My grandma reminded me this weekend (an rightly so!) that no stories from Dublin and London had been posted. It's been nearly a month since my trip there. Yikes. I apologize if any of you were holding your breath. Exhale!
Imagine what it feels like to suddenly be in an English-speaking nation after 3 months of misunderstandings. When our plane touched down in Dublin (from Berlin), it was the most incredible thing. Ordering a sandwich presented no problem! Paying the correct amount of money for the sandwich was easy! Figuring out which bus went to our hotel--piece of cake. Except that they speak Gaelic, too. As evidenced by one of our TV channels and signs throughout the city. (Like this one!)
Funny thing was asking an Irish person a question. Sometimes this would lead to a furrowing and a quizzical "What?". As if MY accent was strange.
Our first morning there, we were walking to the store to buy provisions (granola bars, hobnobs and face wash)... when all of a sudden, on a quiet, residential street, an old, plaid-clad gentleman came bicycling down the hill towards us calling "Happy New Year, girls!" And that moment basically sold me on the whole country.
The highlights of fair Dublin included the seeing ancient Christian manuscripts at Chester Beatty Library and the Book of Kells at Trinity College. They have gorgeous, intricately-illuminated texts from 30 AD to the 1600s. We saw an incredible Polish Art exhibit at the National Gallery. You're probably thinking Polish Art and incredible don't normally go in the same sentence. But they were amazing paintings.
The whole city charms. Funny signs are everywhere. My favorite--the mail slot in the National post office reading "All places except Dublin." The Georgian doors on the townhouses are painted brilliant blues, strong reds, mild yellows and even Irish green. The streets are cobbled and crowded with very fast walkers. Although walking in Dublin is a visual feast, we also got to ride on red double-decker buses.
The last night, we descended the bus too soon. This meant a 10-minute walk in the cold... and the snow! Yes, it snowed on us! Huge, beautiful flakes drifted from the sky. I'd never been in snow like that before (besides briefly our last day in Berlin). The song from The Sound of Music is true-- it really does stay on your nose and eyelashes!
Imagine what it feels like to suddenly be in an English-speaking nation after 3 months of misunderstandings. When our plane touched down in Dublin (from Berlin), it was the most incredible thing. Ordering a sandwich presented no problem! Paying the correct amount of money for the sandwich was easy! Figuring out which bus went to our hotel--piece of cake. Except that they speak Gaelic, too. As evidenced by one of our TV channels and signs throughout the city. (Like this one!)
Funny thing was asking an Irish person a question. Sometimes this would lead to a furrowing and a quizzical "What?". As if MY accent was strange.
Our first morning there, we were walking to the store to buy provisions (granola bars, hobnobs and face wash)... when all of a sudden, on a quiet, residential street, an old, plaid-clad gentleman came bicycling down the hill towards us calling "Happy New Year, girls!" And that moment basically sold me on the whole country.
The highlights of fair Dublin included the seeing ancient Christian manuscripts at Chester Beatty Library and the Book of Kells at Trinity College. They have gorgeous, intricately-illuminated texts from 30 AD to the 1600s. We saw an incredible Polish Art exhibit at the National Gallery. You're probably thinking Polish Art and incredible don't normally go in the same sentence. But they were amazing paintings.
The whole city charms. Funny signs are everywhere. My favorite--the mail slot in the National post office reading "All places except Dublin." The Georgian doors on the townhouses are painted brilliant blues, strong reds, mild yellows and even Irish green. The streets are cobbled and crowded with very fast walkers. Although walking in Dublin is a visual feast, we also got to ride on red double-decker buses.
The last night, we descended the bus too soon. This meant a 10-minute walk in the cold... and the snow! Yes, it snowed on us! Huge, beautiful flakes drifted from the sky. I'd never been in snow like that before (besides briefly our last day in Berlin). The song from The Sound of Music is true-- it really does stay on your nose and eyelashes!
No comments:
Post a Comment