It also paid for and organized the 45-minute train to and from Stansted Airport in London, the 20 minute cab rides between Dublin airport and the city and various other required light rail and bus transit.
So we didn't have the headache of getting to and from the airport and paying for various fares. It also defrayed the expenses of traveling slightly, since we prepaid for so many activities. Finally, it made us do a few things we probably wouldn't have done without the school's urging. Those were the trip to Sandy Cove and probably the musical pub crawl.
Although we flew in Thursday night, neither Deb nor myself did much after we arrived in Dublin because we were so tired. I don't know what it is about flying, but it just sucks the energy out of me.
Friday
Going to bed early was okay, because we needed the energy for Friday. After the hostel's complimentary breakfast of toast and tea, we set off on the 1916 Rebellion walking tour, which took us to a few famous places and told us the story of the rebellion against British rule. I won't pretend to have learned everything the guide told us, because it was very easy to simply drift off and take in some of the city's sights. However, I can tell you that it basically started out with some dissidents who decided to break British rule, took over the city for a few days, and then was crushed by a brutal British general. The rebellion itself didn't establish Ireland's independence, but it did galvanize public opinion against British rule, according to our guide.
In addition to providing historic background, the tour gave me a good look around the city. Like I said before, it isn't the most stunning of places visually, but it does have a few standout places. Anywhere along the River Liffey is pretty, and the Dublin Spire, which was originally to be named the Millennium Spire until its completion in 2003, were particularly interesting points.
This brings me to an interesting point. The hundreds of years of British rule meant that Dublin looked a lot like a British city. Cars drove on the left side of the road and the architecture was largely a lump of different styles. Even though it didn't have a particularly Gaelic style, Dublin still had some touches of its own culture. Although the mailboxes were the same design as those in London, they were painted green instead of red. All the street signs had English on them, but it was below Gaelic. Even though everyone speaks English in their daily lives, Gaelic is compulsory in Irish schools, and it might even be the official national language, if memory serves.
Next we took buses to the Kilmainham Gaol Prison museum, where a lot of Irish political prisoners and general criminals alike had been held. It was originally designed to hold each prisoner in his own cell, but was almost always overcrowded. We got a tour through the prison and walked through the museum, where I browsed through more history from the 1916 rebellion.
Those two activities took us from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, so we didn't have much more time that day. Our buses back from the prison passed right by the door of the Guinness Storehouse, which is Dublin's famous beer's tourist trap, ala Heineken Experience. The seven floor tour was a little more technical than its Dutch counterpart. It told us all about the actual brewing, rather than just the marketing, end. They also had malted Guinness barley for us to sample, and it tasted quite a bit like the final Guinness product, only a chocolate version.
For dinner we went to a resteraunt serving a lot of Irish food. I actually didn't have any Corned Beef and Cabbage on the trip, but I did manage to order a seafood cream soup, which came with soda bread and seemed to be a pretty traditional Irish meal. I should have a full review of it on the food blog soon, but let's say for now that it was jam-packed with delicious fish.
Saturday
Saturday morning we headed to the James Joyce Museum in Sandy Cove, which is about a 20 minute by Dublin's light rail, or DART system. I didn't care for the only Joyce I've ever read, so the museum itself wasn't much of a highlight. However, it was in a tower which had a magnificent view of the Irish coast. I really regret not having a chance to go through the Irish mainland and travel down the coast to see the beautiful non-urban sites of the country, but this gave a little taste of it. The rocky coastline was breathtaking.
It also wasn't the cleanest city we've visited. That distinction would go to York, which was devoid of the small pieces of litter lying in Ireland's capital's streets.
We even had worse weather in Dublin than in any other city I've visited on this little European jaunt. Clear skies on Friday and Saturday morning gave way to a rainy Saturday evening and cloudy Sunday.
Yet Dublin still stands as my favorite place from this trip. Even though it wasn't the prettiest and didn't have any single outstanding activity like hiking to the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh or listening to the Evensong in York Minster, I would rather go back to Dublin than any other place.
It isn't because the activities we did were all very good, though they were. It isn't because the city was cheap, because it wasn't. It wasn't even because all the Irish people in the United States brainwashed me into wanting to love the Emerald Isle with their own proclamations of its beauty, though I did want very badly to like it.
The fact that I liked Dublin stemmed from the people there. As a whole, they were probably the friendliest I've ever run into. From the man who discussed the combination sink/hand dryer in the bathroom with me for five minutes to the bouncer at a pub who spent more time asking where you were from than your age, the Irish had a more welcoming and interpersonal attitude than I've run across anywhere else in Europe. Not once were we made to feel like stupid, crass Americans. On the contrary, we were usually welcomed with smiles.
Before launching into the details, let's establish the basics of this trip. It is the only trip out of England I've taken with Syracuse London. That meant that in addition to Deb and myself, there were 11 other students, a professor and an administrator traveling with us, whom I knew in varying degrees.
It also meant someone else organized our flight and about 60% of our activities, and that we payed an upfront sum before the trip to cover these expenses. These prepaid activities were, in order: A "walking tour" of the 1916 Irish rebellion for independence, a tour of the Kilmainham Gaol prison museum, a trip to nearby Sandy Cove and the James Joyce tower/museum and a "musical pub crawl." It also paid for and organized the 45-minute train to and from Stansted Airport in London, the 20 minute cab rides between Dublin airport and the city and various other required light rail and bus transit.
