Filed under: Dublin
So did I mention that we went to U2? We got our tickets here. A bunch went on last minute sale. They weren’t on the pitch/floor but they were good. We were on the first tier (row 20 or so) on the side. The show was amazing!! They always do an amazing job of new and old songs. The stage and the lighting and everything was very cool.
As we approached the stadium we saw a rainbow. It had rained all day but not one drop during the show and we could see the sun set as we watched the show.
It seems as if everyone in Dublin is going to one of the three shows – but no one we knew was going to the first night with us. In fact the population of Dublin is about 500,000 (that’s just Dublin, not greater Dublin) and with 3 shows 240,000 people will see U2. That being said – much of the crowd is not from Dublin. Tons of people just flew in for the show. Funny enough we ran into Joe Dowling and his wife while we were there. So that was kind of fun.
I took some video and pictures. One thing I have to mention about Croke Park, where we saw them, it’s an outdoor sports arena. It holds 80,000 people. It’s plopped right in the middle of a neighborhood. So while the show ended at 11:00 – we couldn’t really get anywhere for a while. The streets were just wall to wall people.
(or you can see them all here: http://tinyurl.com/lq67ho)
-
- see Croke Park in background – rainbow points to it
Filed under: Dun Laoghaire
On Tuesday night Aine got to have a sleepover with the big girls – but she got dropped off early the next morning. So I got to spend the day with Aine. Mostly we hung around Dun Laoghaire. We walked to the end of the East Pier. We didn’t see anything too exciting but it was fun. It never rained on us, which was a plus. We went to McDonald’s – which was a concession of sorts. We stopped in to see my friend Karina at Hughes & Hughes. I had plans to meet her later that night, which was fun. We visited the gallery at the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council building.
We ended our day by meeting Patrick in the library.
We took 2 pictures especially for Grandma – one without a hat, one by a boat called Puffin!
Filed under: Uncategorized
One day last week we met up with Sheila, Alex and Daniel, friends from home. We had talked about going to Howth or other activities but really it was a pretty crappy and rainy day. So we went shopping. I bought a ton – including Doc Martens. You’ll all be glad to hear I have retired the old pair after 10+ years of service. We ended the day at Captain America’s. I don’t think I had been there in 20 years.
Filed under: Dublin
We had Ailbhe and Cait for a sleepover this week. (Then their family had all 3 of our girls to stay, which is just one reason we love them.) Back to the sleepover. We walked to Blackrock to have a late dinner at Eddy Rockets. We walked most of the way by the sea. I have to admit it’s just beautiful. One of the best things is living so close now we get to track whether the tide is in or out. (We live about 5 minutes from the sea.) Being from the Great Plains we weren’t so up on what it meant for the tide to be in or out. It’s a huge difference. When the tide is out there can be hundreds of yards of beach. When the tide is in there’s none.
The morning of the sleepover we went swimming at Sea Point – which again is near to us, maybe a 10 minute walk. The water is cold and the tide was in – but the girls actually got into the water. Aine and I collected shells. There was a wave incident reminiscent of Grandpa at Lahinch last year – but not as good. I wasn’t paying attention and the waves kind of went from 0 to 60 in no time and I got pretty wet on a rebound off the walk.
I tend to walk near the sea most mornings. I walk from Monkstown down the West Pier of Dun Laoghaire. One morning I saw a dolphin – or maybe a porpoise, but definitely not a seal. It was pretty far out but I saw the dorsal fin. Another morning I saw a lobster boat pulling up lobster pots. I am a huge fan of Deadliest Catch so I’d like to pretend that this was a death defying view – but mostly it was a calm day and the guy was picking out as much trash as lobster (or maybe even crab) from the nets.
Filed under: Dublin
On Saturday we celebrated Rochelle’s (cousin from Florida) birthday. There were 15 people at Irish Grandma’s house since both sets of Rochelle’s grandparents live in Ireland.
We spent most of the day around the house. The Australian cousins went back home in the evening.
Saturday night Irish Grandma babysat and Patrick and I went to our favorite French restaurant ( L’Gueuleton) and had an amzing meal!
Filed under: Dublin
So starting about a week ago, we have been house sitting a beautiful house in Monkstown.
