Kilmainham Jail / Phoenix Park / Temple Bar

Tomorrow morning, Freshers' Week finally starts at Trinity College, roughly three weeks after my arrival. During the week there'll be official events such as registration, orientation meetings, a welcome reception for international students and tours through the library and the new state-of-the-art sports centre alongside pub crawls and/or parties in the evening. In addition, I will figure out which courses I'll be taking and if/how I'll get credits for those back home in Mannheim. All that should work out fine, and I simply look forward to an exciting week.

On the sightseeing front, I visited historic Kilmainham Jail, which happens to be located just around the corner from where I live. A very interesting tour acquainted me with a great deal of Irish history. I learned that it was in the courtyard of the prison where most nationalist leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed. Later on, especially the Victorian East Wing was used as a film set in several productions.







With a view to visiting Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish president's residence, I met up with Emilie in Phoenix Park yesterday, which is one of the largest city parks in the world. Although we unhappily missed the last tour, we still had a steaming cup of coffee and a nice stroll through park, passing by the herd of deer in front of the Papal Cross where Pope John Paul II preached to a crowd of more than one million in 1979, and the 62m-tall Wellington Testimonial.



At night, we met again in Temple Bar, this time however not in a pub but at Emilie's mate's place, having a good time emptying a bottle of tequila, among others.



There're more snap shots online, yet I'll leave you here and get some sleep before tomorrow's first day at TCD.

Chris