Saturday, September 13, 2008

Home



I arrived safe and sound from Dublin on Thursday afternoon. I've decided that the trick to avoiding jet lag is to fly at night and try to sleep a bit on the plane. Travelling out, my flight was a night flight and I had very little trouble adjusting to Irish time. Travelling back I left Dublin at ten in the morning and flew backwards through time and arrived in Winnipeg at half past four in the afternoon (that's half past ten in the evening, Dublin time). I've been a wreck ever since. Waking at three in the morning and dead on my feet all day.

However, I did finish all the laundry the next day. Aren't I amazing?!

Elly is still flat hunting in Dublin, I'm sure we'll hear soon that a decisions been made. Everything that happened in Dublin seemed serendipitous and I'm confident that the home she finds is going to be a good one.

My trip wasn't exactly a holiday. I didn't see any museums or art galleries, and though I saw the seaside that was because it was difficult to miss from the train window. Our time was spent looking at flats, registering with immigration, opening a bank account and buying a mobile phone. Mundane things, but it gave us a chance to meet the people of Dublin and roam through Dublin County rather than city centre and to experience the regular Irish life.

Here are a few snaps from around Dublin (some are actually from city centre!):


the entrance to Trinity College, no time to go in.


No. 1 Merrion Square, we were told Oscar Wilde was born here.


The Ha'penny Bridge spans the Liffey River.


Swans at St. Stephen's Green.


Government signage is in Gaelic first.


Starbucks-by-the-Sea.


The Dodder River, just a few steps from our hotel.


Good food can be found here - James Joyce agrees.


A gusty day in Blackrock.


They sell exactly what the sign says.


Hmmm...Alliance Atlantis is a Canadian film company. I don't know why they're in Dublin, or why their doorway looks so shabby. There is a woman begging on the front steps. There were many people begging in city centre, some with infants. Very sad.


We didn't eat here. Great signage though.

While strolling near St. Stephen's Green on a beautiful sunny day, we came across two street performers called Two English Gents (in truth, two acrobats from Australia).

They were



really



quite



amazing!



Bye Ireland.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you're back! You were missed. I hope Elly finds her flat soon. It sounds like she found a "second" family to help her out and I'm glad of that.

See you soon.
Shelagh

Anonymous said...

No yarn shops? NO yarn shops????

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear things have worked out so far with getting Elly settled in. Dublin looks great. Love the photos... especially those English gents!!

Anonymous said...

Ian,

It's too late to book the English Gents for your Mum's birthday, but perhaps we could get them to make an appearance at Anne's birthday in October...

http://www.entertainmentdepot.com.au/artist_profile.php/228

Anonymous said...

Gee even if it were my career to do something like that I still wouldn't go out in public with nothing but socks, shoes and UNDERWAER!!