Last weekend I visited one of my best friends in Dublin while she is studying abroad there. It felt like the tundra compared to Florence’s 90 degree days with roughly two clouds in the sky. Dublin was just as cold and damp as I had been told, but it was a refreshing change. On our way from the airport into the city I quickly noticed that all road signs and every single printed thing in public was written in two languages side by side. I was extremely interested to learn that it was in both English and Gaelic. Apparently people learn Gaelic in school similarly to how we learn a second language, and the signs being in both languages is their effort to keep tradition and the Irish history alive. One of our stops was the Dubhlinn Gardens, seeing that there is always so much rainfall the flowers and greenery flourish. The gardens were small, squeezed between a library and the Dublin Castle but there were plenty of people out enjoying a sunny day in Dublin. All of the little walkways, sculptures, wicker/wooden hobbit holes were perfect. Along with the multi-colored buildings across the street.
From there we walked over to Dublin Castle, which used to be the seat of the UK Government’s Administration of Ireland. We didn’t do the full tour but what we were able to see was mainly intricately decorated rooms, with images of famous people including Queen Elizabeth II. They also had a great view of the Dubhlinn Gardens and the castle courtyard. Many of the historical pieces had little cards on them that read “I am old and delicate. Please do not touch me” which was very amusing and inspired our guest book entry. A fair amount of places in Dublin had books for guests to sign, it was adorable. Many of the doors had super cool hidden key holes too. Between shopping on O’Connell Street we stopped into the 1916 Easter Rising in St. Stephen’s Green Park. My friend explained it as the Central Park of Dublin, and it was beautiful. With all of the rain, and clearly some very diligent maintenance it was a great park. Dublin also had some of the most beautiful graffiti that I’ve ever seen, in America and Europe, you’ll be able to see all of that very soon!
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April 2019
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