Friday, May 10, 2013

Day 1 Dublin

I wish that I had a picture of St. Stephens Green to post, or perhaps our visit to the oldest pub in Dublin...The Brazen Head.  But, the wind was 20 mph and the rain was sideways.  I feared to take me beloved camera out of it s safe haven.  Hell, I feared taking out  the iPad.  Did I take pictures?  I did! But you wouldn't know where we were.  It could have been any pub.  But it wasn't.  It was Dublin.  The gateway to our experience.  We checked in early to our hotel / Castle.  Clontarf Castle.  And after unpacking and grabbing a quick 2 hour nap we caught the 130 bus to the center of town.  Unsure of our ways, we walked to our bus stop.  We caught our bus and ventured into Dublin. The wind was fierce.  More than we expected.  Our clothes were thin.  Our spirit was unsure. But our direction was forward.  We walked over cobblestone streets and found a pub called The Church to have our lunch.  This place is a beautiful old church, with the old pipe organ still in tact, and tables in alcoves for intimate conversations.  My surprise was having a gluten free menu incorporated within the regular menu.  I ordered a BLT on GF ciabatta bread.  So delicious.  Although the bacon was a slab of tasty ham.  Not quite like home.
A friend suggested that I write about this trip using my senses....sight, sound, touch, smell,taste. Find the strongest for the place I am in and use that as a prompt.  Well today was sight. Watching the ripples in puddles along the road and along the Liffy confirmed the strength of the wind.  Watching umbrellas turned inside out over and over and seeing so many of them discarded by trash cans along the road.  The close runner up to the sensory experience was sound.  Here in Ireland we heard the lilting cadence of speech from our taxi driver and waitresses, but all around us were the languages of many nations.  Dublin is very much an international culture.  Not just visitors like ourselves, but shop keepers, bus drivers and such.
I am sure that day 2 will hold a different array of gifts for the senses.  But sleep tugs at me for now and I am going to try and catch up after forty hours of going.

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