pub

The Architecture of Temple Bar


Somewhere in Temple Bar, Dublin Ireland

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been gradually putting together a bunch of photographs of buildings that are in the Temple Bar District of Dublin. Each one has caught my eye for different reasons and at different times of the day. The end result is that I have my own little collection going, which I’m posting here to share with you and which I’m sure I’ll be adding to as the months go by.

The Quays Bar

The Quays (pronounced “keys”) Bar

Ok I can tell you why this one caught my eye – it’s because of the brightly colored subway tiles on the outside. There’s brown, green, yellow, and sort of a tourquoise tiles on the front – and the arches really make this stand out on the street. It’s rather typical of some of the shops in the district – but this one, for some reason, is high up on my favorites list. I think it’s because it’s across from a larger open space, where they run the book market on the weekends.

Venetian Masks in shop window

This one – well, I love the brightly colored masks. It was perfect for selective color, and well, most people are going to miss what the shop really is. 😛

Industry - recycled goods shop
Industry – recycled and repurposed goods shop

This has to be the coolest shop near Cow’s Lane. It’s filled with recycled and repurposed goods – the last time I was in there there was an old library filing cabinet system that you could buy for your own home – and use as sock/craft drawers. Tempting.. tempting.

Elephant Castle Cafe
Elephant & Castle

I think I liked this place because of the name. It’s a cafe, and I can’t figure out what Elephants and/or castles have to do with each other. I also rather liked the way the sunlight highlighted the front windows – as it shoots right in between two other buildings. Most of this district is so built up and close together that you’re nearly always in shadow. It is sort of depressing, but typical of the era in which it was built. I think this is why this particular building made me smile – it maximized the sunshine.

The Chameleon (Indonesian - check out the awards)
The Chameleon Indinesian Restaurant

This is out of focus, unfortunately, but I liked how they displayed all their award mediallions at the bottom of the windows. I also liked how there’s two entrance doors.

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At the Races – take 2… This time, the Horses!

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A couple of weeks ago, for Jacqui’s birthday, I went to my first outing to the greyhound races at Harold’s Cross. I didn’t do too badly, and on Saturday, at the pub, I was telling about the event. The folks that I met up with were fairly receptive (as I told the story and crocheted on my Ambitious Project at the same time) and we had a few good laughs.

Well, I had mentioned I needed to go sort of early because I had to work on Sunday – and shortly thereafter, the place became more crowded and the bartender came round and put a flyer on the table. Little did I know, I’d popped down to the Bell on the Boys and Girls club Annual “horse race” fund raiser.

How it worked was that they had several races from a few years ago – and had edited them in such a way that they would be played on the big screen that they had set up at the back of the bell. Each horse was given a “new” name, and we would place bets on the horses according to which ones we thought would win. The pre-recorded races were run, and the local DJ announced the race over the speakers in the Bell – from beginning to end. The races didn’t take long – and the betting pool and prizes varied depending on the race chosen. There were 9 races in total, with the last race being the winners of the previous 8 races – and the grand total prize being ~300 euro.

Me personally, I only bet on the first race – horse number 3 – because I liked the randomness of its name – Sherry Baby.

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The horse started off strong – and led up until the last seconds of the race – and then lost by a nose. The folks that were at my table were rather flabbergasted that my “random funny name” picking technique really did work – and congratulated me on the fact that the horse I picked was winning for 99.9% of the race. While they thought I should bet on the next couple races, I declined – and headed home, well satisfied that despite winning no money, the Boys and Girls Club had gotten a small donation.

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Now that I’m recovered….

