Monday, March 9, 2009

Welcome to Dublin, won't you come in?






Dublin is homey. At least for a couple of travelers who lived in Oxford over the summer and came to embrace British ways. We slept the sweet sleep of the globetrotter at night under our friends' red embroidered duvet, woke up for a morning walk/run along the receding gray of a calm and endless shoreline, rushed through Grafton street in a river of people stopping here and there at a Waterstone's bookstore or an outdoor outfitter. 

We crossed the River Liffey, took photos of Trinity College, and shopped for all those wonderful things that Britain has and that I like - Fry's Peppermint Cream bars, chili powder, blueberry muffins, Marks and Spencer's smoothies. 

Colm and Nieve - Brett's friends from his hike to Machu Pichu in Peru - allowed us to dabble in their record collection and browse their coffee table travel books, showed us around the downtown, and then made a heroic effort to stay up and enjoy Indian food with us, despite their presence at a "real Irish wedding" the night before which gave them only two hours sleep.  

All in all, we had a lovely day in Dublin, and two rather long days of travel on either end. We did manage to see downtown Frankfurt during one of our two five hour layovers in Germany, and I'll post some pictures of the city before long. 

Advice to fellow travelers soon to experience the five hour Frankfurt layover: beware taking the subway immediately before a soccer game, unless you want a few close-up pictures of the riot police.

Advice to fellow travelers soon to experience the five hour Frankfurt layover, secondary: buy a large bag of Haribo gummy bears at duty free. Instant energy. A smile in your pocket.  Who cares about the mini-riot and the not-s0-mini riot police!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite bands in the sixties was The Doors. I like your doors in the 21st century, too. Enjoy your British purchases, and begin a birthday box list for me so I can start the search for 4/22. Love mom