The
City of Dublin
This is an interesting sight on the road between Drewstown House and Dublin. Here you see a road, a railroad, and an aquaduct going under the road we were driving on.
Welcome to the city of Dublin! As you can see from the above picture, Dublin is a whirlwind of hustle and bustle, a drastic contrast to the peaceful countryside starting less than only a half-hour outside the city.
But Dublin has it charms as well. If you can get used to everyone driving on the left side of the road you'll be doing well. Shops and vendors in alleyways as well as on main streets are plenty for the tourist to find. If you're hungry, you can stop and get some "pub grub" . . . but for the not-so-inclined, there's a McDonald's or Burger King (or both) almost every block along Grafton Street. The figure standing at the base of the light post isn't just some shady character (pun intended); that's Dan Hobson again.
Here are two more pictures of the streets in Dublin.
A phone booth . . . what more can I say?
The picture below is a picture of a statue in Dublin. Despite my dad's decapitating picture-taking ability, the people walking by give a good representation of the size of the statue.
Below is the River Liffey. This river bisects Dublin and actually has fish living in it. We have a phrase "the other side of the tracks," but in Dublin the phrase would have to be "the other side of the Liffey." Dublin north of the Liffey is more run-down, but according to Roddy Doyle (whoever that is), it has more soul.
Is this the Dublin Arms? Um . . . no. ;-)
I also visited Trinity College, which is south of the Liffey. Trinity was founded by Elizabeth I in 1592, and was actually quite near the coast when it was first constructed. It's probably better known, perhaps, for its housing of the Book of Kells, an illuminated Scripture (in this case, the four gospels) dating from around A.D. 800. This is housed in the Library Collonades.
Below is a picture of the courtyard you'd see if you walked in through the main gates. A bell tower stands in the middle of the courtyard, and if you look behind the bell tower . . .
. . . you'd see this building. This is one of the dormitories at Trinity.
Ballinlough Castle Bective Abbey Clonmellon Cemetery Drewstown House Dublin Grove Gardens p.1 p.2 Irish National Stud Kells p.1 p.2 p.3 Kilkenny Killua Castle Russborough House Trim Castle