from my trip to Dublin, I thought I’d post a brief blog about it. Yeah, I admit, It’s friggin Ireland. What did I expect? Pretty much how it turned out to be. (Sorry it took so long to post – but between hangover hell, exploration, work, and then sleeping it all off on the weekend – this was the first chance I got.)
Last Friday, I hopped a jet plane through Ryan Air to Dublin. Grand and lovely. The trip there is short – about an hour and a half, and I must say that for the cheap fare, Ryan air is much like traveling in a cattle car. No checked bags, no extra stuff – just bring what you can carry on – and your person. Oh, and don’t expect drinks, peanuts, or a padded seat. What you see (essentially a fancy folding chair bolted to the inside of the plane) is what you get. Yes, folks, I have flown southwest – and compared to Ryan Air, southwest is LUXURY at its finest.
The flight was super full – no, really, I don’t need that eye you just hit with your elbow while trying to stuff your bag into an already too full overhead compartment anyhow – I have another – it is after all, why God gave me 2…. but it was fine. I think all the passengers kind of knew we were in this together.
Arriving in Dublin, we were promptly hurded off the plane, where I got a nice phone call from Paul and Tony – hey – we’re here at the airport – where you at? I hadn’t expected to be met – Paul had brought the car up (thanks much! It was soo sweet of you guys!) – and after a brief stint thru customs, we were on our way. Yes, folks, at this point, I was still sober.
We headed to the eBay office (where I dropped off my backpack) had a coffee, and then I was off to go shopping in the Blanchardstown mall (which is about 3 blocks away.) I know, I know, I’m pathetic. BUT… I could go shopping – and even found clothes that were cute AND fit – almost immediately. I think I love Dublin!! After that, I had lunch at the worlds busiest kfc (maybe not – but the line was out the door and standing in the pouring rain at this point) and then headed back to the office – new clothes and several english language fiction books in hand.
From there, we popped by Tony’s apartment (I had made arrangements to borrow his spare room in return for groceries and some cash) dumped off my stuff and were off. It was Camille’s going away party – and it was at the local pub – the BELL. It’s about 5 pm. Somewhere around midnight (I’d say I had had at least 5 rum & coke by now) , the party from the PUB moved over to Tony’s – with a stop off at the liquor store for a case of Beer, a bottle of Vodka, a bottle of Rum -( hallo?!?), and a bottle of diet coke (for mixing for me of course). On went the music, over came the neighbor (who was having his birthday party – thereby merging the two) and out came the drinking hats. Let’s just say that if I didn’t know your name by this point, i probabaly still don’t know it unless i’ve seen you sense. Some people left around 2am; others left around 4 am – and around 6:30 am (still drinking with those that were there) I looked up and went hey – where is everyone? Then it dawned on me that it was light outside – and I might want to get some sleep – after all, site seeing with Paul was set to take place in a couple hours.
About an hour later, I heard some rustling around in the front of the apartment. Padding into the kitchen, I poked Tony and told him to wake up off the sofa and go to bed – now that Sara had left (she was the noise maker and earlier she had passed out in his room – and then got up to go drive someone to the airport). I got some water, and went back to bed.
I woke up around noon, with a hangover, an ill stomach, and absolutely parched. It was at that point I realized I was still pretty buzzed. Paul showed up around 1 PM or so, and by this time Tony was up and we were both kind of sitting there going “ugh my head” and/or “ugh my stomach”. It was great. Ahh yeah, the sign of a great party – right?
Anyhow, we didn’t wind up site seeing – we wound up back at the pub for lunch and watching a football (soccer for y’all amerikans) match. The guys started in on the beer – and I, nauseous at the smell of the alcohol, stuck with the generic coke. Exhausted by 8pm, we headed back to Tony’s where I promptly fell asleep on the couch.
Sunday dawned sunny and cool – and we hung out waiting on Paul – to see if he was actually going to try the site seeing thing again. He wound up working – so T and I headed into Dublin – where we ventured into Trinity college and saw the book of kells. When the museum closed at 4:30, it was raining, and we decided to go grab some food – at (yep, you guessed it) a pub in the Temple Bar district. The food was really great, and we had a fun chat. After that, we decided to wander around a bit and hopped in and out of a few pubs in the area – including the Foggy Dew – where we heard some lovely ska/reggae stuff.
Monday Tony went to work, and after I got moving, I headed to Dublin myself. I saw Dublin Castle, St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Christ Church Cathedral. We had planned on meeting up, but those plans fell through – in favor of meeting Paul and Anna at the Bell for dinner.
Tuesday – I went shopping. Everyone had basically hit me up Monday for things they wanted from Dublin, so I picked up what I could and then got it posted off for them. I wrote several postcards and then went ahead and packed. For Dinner, we picked up some food and went over to Jean and Helene’s to babysit Charlotte (what a sweet kid!) while they were out to their classes. I was glad to be sober (and not still feeling too ill to enjoy myself).
My flight left at 6am on Wednesday – which meant a 4 am taxi to the airport. I had stayed up all night hanging out; and by the time I got on the plane, I was pretty much ready for a nap – even with the packed cattle mentality of Ryan Air.
Yep, that’s Dublin – in 5 days, I saw the inside of more pubs than I think I ever have before. Drinking – well – let’s just say I don’t remember drinking that long nor that much since I was in college – although.. there was that night at the Bird not too long ago….
As far as could I live there – yeah, I could. I wouldn’t need to drink so much (ok let’s be truthful – everyone I saw there pretty much wanted to go out to the pub because that’s the main social point culturally) because I’d be able to do other stuff. The prices for buying stuff is cheaper (clothes/ food/etc) than berlin – but the rents are crazy high. So, in the end, it’s about 6’s. The bright side? they do speak english – or some resemblance there of (hello? you understood me first try!?!) – and are very friendly warm people (compared to some of the receptions of the culture where I currently am.) That just means more applications to that area – in hopes of finding a job – now that the US economy is tanking.
** Sorry no pictures yet – I’m still working on uploading the pictures from Prague, Hornburg, Goslar and everywhere else. These will be posted soon – including some of the drunk ass party pics when I get a chance.**
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