Ireland - Dublin

We really need to think of some more creative titles for our blog posts. We were going to go with "The Emerald Isle - Dublin" but that's a bit too obvious.... then there was "40 Shades of Green and 40 billion euros of public debt - Dublin" but that's a bit too topical, so we decided to keep it simple. Anyway, as you no doubt have guessed, here's some pics from our summer visit to Éire, and in particular Dublin, where we stayed on arrival before heading off to greener and quieter climes.

Apparently it always rains in Ireland, but Keezee seems to have had a bit of luck on his previous visits (the luck of the Irish perhaps) because he's, on the main, avoided much in the way of precipitation. His good luck continued this time, and we hope you enjoy our pics from a sunny Sunday morning walk along the Liffey (plus a few more from our Saturday afternoon sail across the Irish Sea).


Not exactly Ireland, but this little green patch is Holyhead in Wales, where we ate our McDonalds after a long drive, and looked out at our ferry in the distance which would take us over the sea.


Our aforementioned ferry. Bigger than a Sydney Harbour ferry, granted.


On approach to Dublin, and the girls are still smiling in their new sailor hats.


Keezee still smiling too, with the shores of Killiney in the background.
Our mate Roger, has a good story about an American who got a taxi in Dublin and asked the driver to take him to Killarney, instead of Killiney....


Dublin's changed in recent years. We don't remember the Samuel Beckett Bridge shown here, or the nearby James Joyce Bridge, or the Sean O'Casey Bridge (where's the Dave Allen Bridge???) or any of those swanky banking buildings from our visits in the 90's.


This statue's new too, but we remember Custom's House in the background there.


As above.


New bikes as well (with the old Customs House).


Ah, O'Connell Street, we remember that.


And that's the Ha'penny Bridge in the background. We remember that one as well. The toll on this bridge was quite reasonable, from memory.



And finally we have the tiny, but fabulous, Palace Bar in the Temple Bar precinct. Keezee remembers going in here back in the 90's, for a few pints of Guinness. Strangely, he can't remember coming out again.