Wednesday July 13, 2016

Goodbye Iceland and hello Ireland! 

    After inching our way through customs and immigration we hopped in a taxi and off we went. As we were getting into the cab, the driver asked me to sit in front. No problem, except I forgot that the passenger side is on the other side of the car. Our driver was a chatty, pleasant Irishman. Until I asked about the impact of Uber in Ireland. He is no fan... As we drove the 40 min into the city he provided lively color commentary. He told us about Gaelic football and the recent Beyonce concert, pubs to visit and how to navigate out of the city when we rent a car in a few days. He pointed out interesting sites and before we knew it we pulled up to Buswell's, our home for two nights. "The asylum is right next door." After a pregnant pause he smiled and told us "the asylum" is how they refer to the parliament building. Cute. 

      Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland with a population of 1.2 million people. There is a river running through it and its sits on a bay facing east towards England. Founded in the year 980 or so as a Viking town, it has a rich and long history. We explored this history some on our first day. 

      After checking in at Bus-well's we dodged the raindrops to visit the Archaeological Museum across the street. Buswell's has been a hotel since the 1880s and has old world charm with updated furnishings. It was a great find and incredibly well located for our needs.

     Although Dublin dates its origins to the 900s, there have been people living in Ireland since before Neolithic times. Tracing Ireland's history from these times, the Archaeological Museum has a nice collection of artifacts punctuating important milestones in the land's history. From stone tools to fine jewelry. Bog bodies with highly preserved textiles to hollowed out tree boats. Armor and weapons to gold and amber. Doing the museum first laid a good foundation for understanding the history of Ireland as well as sites and events we will experience over the next week.    

    Located next door to the Parliament House, we saw a small group of protestors standing in the rain on entering. They were gone by the time we crossed the street back to our hotel for a consultation with Rick Steves. Rick sent us to Wagamama for dinner. Wagamama is a noodle restaurant with something for everyone and it did not disappoint. Next time you are in Dublin it would be worth a stop if you didn't want fish and chips or a heavy meal. From there, we meandered into the Temple Bar area, known for its pubs with traditional Irish music. Not knowing one from the other but armed with a list of recommendations from our hotel, we hesitantly made our way up the stairs to Gogarty's where we joined a small group in the back of the small pub watching a foursome sing and play guitar, mandolin, and bass nearby. Guinness on tap, Irish coffee and the lively band made for great entertainment. It didn't take long for us to find seats smack in front of the band. Almost too close for comfort. After a bit a few people started dancing - we thought they might be drunk but as Adrian observed, they weren't drunk, they were Israeli! They played and played  without taking a  break. We slipped out of our front row seats, purchased their CD and walked back to Buswell's.  Exhausted but looking forward to the rest of the week in Ireland.