We’re still in South Dublin – but we’re much closer to town and very near the DART – and the coast. The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) is a train that goes further south (to Bray and beyond), into the city center and north to Howth and Malahide. The station is less than a 10 minute walk from the house.
It’s a 10 minute walk to Dun Laoghaire and maybe 0 minute walk to Blackrock. Every morning I have been walking to Dun Laoghaire and down the West Pier. On the foggy days we can hear the fog horm from the house. There’s a beach (Sea Point) about 15 minutes away. I’m using the term beach loosely here – but you could definitely swim there.
There’s a castle in Monkstown. There are two big churches – across the street from each other. There are a few shops, restaurants and a pub in the area. (In fact we saw a band at the pub on Saturday night.)
The houses are very nice – including this one. It’s a pre-Victorian house; built around 1830.
There’s a beautiful back garden with flowers, vegetables and fruit, which we can pick and eat if we want. There are 3 floors. Mostly we stay on the ground floor. The house has about a billion books; Patrick has already found a few gems for his PhD. There’s a marble bust in the dining room of the owner’s ancestor.
If you have ever lived in or visited a bedsit, that is what our room is like. In fact the whole house is like a bedsit put back into its original form. I live in mortal fear that someone will break something big while we’re here.
-
- living room
-
- backyard
-
- dining room bust
-
- church 2
-
- church 1
-
- waiting for the DART
-
- View near the coast
-
- Monkstown Castle
-
- Monkstown castle in the background
-
- the conservatory
Filed under: Bray
We went to the Bray Fun Fair in the rain. It rained pretty much all day. We walked along the strand in the rain. We met up with our cousins in the rain. We played on bumper cars in the rain. We went bowling.
Bowling is not as cheap in Ireland as it is at home.
We topped it off with an actually pretty good dinner at a pub on the strand – maybe it was called Katie Gallagher’s.
Filed under: Dublin
On Wednesday we headed out to Malahide with Julie, Kilian and Aidan (from Australia). Malahide is on the DART. It’s sort of the opposite end of the DART from us. It’s not on the bay – but out north of the city.
Malahide has a castle – but more than that for most of our concern, Malahide has an amazing playground on the castle grounds. The girls thought it was better than the Cabinteely Park! The whole grounds around the castle are pretty amazing. And the weather was perfect – almost too hot and sunny.
We took a quick glance at the castle and even had lunch there. (I will admit that we miss places like Bruegger’s and Chipotle for lunch!)
We walked into Malahide a bit. It’s a suburban area (or urban village as Patrick likes to say). It seems very nice and pretty upper end.
After Malahide we stopped into town for a while – by then it was raining. Unfortunately it was almost 5:00 and most things were shutting up for the night – but we did get to walk around Dublin Castle.
Filed under: Clare
On Monday we all took the train to see Patrick’s Aunt Sister Eda. She lives in Ennis, County Clare. We started out by taking the DART (train) into town, changing to the LUAS (another metro train) to the Irish Train at Connelly Station. We took that train to Limerick, another train to Limerick Station and finally on to Ennis. The good new is that my mobile broadband worked the whole time so at least I was able to work.
We met up with Patrick’s aunt at a hotel for lunch. We had a nice lunch. The kids were pretty good. After lunch we went back to the convent where the kids could run around for a while. Then it was back on the trains to do the whole routine in reverse. All in all we were gone about 13 hours.
Filed under: Dublin
Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. The O’Donnell sons and one daughter in law went with their mom to a fancy restaurant in Wicklow. Julie and I brought the girls and their cousins Aidan and Rochelle to Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire.
We walked from our place to Blackrock Market. Blackrock is a fun market with lots of toys, clothes, art and other. I got a dress and boot for 11 euros. OK I probably wouldn’t have bought the boots for more than 5 euros, but I know I’ll wear them.
After Blackrock we took the train to Dun Laoghaire. The regatta was still going on so it was hopping and we saw tons of sailboats, which is fun. We went to Café Mao, our favorite Chinese restaurant in Dublin. It’s very kid-friendly so I think it was a nice change for everyone. Then we walked down to the People’s Park.
The weather was very much what we’ve learned to expect here. Sunny one minute pouring rain the next. The kids were troopers with all of the walking but it’s a pretty part of Dublin.
