Dublin, Ireland

People have been asking me which country or city is the best so far and I never have an answer as can't limit it to just one. I can definitely say that I haven't been anywhere better than Rome for sightseeing...I mean how can you compete with three thousand years of history all in one place. With that said, I think Dublin would be the best place to live in Europe. I really fell in love with the city, but not necessarily with the sights and stuff like that, but rather the way of life. First the economy is doing okay there and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. It is very busy all the time, and it can certainly be deemed a walking city. Gaelic is the mother language, but everyone speaks english (although you might not be able to understand the natives with their accent), and the signs, movies, and TV shows are all in english. And there is the best part...they have diet coke rather than coke light, and have bagel shops on just about every corner. It is just the perfect amount of what I find favorable about the US in an awesome European city.

I have decided to split the postings up into three days, today being about the city, tomorrow about our tours, and then the last one about Irish nightlife. So here goes...

I think I want to live in the cute, and I am sure very expensive Georgian townhomes with the bright colored doors. I just love the plain architecture with the bold accent of the door as pictured below. The most photographed door in Dublin is the one below, and it sits across from the last public green (park) in the city. It has double doors as it once welcomed royalty inside. Apparently only simple people walked through one door. It is supposed to be the most ornate door in Dublin.

I also really like the various streets. Some are regular streets, and others are just pedestrian. There will be no driving for this girl in this city...the driver sits on the other side and drives on the opposite side of the road! All the streets are cute. The one below is a busy one...Dame Street.

We stayed at the Gresham Hotel on Upper O'Connell Street, which is also very busy in what seemed to be a shopping area. It was an old, updated, and charming hotel to which TJ and I felt extremely young. The mean age for patrons is probably 55-60. O'Connell Street is home to the spire monument (marks the millenium), and my favorite Christmas tree ever. Below is O'Connell Street at night.

There are a million bridges, and many of them are simply foot bridges that run over the river. It was cold going over them, but really pretty.

I wasn't blown away by the sights like I was in Rome, but it did have some old and honorable mentions. This is the old parliment house, and I believe is now part of Trinity College.

And then we hae Dublin Castle. It is not big, it is very small and quaint. Irish people are not very big, and maybe that is why they did not need big castles. It was very cute though!

On the back side of the castle was the carriage house and a small park...again minature...

After lunch on the first day TJ and I ran into some churches. The one below is Christ's Church which has been around since the 11th century. It is very ornate, but has a gothic cold feel to it.

I like St. Patricks Cathedral a little better, which was just down the street from Christ's Church. It is about 100 years newer, but less gothic and cold. It is adjacent to a beautiful park and has a great little cemetary. My personal photographer, TJ, got a great shot of it. You can also see how green it is. It was the end of December and all the grass is bright green!

And here is the front of the cathedral. Really it is Ireland...there are a million catholic churches!

One of the most popular areas of Dublin is the Temple Bar area. It was named for William Temple and the original sand bar it used to sit on. The area is adjacent to the river about one street up and is home to little shops and some great food and nightlife. You will be hearing much more about this area in a couple days. Here is a shot of the cobblestone street that runs through part of it.

At the back of Grafton Street, which is another famous shopping area, you will find the largest green (park) in the city called St. Stephen's green. Here is the entrance which is actually a memorial to fallen soldiers whose names are imprinted on the inside of the arch.

Just inside is a pond with some swans in it, a perfect place to get a picture of the two of us!

I wouldn't normally have taken a picture of the post office on O'Connell Street, but on New Year's day there was a protest regarding the Israeli attacks on Gaza in front of it. I know it isn't that exciting, but it is my first photo of a protest!

The weather was a little damp and cold, but I am convinced that you can visit Dublin at any time of year and be okay if we made it through for New Year's. The only thing I would have like to have done was to go out of the city a little and see some of the countryside. I am sure I will go back within the next two years, so I will let you know how that part is.

Tomorrow I will hi-light our tours of the Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery!

Auf Wiedersehen!