Dublin and beyond

Meanwhile it's been a fortnight since I arrived in this terrific city. I've seen and experienced quite a lot since my last post, so I'll try to fill you in on the latest:

Life in my new room/flat is nice, especially thanks to Eric and Julien, my two French flatmates, with whom I even get to speak French most of the time. Yet Anthony, my Irish landlord, is just as easygoing as the others, which is why I feel good and, to some extent, already at home here. However, being so close to the city centre the place is quite expensive, and therefore I might move again some time in the future, once I know some more people in town. Not for the time being, though.



This week I strolled through the city centre a few times, exploring the Trinity campus a bit further. I'm still impressed by the beauty of the old buildings and have a hard time imagining that this is where I'll be spending most of my days from next week on.





Here are some pictures I took on the way through the city: the world-famous Guinness brewery; then me on Grafton street, on the first day it actually rained after I had already believed myself in Spain or some other southern European country; two impressions from St. Stephen's Green; and finally St. Patrick's Cathedral, which surprised me with its exhaustive accumulation of statues, inscriptions, flags and other adornment. After all, I simply didn't have enough time to soak in everything, but it's lovely so I'm sure to come back a few more times in the months to come.















On Friday the Irish rugby team played - and dramatically lost - against France. The picture shows Martina, a German girl I met in the hostel, and me watching it in a pub, thereby chatting with few Irish on our table. Niall, one of them, promised to do his utmost to get me some tickets for the soccer match between Ireland and Germany in Croke Park in October. It'd be great if that works out, I'll keep my fingers crossed.



Dublin's doors are remarkable as they come in different colours, making otherwise run-down town houses appear in a completely new light. Well, I finally stopped taking pictures of them after I had covered all imaginable variations. Here's an example ...



Saturday morning Lorna and her French penfriend picked me up to visit the famous Neolithic passage tombs in Knowth, which are actually older than the pyramids in Egypt. Again the weather was lovely and we had much fun as you can see in the picture which features me just before creeping through one of the underground passages.











Even more famous than Knowth is the largest tomb in Newgrange. Each year, only on the early mornings from December 19th to December 23rd, the sun slowly illuminates the long passage. Since there's very little space inside, only a handful of people literally win the permission to be present at the spectacle. It goes without saying that I put down my name in the hope that I will be among them.



I spent the rest of the weekend with Lorna's large family where I was received with utmost cordiality. A scenic panorama stretches out from the back of the property upon the valley and all the way to the Sugar Loaf, a hill we climbed halfway at dusk.






Not far away is one of Dublin's most exclusive neighbourhoods. We cruised around for a while, passing by the famous singer Enya's castle.



Then of course the obligatory pint (or rather a few of them) in the evening, this time however in a very special location indeed: Johnnie Fox's, one of Ireland's oldest and most famous traditional pubs, and besides supposedly the country's highest.



Then another really lovely trip today, this time along the coast of County Wicklow, just half an hour south of Dublin. I joined Jennifer (German) and her flatmate Rachael (Canadian) on a scenic 7km coastal walk between the small towns of Bray and Greystones. With the clouds soon disappearing from the sky, replaced by the warming sun, we enjoyed a windy yet pleasant day outside, soaking in the fresh air ... and chilling out afterwards over delicious organic soup and Latte Macchiato.

















As always for those interested in more pictures, check out my web albums.

Have a nice week!

Chris