That's me freezing in front of Christchurch Cathedral. 

Christchurch Cathedral is Dublin's oldest, and is a mish-mash of architectural styles, not that I could tell the difference between authentic Gothic and Anglo-Norman or Romanesque! 

Christchurch Cathedral is where Dublin's New Years' Eve celebrations take place. Or so I'm told.  

This part of Dublin Castle was built on top of Viking foundations in the 13th century. Our tour guide told us that when the castle was turned over to Michael Collins on behalf of the Irish Free State in 1922, the Viceroy hissed at Collins, "You're seven minutes late." To which Collins replied, "We've been waiting 700 years, you can wait seven minutes." 

The sun came out briefly as we passed this little neighborhood near Heuston Station, so I thought I'd better record the moment for posterity. 

Here's the Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin's most famous crossing over the River Liffey. The toll on the bridge was a ha'penny for ages. I think they should re-name the bridge the 6 Euro and 47 Cents plus Value Added Tax Bridge, to adjust for inflation and such. Dublin's not as expensive as London, but it's still pretty dear. 

Here's Gjertrud crossing the Liffey on the Ha'Penny Bridge. It may look like the sun is shining, but check out the huge clouds and Gjertrud's 18 layers of warm clothes. I'm just mad I had to take my nice toasty glove off to take this picture. 

This beautiful residence stands across from the park at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The park now features monuments to Dublin's greatest writers, including James Joyce, Brendan Behan and W.B. Yeats, among others, as part of Dublin's Millennium celebrations. I wonder how much it would cost to rent that house? Probably less expensive than my cubby hole in Central London. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral has stood on this spot since the 13th century, but has been rebuilt many times. In 1864 the Guinness family forked out a fortune to save St. Pat's from collapse. Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels) was Dean here and is buried in the Cathedral, but we didn't get inside as it cost too much...since when does going to church cost money? 

I thought it'd be easy to find a Catholic church in Dublin, but every beautiful cathedral in Dublin was Protestant, including St. Patrick's. Trying to light a candle for Grandpa Murray turned out to be a bit of a challenge! 

Dublin Daze

Just got back from a whirlwind trip to Dublin, where we had the worst weather we could possibly ask for: cold, rainy, wet and windy. The fog wasn't Guinness-enhanced, I promise. The weather in Dublin was terrible the entire weekend that Gjertrud and I were there. I'm usually always warm but I was so freezing I wore three T-shirts, a turtleneck, a sweater and a scarf along with my gloves and coat and I was still shivering. We still managed to see plenty of Dublin, though, and I am slowly in the process of putting up photos, although I think right now it's time to go to bed...we had to wake up at 5 a.m. this morning to make our flight back to London. I was so excited to leave the city when we headed out on Friday, but it felt great to get back to familiar surroundings today. Dublin was amazing, it was just nice to realize that for the moment, London (as well as B.C.) is home. It's great to have roots and wings. And for the record: I think the River Liffey might be more sludgy than the Thames.

I just loved this building, near the entrance to Dublin Castle. The caption on the outside of the building says "Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers' Society, Founded 1790."