Our Dublin Trip

It's about time we got around to sharing photos and news of our recent excursion to Dublin. As you all know we were there primarily on business, but we also managed to fit in a fair bit of pleasure...


This was my first ever Irish Guiness. I don't like Guiness and never have, although I can drink other stouts (I went through a Murphy's phase during my adolescence). I was also sceptical about all the claims that it tastes different in Ireland, but I must eat my hat now, because it's all true! This went down beautifully in the sleepy but authentic O'Donoghues. Just around the corner was a restaurant called 'Ely' where we treated ourselves to a fabulous meal on our first night out. We can heartily recommend the delicious food and dizzying array of excellent wines. We cannot speak so highly of the clientele, who were loud and a little obnoxious (two old (married) blokes hitting on two considerably younger ladies). My suggestion would be to book ahead, as we were seated on stools near the bar, where the wine was flowing more freely than at the quieter (but reserved) tables round the corner.

We saw some stunning paintings at the National Gallery (especially the Vermeer), which was just round the corner from our extraordinary accommodation: the Kildare Street & University Club.

Our very generously proportioned room looked out over St. Stephen's Green (which for those who don't know Dublin, is a lovely park right smack in the middle of the city).

The rather ornate dining room (blurred because I was being extra discrete with my mobile phone!) was where we ate breakfast each morning. Those are real chandeliers, and you can just make out the selection of imposing portraits on the walls, presumably of eminent academics and public figures who are related to the club in some way. The whole place was extremely quiet, all of the time, there was only the sound of old wind-up clocks and the occasional teaspoon hitting China.

We were lucky enough to enjoy some very un-Irish weather (I think it only rained once), which made for scenic walks around the city at sunset, and great light for photographs where O'Connell Street meets the Liffey...

This could almost be Amsterdam don't you think?


O'Connell Street, with the intriguing 'spire' art project in the distance. According to the Lonely Planet guide, the 120m Spire is 'a risqué homage to the fight against one of Dublin's greatest social ills, heroin addiction'. Apparently it's now known among droll locals as the 'Eyeful Tower'.


Sunset on the Liffey... (For a larger versions of some of these pictures, see the flickr page.) Finally, on the way home we stopped into an excellent cheese monger on Duke Street (highly recommended) to buy a wee present for the housemates, in the form of 'Coolea', an intriguing and delicious cheese from West Cork.