Ireland! Ireland! Together standing tall (OK ... just Dublin)

In July, we went to Dublin for a few days. We didn't have an auspicious start to the holiday. Firstly, Kathy was pretty crook, and probably should have stayed at home in bed. Then we encountered the horrors of Cardiff Airport. Ah, all those folks heading off for package holidays in warmer climes. Count the fake tans, male and female, and the died straightened hair. Fab. Ah, the complaints of people going through the security checks. Yes, you have to take that belt off. Yes, you have to take those shoes off. No, you can't take that liquid on the plane – I don't care if it did cost you £50. Joy. Then, to make matters even more 'fun', there was a fire alarm. There were no clear instructions on what was happening or where to go – there were no fire wardens directing passengers. Staff at a bookshop directed people down the wrong way. People were allowed to take open drink containers (glasses mainly) down the fire stairs, and then whined that they had to finish the drink before being allowed back through the security screening. (Matt: yes, I like a drink, but pints of Stella and Strongbow have a time and place - not in the bloody evacuation stairwell) Fantastic. Oh, and our plane was delayed (you have to expect that), but as a result the flight information disappeared off the flight info screen. Good one, guys. We weren't surprised to hear a week later that a family was allowed to get on the wrong flight (and the error wasn't discovered until they got to Turkey), and then a week after that that a woman was allowed through security and immigration with her husband's passport! Brilliant.

Anyway, we finally got to Dublin, checked in to our hotel, then went out to explore the city. We had a fantastic time. We walked over to St. Stephen's Green, and had a look at the poignant famine memorial. We then walked through the park and had a look at a series of Polish wildlife photos that were on display there, which were pretty cool. We then had a wander around the Georgian part of the city, and had a look at the houses. We found a sculpture of a person scaling a wall – except it was the side of a building several stories tall. We then wandered along the Grand Canal and looked at the locks. While walking along the tow path, we stopped and laughed at ducks fighting - “when ducks attack!!”. We then headed over to Trinity College and had a wander around the grounds (and endured the crowds on the roads outside the College).

We didn't pay to go in and see the Book of Kells, though – we'd seen it when it went to Canberra a few years ago, so didn't feel like lining up to see it again. Still, we enjoyed walking around the College grounds and looking at the buildings.

We grabbed a couple of sandwiches, then leapt on one of those 'hop on, hop off' buses and headed off to the Guinness Storehouse. We had a great time wandering around the visitors centre, and Matt got a thrill to see that a plaque had finally gone up celebrating one of the brewers. Maths and stats dorks will know him as the guy who invented the Student t-test. The rest of us will know him as William Sealy Gosset, Chief Brewer.

While there, we also marvelled at a huge waterfall (and Matt discovered that while you can reach across and put your hand in it, you probably shouldn't - if you don't want to get soaking wet),

and enjoyed the views from the highest bar in Dublin while first enjoying our complementary pint of the black stuff, then at one of the bars downstairs from there enjoying more of the black stuff

and the other brews brewed by Guinness. It was great. We then leapt onto another bus to go back into Dublin, and listened to the blarney being spun by the commentary guy on the bus. We got off the bus, and tried to find a pub which had been recommended to us. We went around, and around, and around, getting thirstier and crankier. When we finally found it, we were almost sorry we had – because it wasn't any good. Ah well, you get that. Still, it was nice wandering around and enjoying what turned out to be the best weather of the week. So we went to Temple Bar and found a place for dinner, had a good meal, then went back to the hotel for the night.

