This is Dublin. Welcome






Lots of blue blue sea in the wonderful weather.

1st day. Dun Laoghaire. Ended up there cos I had a 90-min bus ticket from the airport so I decided to stay on the bus till the end. It was a nice harbour.





Last (4th) day, back to nature. Howth, the island-turned-peninsula due to coastal deposition (tombolo connecting it to the main-ireland-island)
Has a lighthouse too! I love lighthouses.

Overview of Howth from the distance


At Howth itself






Looking down, it's quite a steep cliff...

... but there's a stone staircase...

...down the staircase...

View from bottom


Climb back up, view from there.

Watching gulls / guillemots on the cliff

Walking through fields of this yellow stuff (broom) which are v fragrant


Close-up

There's greenery in the town-centre too.
St Stephen's Green

Merrion Square

They have canals that run through the entire ireland from the East coast to the West coast. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. This is the Dublin portion obviously. Locks, locks and more locks. And Docks too.





Canals all run to the River Liffey..

along which there are important buildings like the 4 courts:

And nice bridges

And the half-penny bridge (had to pay to cross in the past)

And a replica of a ship (used to transport slaves i think?)


and the river eventually flows into the bay of dublin. The harbour is there.

Looking back, nice sunset



People, people and more people...
(all going in one direction, heading towards a concert by Dolly Parton, famous American country singer)

(all tourists, on main shopping street, Grafton street)

(haha yes people as well. in some memorial in the church)

the interior of which looks like this

it's St Patrick's Cathedral - hence the stain glass of him

and the stone of a well from which St Patrick drew water to baptise ppl

oooh, have to mention here, the celtic crosss, seen on the stone, and elsewhere:

And finally, the exterior of St Patrick's

The second cathedral in the city, Christ Church (both Anglican - in fact there's another big Catholic one - hmm)

You probably think it's due to perspective, but no, the LEFT WALL is leaning outwards because the nave collapsed in the 1500s and the ceiling was rebuilt onto the now-leaning wall.

which has a crypt

And Christ Church again, at night:


Randomly, but religion-related
Candles at a Catholic church, for Virgin Mary

Ruins of an abbey, Howth


Some history from this historical place...
The castle
- The only surviving tower from medieval times (1200s), the rest was rebuilt until 1750

- You can see the chapel to the right of the tower. Also, the big green round lawn is where the "black (dubh) pool (linn)" used to be [and is now underground], giving Dublin her name.

- The castle was burnt down and was rebuilt to be more of a palace than a defensive building.
- What used to be the drawing room, where ladies withDRAW to after dinner. Chairs are positioned at an angle (from each other) so that there is no confusion or embarrassment when a gentleman approaches to ask to dance with a lady.


- The nice thing about the place is that it's still being used. This is for conferences. The Good Friday agreement was signed in another room in the castle.

Temple Bar area. An example of how the streets would have looked like in the 1700s. Other parts were demolished over the years (esp in 1700s when there was a street-widening commission, to create big boulevards to make Dublin a world-class city). This part was saved (almost turned into a bus depot in the 1990s) and transformed into a tourist area.

Still temple bar, but I assume this is totally new. A mix of old and new. Kinda like boat quay/clarke quay.

Built 1730 specifically for parliament, but now Bank of Ireland

The House of Lords survived, House of Commons demolished to give way to banking hall.

Trinity college, founded 1592, but most buildings were built later. This entrance was built 1760

The red building in the distance, oldest in Trinity. 1700. The white bell tower, 1853


Oh and I peeped into the exam hall and there was a pharmacology exam going on

General Post Office, 1818. Place of proclamation of Irish Republic after (eventually) failed 1916 Easter uprising

You can still see the GPO on the right. Right in front of it is "The Spire" which replaces the original Nelson's pillar (1808) which was blasted by the IRA in the 1960s

It is actually really tall (120m)

The leaders of the 1916 uprising were executed in this jail - this is a classic photo of the place. This is the Victorian wing (1800s) which allowed more sunlight in, thought to help reform prisoners

while the old wing (1700s) had none

And prisoners were bored enough to draw stuff on the walls. Esp the political prisoners of 1916 and beyond...

Scupltures all over the place
This is at the castle. Justice. But apparently, when it rains the water runs along her finger and drips into the pan on her left, thus causing an imbalance. Apparently the problem was rectified by drilling a hole in it to let the water drain.

This guy was a trade unionist. (1900s)

O' Connell emancipated the Catholics in 1829

Irish potato famine. Commemorating a particular family.


Bas-relief of Gulliver's Travels (Jon Swift was the dean at Christ Church cathedral, late 1600s)

The apartments on which the bas-relief plaques are

But not all are of men,
Dog. (famine family)

Sphere within sphere, at Trinity College. I swear I've seen it before and indeed I have - at UN New York HQ and Vatican gardens. All of them by Arnaldo Pomodoro. The last one is in UC Berk. I must see it one day. (just like how I must see all the shopping-bridges in the world)



Oh and guess what, I drank. Guinness. Smoooth.

The pub I went to. Fact that it was named the Temple Bar suggested that I was ripped off. But I only drank half-a-pint.

This is where it's made.
I didn't go to the attraction, probably just another rip-off. I know ppl have gone but I'm not a beer fan. Besides, I've seen the entire thing online haha.



Their merchandise is everywhere anyway.

Equally, the leprechauns (Irish mythological male fairies) are omnipresent, in all shapes, sizes, and functions

... saying interesting things as well...

Other interesting things/ messages:
Read the part about encore

Found in the police museum, which yes is currently housed in the surviving tower of the castle.

They also have a "road sense demonstrator"

And finally, home sweet home. Glorious sunset at the airport. Glorious weather for all days I was there.













And everyone pls feel blessed for having a pair of good eyes. They are amazing organs - such a wide field-of-vision, such amazing adaptation abilities (see dark and light objects simultaneously)
, the possibility of focusing attention on objects and making them feel larger and making the scene nicer. It's just impossible to capture such things on camera...