ireland with megs and paul

It's so nice to visit people in other countries. My friend Megan now lives in Ireland with her husband Paul--we went to Scholastica together, shared in an apartment during my first year med school/Meg's last year physio, AND she even still likes me after living with my family in Hurley for a few months for an internship. Now that's what I call a friend.
Here's the Ireland connection: Scholastica has an Ireland semester abroad program. Megs was there in 2001, met and fell for her now hubby Paul, who is originally from Louisburgh (where our school was based). I was there in 2002 and had an awesome time.
So, we got into Dublin and the lovely Paul was at the airport to meet us. YAY! We went to their house, dropped off our stuff, and then went to a nearby cafe for some coffee, where Megs soon met us after work. She made us a wonderful dinner, and then we went to Temple Bar for some pints and music. There were some very fun traditional musicians playing.

Temple Bar!

Friday we wandered to downtown Dublin. Took a walk to look at O'Connell Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare. One of Europe's widest streets, it's about 150 feet in width. It was named after Daniel O'Connell, a nationalist leader during the early 1900s.
O'Connell Street has often been center stage in Irish history, forming the backdrop to one of the 1913 Dublin Lockout gatherings, the 1916 Easter Rising, the Irish Civil War of 1922, the destruction of the Nelson Pillar in 1966. It's also been the place for many public celebrations, protests and demonstrations through the years.

And there's a statue of Molly Malone, a fictitious fishmonger--she's got all sorts of good names, like the tart with the cart, the dolly with the trolley, the dish with the fish...just to name a few! Those Dubliners come up with some really fun names for their statues. There's a statue of James Joyce that's nicknamed the prick with the stick, and a spire that was just built in 2003 (though was supposed to be the millenium monument according to our tour guide) is the stiletto in the ghetto, or the stiffy at the Liffey, or the rod to God. And there was a notorious 1980s monument to personify the river Liffey, which showed a woman sitting on a slope with bubbling water running down past her representing the river. That one was the floozie in the jacuzzi, or the hoor in the sewer (say whore to rhyme with sewer, and there's a bit of the Dublin accent for you!).

And then we headed off for our bike tour. Aren't the helmets fashionable?

Weeeee!

Going by the U2 wall at Windmill Lane Studios, the area where U2 recorded their first three albums. Windmill Lane was used by U2 throughout the 1980's. The wall outside the studio has been marked with chalk, pens and paint over the years by U2 fans.

And my favorite statue--here's Oscar Wilde (of course, he has nicknames too, but they mostly have derogatory terms about his sexuality, which I won't repeat here) in Merrion Square. I thought he was painted, but he's actually made of different kinds of marble. Super cool. And he was made to be smiling when you look at him from his left, and contemplative from his left. So here's happy Oscar.

Pretty Georgian doors.

Saturday we went on a art hunt with Paul, and went through the Wicklow mountains and Wicklow Gap, and stopped at Glendalough. Glendalough has a well known early medieval monastic settlement, founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest.


Paul trying to dodge my camera....curses! Foiled again!

Saturday Paul and Meghan had a barbecue with pounds (and pounds and pounds) of meat and lots of other goodies. Josh ate three, count them three, burgers. It was good craic.
Meg and Mike (Paul's cousin and good friend) having a good ole laugh.

Amy (Mike's fabulous girlfriend) coaxed Josh into putting on this bridesmaids dress that Meg got for a theme party. It was actually worn by her cousin in the 90s. Gorgeous, isn't it?

Sunday it was off to the original Guinness brewery. Though they don't let you in the actual brewery, the storehouse has been made into a very cool spot to learn about the history of Guinness and how it's made.

This was the first taste we got and Josh enjoyed it dearly.

What a beautiful sight!

We had our complementary pint on the top floor called the gravity room. It had great 360 views of Dublin.

Sundays at Merrion Square is an outdoor arts store. Artists from all over Dublin sell their work, so we wandered. there was lots of cool stuff, but this guy was one of our favorites.

Monday we headed off to the north, but we'll get more Megan and Paul time when we see them in Louisburgh next weekend. Hooray!
And I am finally back to getting these darn things done in somewhat real time. Thank goodness!