tbaroundtheworld

Next stop - Asia. But for now while the memories of a great trip remain, enjoy a few more taken during my perambulations. A more regular row of houses off the Grand Canal. Better advice was never given. My personal representative on this side of the globe. Saint Patrick grabbing a snake. A lock in the Grand Canal. One more shot of the mayhem. The outside of the Brazen Head, Dublin's oldest pub. The inside, I didn't last in there too long. Horsies lined up for a day's work on the holiday.

A couple of things popped into my mind as I was gliding across the Atlantic that I felt were worth sharing. The first happened as I was walking up Lower St. George's Street towards Dame and my place along the parade route. A very non-descript middle-aged man was whistling a song that immediately caught my attention and got stuck in my brain. I kept running and running it over and over as the blocks passed by, knowing it but not quite placing it. Trying hard to place lyrics to it in order to break my mental block, it finally came to the answer - Love Me Do by the Beatles. The man was short, oddly dressed, balding with a comb-over and thick glasses and here he is whistling Love Me Do while strolling down the street. I'd say it was like a scene from a movie, but I'm not sure what movie it would be. The second had to do with our parade crowd companions. A couple of Irish women were near us with their children and it was wonderful to experience the parade through the kids reacti...

Wow, they were not kidding when they estimated 300,000 St. Paddy's Day tourists, the airport this morning was insane . Made it here okay after a crappy night's sleep due to the gale blowing outside my window. The directions Tom gave me were impeccable I cruised right it. The streets were expectedly dark at 4 AM, but I was shocked at the number of people roaming about, post St.Paddy's day. Most hailing taxis and trying to get home. The airport itself was absolutely mobbed with post-partiers, most with face paint and giant green hats still intact. I guess people fly in from all over Europe for one day, discount flyers like Ryan Air making it all possible. Just amazing to me that these kids would leave their partyer and head to the airport and home. It promises to be an interesting day - we've had a big delay and 3 gate changes. Go figure. After much a abortive fiddling with trying to get the local internet access to work, I was finally able to get these posts blogged. So ...

I was having some misgivings about staying through the weekend for the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. For one thing, I couldn’t find a single local person who had been or intended to go. On top of that, the predictions of one-half million people made it sound like most of the activities would be inaccessible, in particular the parade. And the capper was the report on the news that more than 300,000 people had passed through Dublin Airport on Friday. But I stayed on and lay in bed an extra hour on Saturday, figuring I’d just muddle through. Outside my hotel window, a beautiful morning presented itself. Breezy, but with clear blue skies. Wanting to fuel up before a day on my feet, I gathered my goods and headed down the lift figuring I’d grab a quick breakfast in the coffee shop. I guess the host of tour busses blocking the entrance last night should have been a clue. My previously quite hotel was now mobbed, and the line for the restaurant was across the lobby. Electing a more urbane so...

A shot looking down the main lane in St. Stephen's Green. Spring flowers. Daffodils are endemic - all the medians in all the major motorways are filled with them. The River Liffey. A shot of the City Center. Grafton Street shopping district. More Spring blooms. A hero framed with blooming Magnolias. Cobblestones. All the streets down by the river are paved with these. Another shot down by the City Center. Row houses along Sussex Road (near the hotel.)