Our Last Dalliance with Dublin

Drama at Connolly's pub!

So here we are counting down to our last days of three months in Dublin.  In the last 2 weeks we have almost managed to do the final things on our "to do whilst in Dublin" list.
One of our earliest plans was to attend the Viking Theatre, which we discovered when out walking one night.  This is a very small theatre, above a pub in Clontarf, about a 20 minute walk from the apartment. We saw a play entitled Down by the River, a one man play, that left us pondering its meaning.  We enjoyed this late, but first visit so much, we went back this last week to the opening night of "Dusty Memoirs". After the performance, everyone in the theatre was invited to join the director and performers in the pub.   We met the director, an ex school teacher who was living her passion of writing plays and who brought her sister over to meet us because her brother lived in Blacktown.

Dermot and tradional musicians

The Cobblestone

Dinner at The Hairy Lemon

As usual, we have also had numerous visits to and dinners at various pubs and restaurants around Dublin. Some have been with David's colleagues, whilst others have been purely out of interest. On our last Saturday night in Dublin, we finally got to hear Dermot fiddle playing at the Cobblestone with other tradional musicians.  I was amazed that all he wanted to talk about when he came over to see us after his session was the bubble experiments that David and a student had been doing during for the last few months!  Then after not finding the Italian restaurant Nico's that Dermot recommended, we ended up enjoying pasta at Bruno's, the 5th Italian restaurant we have eaten at in Dublin and all of them very good. Early Sunday evening, we had a lovely catchup with Sue and her husband Justin when they popped into Dublin. Sue used to teach with me at Glenwood.  David searched the Internet for a pub that claimed to serve truly authentic Irish food. So, the Hairy Lemon was where we headed and were not disappointed by the Irish Stew or the Coddle. Of course our meals came with the standard serving of spuds done at least 2 different ways.
So for the 4th night in a row on the Monday, we ate out and this time at Cafe En Seine or Cafe Insane as the locals call it. We had dinner with David's PhD student, Joseph. This pub is art deco and is completely ostentatious. I enjoyed my chicken meal but the men were disappointed with their lamb.
After a tapas dinner the following Thursday, our final restaurant meal in Dublin was at The Winding Stair with Dermot, Tara and Helen. This restaurant had been recommended to us and indeed it was lovely and, being opposite the Ha'penny bridge, was a short stroll from our favourite pub, The Merchants Arch, that we had discovered during our first week in Dublin. Our last dalliance with Dublin would not have been complete without a final visit. We were not disappointed and enjoyed the music once again!

At Bewley's Grafton St Cafe

We also couldn't have had our last week in Dublin without at least a couple more trips for chai latte, cappuccino and carrot cake at Bewleys - the best carrot cake ever!
Dublin also celebrated Aurthurs Day in our last week in Ireland. Arthur's day is a celebration of Arthur Guiness' birthday, although apparently no one knows when his birthday was but celebrating it in Ireland (and now world wide) has turned into a very successful PR stunt.  A number of international acts play unannounced in pubs across Ireland and so David was keen to find where Mumford and Sons were playing in Dublin, trying to guess at which one of over a 100 pubs with music on the night.  Needless to say, we never found them, but found thousands of Guiness-fueled mad Irish men and women, at times squeezed down streets shoulder to shoulder with them.  So one of  the few disappointments of this Dublin dalliance was to find later that night on the internet that Mumford and Sons had played at Whelans, one of the top music pubs in Dublin and the only place on our "to do" list that we didn't get to!

St Patrick's Library

Up to the last week, I thought that I was going to have 3 months work free until one of David's colleagues at Dublin City University organised for me to spend my last Friday morning at St Patrick's, a school associated with the university teachers training college.  It was an interesting morning seeing how the Irish organise a school and exchanging views with teachers but a few of their jaws dropped when they found out that I had come to Ireland on long service leave, not something they have in Ireland.

Visiting the Book of Kells, Trinity

A visit to Trinity University and the Book of Kells was something we had been meaning to do for 3 months but it took us to our final days in Dublin to get there. THe Book of Kells is an illuminated celtic version  of the 4 gospels. Whilst the display of the books is amazing, the old library was spectacular and straight out of Harry Potter. Rows of old texts on shelves reaching 2 floors looked more like fim props than the real thing. This was a fitting last tourist attraction for us!
We have had so many adventures  in the last 3 months and have had a ball. There is only one thing left to say and that is  (insert Irish accent).... "Its been GRAND!"

Can't wait until David takes up another Fellowship.




See you,
Anne