I spent the long Labor Day weekend (or, simply a bank holiday here in England) in Dublin, Ireland with my friends Margot, Stefanie, and Beth...we had a nice time exploring the city (though I was unusally tired after three weekends away).We arrived early Saturday morning and set out immediately on the town (after a badly-needed double cappuccino upon arrival given our 7am departure and 5am wake-up call that morning) . We wandered through the lovely St. Stephen's Green (the city's main park) and browsed the colourful food market (lots of gorgeous fruit, cheese, olives, veggies, pies (the meat kind), chocolate, bread, chutneys, etc). We then toured the Guinness (beer) brewery which is really well done. The tour ended, of course, with a complimentary pint of stout in the top floor bar. In the midst of good times and wild conversation that involved a little too much gesturing, Beth spilled half of her beer, which you can see above.
Saturday evening we went for a nice dinner in the trendy neighbourhood of Temple Bar and then tried to pretend we were hipsters by going out to a bar afterward for more drinks and maybe dancing (HA!). But we were all so exhausted given our early rise, we practically fell asleep in our cocktails (tragic). Temple Bar is the cool "going out" neighborhood for the university kids. It's a bit wild -- kinda like Bourbon St. in New Orleans.
Sunday, we had breakfast at the buzzy Bewley's Cafe on Grafton Street (the shopping hub), then we toured the Jameson Whiskey distillery, which also ended in a whiskey tasting (I really do enjoy good whiskey). Margot was selected to do a full taste test at the end, so she was slightly more woozy than the rest of us by the end of the tour. We then toured the Dublin castle and chapel. I also took a stroll around St. Patrick's cathedral -- but Evensong was in progress when I arrived, so I couldn't go in.
We had another good dinner Sunday night, then capped off the evening with cocktails at the fashionable Clarence Hotel, which is owned by Bono and The Edge from the (Irish) band U2. But we didn't see them there, darnit. The hotel has a very interesting decor and vibe -- I call it Elementary School Chic, becuase it kind of had the feel of...well, a posh, made-over elementary school.
Monday we saw the ancient Book of Kells at Trinity College. I was dissapointed though to discover that by the term "illuminated," they do NOT mean that the book lights up (that would have made it much cooler). But I guess it's still pretty amazing and mysterious and everything (the book, authors unknown, chronicles the four Gospels in painstaking illustration, penmanship and detail).
More impressive than the Book of Kells (in my opinion) is the "Long Room" in the Old Library which you walk through after -- a gigantic, lofty wooden library that houses some of the oldest books in Ireland (and the oldest harp in Ireland, which I somehow missed -- Beth told me about it afterwards). It is a gorgeous, majestic room, which has on display many letters, early scripts and books by Ireland's literary pride, Samuel Beckett (behind James Joyce, of course).
After Trinity and the Book of Kells, we all split up and did our own thing for a couple hours. I darted over to the National Gallery of Ireland where I got a brief art fix that included works by John and Jack Yeats, Sarah Purser, and Evie Hone (her stained glass rooster was my favourite). There is a large collection of Italian religious art (always enjoyable) and a few rooms of Carravaggio, but unfortunately, they were closed. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.
We stayed at the very comfy and well-appointed Conrad hotel, which I would definitely recommed -- especially since we got complimentary wine and chocolate in our room for no apparent reason. But hey, whose arguing.
