I finished work on Tuesday, packed my stuff for my six months expatriate trip to Geneva and left for Dublin on Wednesday.
Dublin is obviously a capital but still it’s not huge like London or Paris.You can walk everywhere, although I have to confess by Friday my feet where killing me, everything is cramped in the city centre. Wednesday is decided to have a general walk. I only had a few days and didn’t really want to miss anything. One of Niamh’s colleagues gives me some tips and with my map I can manage perfectly well. And anyhow, if you stay on a corner looking a bit puzzled, people come immediately to offer assistance… There is no way you can get lost in Dublin.
It’s a very interesting city if you like architecture. Houses are in Victorian style, covered in laurel and you kind of feel like you’re walking in an historic movie. Nearly every house has also a copper plate with the name of some famous Irish bloke who was born, lived or died in the house. I guess the sport in Dublin is to find a house without a copper plate!
Everything is also bilingual: English and Gaelic. The later is totally unpronounceable to me and Niamh and her flat mates have great fun hearing me trying to pronounce their cities.
One of my first visits was Trinity College. Beautiful building, interesting history but what makes it all worthwhile is the history society guided tours. Elisabeth, one of the guides, makes it a funny and very different visit from what you can expect. Apparently until 30 years ago Catholics were not welcome at Trinity College. Mary Robinson, former Prime Minister, had to ask for special permission to her bishop to attend Uni.
Elisabeth has also a very funny way of describing how students live. In some dorms, there are no showers or toilets and students have to go outside. In a girls’ dorm there was only one plug per floor until one year ago. You can imagine how difficult it was with your mobile, laptop, ipod charger and hairdryers. Another funny story is the acceptance of girls at Trinity. The story goes that George Provost, one of the most adamant opponents, apparently said “over my dead body” and actually died the day after the new regulation was passed. After the tour I went for lunch in the university cafeteria I think I looked young and lost enough to pass on for an Erasmus student ☺
The rest of my Dublin visit was pretty typical of any tourist: St Patrick’s cathedral, Christ church, going to see a live Irish band play music, visiting the James Joyce museum and Oscar Wilde’s house. One of the most beautiful places I’ve been during my three-day stay was the National Library. An exhibition about the Irish poet Yeats was organised but actually if you go there don’t hesitate about going upstairs to visit the library itself.
I was supposed to stay until Sunday, 16th September, leaving afterwards for Gairloch (Scotland) with Amanda, Archie and Pradeep (he plan was to rent a house and stay in Scotland for a week, enjoying nature, bike rides and walking). Niamh was celebrating her thirties’ birthday on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, the Belgian police phoned me on Friday evening to tell me that my dad had died. Apparently he fell down his stairs at home some days before and the neighbours got worried. Small consolation is that the doctor told me that he died instantly and probably didn’t suffer.
Niamh and her flat mates immediately brought me back to the airport, not before giving me the “alternative” tour of Dublin. Niamh’s boyfriend Mike really made this horrific morning pass well. At the airport, they all spit in different groups, queuing to the different companies to find me the cheapest and fastest way back home. Sadly, there wasn’t a direct flight to Brussels but British midland gave me their cheapest ticket but also gave me access to their business lounge, so I could relax. That made really the difference as well. I don’t think I could have managed 5 hours in the middle of Heathrow airport with screaming kids and people coming back from holidays.
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