from Pillar to Post: a traveller's guide to stuff: Dublin.. again

When we returned to Dublin, I was hit with a very different feeling to when I first arrived in Ireland. During the roughly 2 months interval between visits, the city has turned itself into a jovial hub of activity. The Christmas decorations went up all over, especially around the shopping areas and Temple Bar, and a number of charity workers were now dressed in Santa hats and singing carols on the streets. Markets line Henry street and the number of people cramming this particular section has increased several-fold, almost as if the idea of the recession that's become very prominent in the minds of so many Irish has been dispelled for this festive season. The city, like most places throughout the world during this time of year, has put on a much happier face.
Nic, the cousin of my ex, had moved to Dublin about a month ago and he was happy to let us crash on his floor for the night. Literally a floor - no blankets, no sleeping bags, no heating, and a bloody big gap in the window made for a few interesting nights. It was Christina's last night with me before meeting up with her sister and Nic had invited us out for some drinks, but we were both feeling a little too tired for that much excitement so decided to have a quiet one and instead continue our week-long discussion/debate on all things spiritual.
The following afternoon my newly-found travel buddy left me to meet her sister in a city hotel and I went out to see Nic at his work, the Purty Kitchen, where I managed to make a man cry by mentioning the Omagh bombings, the devastating act performed by militant faction the Real IRA on the small unsuspecting Northern Ireland town in 1998 - it turned out that his family was from Omagh. I felt terrible, even though he was very drunk and despite his friend trying to convince me that he just cries at anything. Later on Nic introduced me to a bunch of his workmates and we shared a few pints and a few dance steps in a neat little red-lit club in the Temple Bar area.
Nic had a day off work and we decided to make a day of it by taking the DART to the hill-encircled beachside town of Bray, about 45 minutes south of Dublin. Unfortunately we didn't end up leaving the city until around 3pm due to the previous night's events and it wasn't long before we were watching the sunset from Bray's beach.
That evening I met up with Naomi, who I went to uni with in Adelaide but never particularly got to know, and her husband Phil - they had moved to Dublin last year as Naomi is now doing a PhD in Cryptology there, a topic quite close to my own heart. We were put in contact by a mutual friend and it turned out that we had a great night reminiscing about all sorts of childhood memories from favourite Aussie chocolates to Peter Coombe. It was also the last night I was to spend at Nic's place, although I was promoted from floor to couch which proved to be a very welcome change. I had planned on leaving the next day for Belfast but for some reason changed my mind and instead moved temporarily in with Naomi and Phil at their apartment in the Dublin University.
I realised that although I had spent the equivalent of about 5 full days in this city, I hadn't actually spent much time exploring it. This was what I got upto over the next couple of days fresh off a new couch. The University is situated about a 1 hour walk north from the city centre and I made this walk each day. A noteworthy relic in the centre is the bullet holes in the columns of the landmark post office and statues along O'Connell Street that serve as a reminder of the troubles during the 1916 Easter Rising against the British. The Trinity College holds some lovely buildings but its main attraction is undoubtedly the Book of Kells - a famously elaborate manuscript from around AD 800. At this time of year, also, there are the Christmas markets in the docklands which I briefly visited.
For my final night in Dublin, a Friday night, I went with the guys and a couple of Naomi's workmates out to a lovely pub - which they consider to be one of the best in Dublin - and again the Guinness was flowing. Funny thing is that I never particularly took to it back in Oz, but now that I'm over here Guinness is slowly becoming my favourite beer. That evening I met some interesting Anarchists and we ate expensive cheese pizza.
My intention was to leave relatively early the next morning to give me 2 full days in Belfast before the ferry across to Scotland, but my laziness and the fact that I was particularly enjoying Phil and Naomi's company meant that it wasn't until after midday that I finally walked out their door and I ended up on the 2pm bus out of Dublin.

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