So we didn't have the headache of getting to and from the airport and paying for various fares. It also defrayed the expenses of traveling slightly, since we prepaid for so many activities. Finally, it made us do a few things we probably wouldn't have done without the school's urging. Those were the trip to Sandy Cove and probably the musical pub crawl.
Although we flew in Thursday night, neither Deb nor myself did much after we arrived in Dublin because we were so tired. I don't know what it is about flying, but it just sucks the energy out of me.
Friday
Going to bed early was okay, because we needed the energy for Friday. After the hostel's complimentary breakfast of toast and tea, we set off on the 1916 Rebellion walking tour, which took us to a few famous places and told us the story of the rebellion against British rule. I won't pretend to have learned everything the guide told us, because it was very easy to simply drift off and take in some of the city's sights. However, I can tell you that it basically started out with some dissidents who decided to break British rule, took over the city for a few days, and then was crushed by a brutal British general. The rebellion itself didn't establish Ireland's independence, but it did galvanize public opinion against British rule, according to our guide.
In addition to providing historic background, the tour gave me a good look around the city. Like I said before, it isn't the most stunning of places visually, but it does have a few standout places. Anywhere along the River Liffey is pretty, and the Dublin Spire, which was originally to be named the Millennium Spire until its completion in 2003, were particularly interesting points.
This brings me to an interesting point. The hundreds of years of British rule meant that Dublin looked a lot like a British city. Cars drove on the left side of the road and the architecture was largely a lump of different styles. Even though it didn't have a particularly Gaelic style, Dublin still had some touches of its own culture. Although the mailboxes were the same design as those in London, they were painted green instead of red. All the street signs had English on them, but it was below Gaelic. Even though everyone speaks English in their daily lives, Gaelic is compulsory in Irish schools, and it might even be the official national language, if memory serves.
Next we took buses to the Kilmainham Gaol Prison museum, where a lot of Irish political prisoners and general criminals alike had been held. It was originally designed to hold each prisoner in his own cell, but was almost always overcrowded. We got a tour through the prison and walked through the museum, where I browsed through more history from the 1916 rebellion.
Those two activities took us from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, so we didn't have much more time that day. Our buses back from the prison passed right by the door of the Guinness Storehouse, which is Dublin's famous beer's tourist trap, ala Heineken Experience. The seven floor tour was a little more technical than its Dutch counterpart. It told us all about the actual brewing, rather than just the marketing, end. They also had malted Guinness barley for us to sample, and it tasted quite a bit like the final Guinness product, only a chocolate version.
For dinner we went to a resteraunt serving a lot of Irish food. I actually didn't have any Corned Beef and Cabbage on the trip, but I did manage to order a seafood cream soup, which came with soda bread and seemed to be a pretty traditional Irish meal. I should have a full review of it on the food blog soon, but let's say for now that it was jam-packed with delicious fish.
Saturday
Saturday morning we headed to the James Joyce Museum in Sandy Cove, which is about a 20 minute by Dublin's light rail, or DART system. I didn't care for the only Joyce I've ever read, so the museum itself wasn't much of a highlight. However, it was in a tower which had a magnificent view of the Irish coast. I really regret not having a chance to go through the Irish mainland and travel down the coast to see the beautiful non-urban sites of the country, but this gave a little taste of it. The rocky coastline was breathtaking.
There was also a nearby area with some swimmers jumping into what must have been a cold ocean. I was a little cold in my pea coat, but apparently there is a club that takes a swim every day of the year. Better them than me.
We had the afternoon to ourselves, and Deb and I essentially spent it digging through shops in Dublin. When it started to rain we resisted the temptation to take the DART farther out to see more of the coastline and confined ourselves to shopping. I got a nice "Ireland" hoodie sweatshirt to substitute for the camouflage one that I currently wear in half of my pictures from Europe.
We also went to the old Jamison Distillery to round out our tours of famous Irish exports. It filled in some of the parts of fermentation that the Guinness tour glazed over, so the two complimented each other well.
Saturday night we went on the "musical pub crawl," which consisted of a large group of people who had purchased tickets following two musicians to two separate pubs to listen to their music. They opened up a special floor on the pubs for us, and played and talked about their music. I know Deb and I wouldn't have done this on our own, and it was a great part of our experience in Dublin. I very much like Irish music, and just like listening to bagpipers in Edinburgh helped make that trip, listening to a man on a fiddle and a man on a guitar sit down and have some fun made this trip.
Afterward, we asked the performers where else we could hear live music, and they pointed us to another pub. After a slight detour, we arrived to find mostly gray-headed people listening to a group of five performers who were sitting around a table in the corner of the pub. Deb and I weren't put off by the age of those around us, we were too happy to listen to the three fiddles and two flutes playing away.
Sunday
Sunday we tried to go to mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. The only problem with that plan was that St. Patrick's Cathedral is apparently now a protestant church. We still got to go in to see the service, but it just didn't feel right going to a protestant service in Ireland.
We also walked around the Dublin Castle grounds, which were quite nice. We were particularly fond of a cat that was hanging around the garden and soliciting scratches behind the ears from succeptible tourists.
And after that breathless tour, it was time to fly back. I beat Deb twice in Scrabble on the plane and train back to London, but that is the last of the highlights. It's too bad we only had a weekend. It left me wondering whether we should have spent our entire mid-semester break in Ireland.
And after that breathless tour, it was time to fly back. I beat Deb twice in Scrabble on the plane and train back to London, but that is the last of the highlights. It's too bad we only had a weekend. It left me wondering whether we should have spent our entire mid-semester break in Ireland.
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