The next day, we endured breakfast at the hotel. It was just horrible. Everything was overcooked and had obviously been sitting around for a while. And the atmosphere in the dining room was oppressive. It was the most uncomfortable meal we've had in a very long time. We escaped as quickly as we could, and did the entire tourist bus trip around Dublin. Poor Kathy coughed and spluttered and froze until we could get under cover and into the warm, but the bus trip itself was excellent. We got to see a lot of Dublin, and checked out several places to return to later. We saw the remains of the walls of Dublin City, and saw the statue of Molly Malone. We heard about the 'lost gates of Phoenix Park', learnt that Arthur Guinness had 21 children (dude!) and saw a pair of swans out and about on the Liffey with their 7 (!) cygnets. And, did you know that when Pope John Paul II visited Dublin in 1979 1.25 million people turned out to hear him at mass? There's now a huge crucifix on the site. After the trip, we had another wander around the centre of the city, and found a bar called VAT. After an excellent lunch, we 'had' to have a couple of the whiskey tasting plates. Our attitude was that it would be rude not to! One was an Irish tasting plate, the other was a global one, to compare Irish and Scottish whiskey/whisky, and with those distilled in the US. Tasty, and educational. After that, we had another wander, and were astounded by a pair of tramps attacking each other – well, more correctly one guys was trying to defend himself from a real harridan of a 'female'. She was kicking and abusing him, hitting him, and pouring beer all over him. Lovely, and not a Garda officer in sight. We moved away quickly. We found some great pubs – it's Ireland, of course. We went to a place called Foggy Dew, which is not a tourist pub. In the bar (which is below ground level, they had Dark Side of the Moon playing, and then blues. It was fantastic, and there was a really eclectic bunch of people drinking there. We also went to a pub full of no-one (touristy), a pub full of Liverpudlians, and a pub called the Stag's Head, which was full of stuffed stag's heads. And it head really lovely black granite tables to sit at. The weather was just horrible, so it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

That night, we had the best meal of our trip. Vegetarians and squeamish diners turn away now. We were wandering around deciding what to eat when we walked past a restaurant which caught our eye. So we went in, to Olesya's Wine Bar. There we saw something on the menu which made our heart's stop – a foie gras tasting platter! We had the delicious stuff 4 ways, and all were delicious. So delicious. To accompany it, our waiter recommended a muscat de baum de veni. Yes, a sweet wine, but a dry sweet one, not cloying. He said that it was what he liked to drink with foie gras. It was an inspired choice, and was a brilliant match.

The next day was our last in Dublin. We went to the National Museum, and really enjoyed it. It was fantastic seeing the beautiful gold pieces, learning about pre-Viking Ireland, the romans and all the other invaders of the island, and got quite tired walking around all the exhibits. It was great. Not so great was our attempt to go to the Natural History Museum, because it was closed! It was pretty disappointing, as we'd heard a lot about it, and all the guides had recommended it. Ah well. So, we had lunch (mmmm, corned beef and Irish stew), bought some gifts for our nephews and niece, and went instead to Dublinia, which is an exhibition of medieval Dublin. We had to rush the last bit, as it closed at 5pm (yes, we'd been there an hour by that stage), and missed a couple of rooms, and Kathy nearly got locked into one of the exhibit rooms when a member of staff didn't check the room properly! Afterwards, we had a quick look at the grounds of the church next door and a nosey at the remains of an Augustinian priory. We then walked down the hill back towards Dublin, when Matt's pub-dar went off and we went in to a brewery bar called The PorterHouse Brewers Bar. Yummy, yummy, yummy beers. Dinner that night was at a Spanish restaurant, where Matt had pork paella and Kathy had seabass with a chorizo crust. The house white was delicious, and we finished up with the best espresso we'd had in Europe so far.

So our last impressions of Dublin were having walked 5,000 miles, damp weather, and marauding packs of Italian students taking up all of the footpath and sweeping all before them – you had to wait until they'd passed before you could move on. Our hotel was not the best, and was pretty noisy, but it was central and the price was right. But we had a fantastic time. Did love seeing this every day: on one side of the road, Liver Assurance

on the other side of the road, Heineken

Love it.

The next day we flew out, back to Cardiff. The airport was packed – people flying out for their summer holidays in warmer climes. The only thing of note was the bunch of American (of course) tourists complaining about the size of the plane. Hey – it wasn't all that small – it was a 56 seater! You fly on smaller planes going between Canberra and Sydney! I think they were expecting to go on a much larger aircraft. Now, to plan our next trip...