Well, besides sampling Guiness (and we have taken quite a liking to the black liquid) we saw a lot of sights that reminded us of New Zealand. We ventured through the DunLaoghaire Harbour, up through Dalkey and Killiney (little touristy towns which were over run by tourists and motor cyclists) and to Glendalough where we saw the 6th century monastic settlement before wandering up to the lake. How often did we say 'It's so like home' as we wandered the hills, lakes and looked at the blue sky, greenery and gorse. I hate to say it but the gorse looks a picture in full bloom against the vivid green background of the grass and bush. The bus driver (and he was Irish so the story could be tall) said that the European Union had banned the 5 year burn off of gorse and it is now taking over the countryside. I tried to google this to ensure I was not spreading rumours but could not find anything except hints that the EU would not provide grants to farmers rather than ban the burning. Anyway as Ireland has a similar climate to New Zealand the gorse is thriving and unless something happens a lot of the farm land will be yellow for one month a year and brown, ugly and prickly for the rest of the year.
We did heaps and must be getting fitter as our feet weren't as sore as we expected. This could have been because we decided to get a 25 Euro bus pass which meant we could ride the public transport system and the 'Hop on Hop Off' buses for 3 days - and did we make good use of them. But during our walks we did see a lot of buskers playing all sorts of musical instruments and those painted statues that stand still for ever (except one used his walking stick for lifting up woman's dresses as they passed by - some of them had their smiles wiped off their faces quite quickly). Also heaps of beggars holding out their empty disposable cup after a coke or coffee. We read in the newspaper while sitting in a pub one night that the police are investigating an organised ring of beggars (where women from Eastern Europe beg all day and get about 20% of their profits and the organisers get the rest). They swap wheel chairs, places (and perhaps even paper cups) to try and avoid the police (it isn't illegal to beg, just to organise rings of beggars). We did wander up the busy shopping streets, ignoring these well dressed beggars, and enjoyed being in the crowds and of course photographing Molly Malone (the well known celebrity who sold cockles and mussels but did other things by night!)
We wandered through the grounds of Trinity College - far more picturesque than Eton (we weren't expecting much after our visit to the latter). The Dubliners are proud of their celebrities and we were told Oscar Wilde went to Trinity, James Joyce didn't but we decided that Caramello was keen to follow in the footsteps of literary greats after having his photo taken on a piece of art work just outside the library (which was closed except for the loos!!). The 'No walking on the playing fields' amused me as I asked myself how could they be playing fields, and the 'You are only permitted to eat outside in the college green' also did wonder how would the kiwi students cope? But it was lovely and clean and a pleasure to walk around. Other favourite celebrities mentioned during our three days were Handel (who had the Messiah played for the first time in Dublin - only 400 could go into the hall so they asked the men to leave their swords behind and women to leave their skirt hoops at home and they managed to squeeze 700 in that little hall to hear a great piece of music) and U2 - we listened to them on a bus trip, saw where some of them lived and went to school (quite an affluent area). One of their songs seemed relevant to our weekend - It's a beautiful day....See the world in green and blue See China right in front of youSee the canyons broken by cloud See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out
It was a beautiful day Don't let it get away Beautiful day
We also heard the pride in our tour guides voice when he told us that Braveheart was filmed in Ireland and not Scotland and rubbing salt into the wound the new movie 'Mary Queen of Scots' is also going to be filmed in Ireland. 'The Lord of the Rings' was going to be filmed in Ireland but they couldn't find enough Orks (I think that joke was for our benefit somehow!!). The Italian job (original not remake) was filmed in Kilmainham Gaol which we took a guided tour through one day. The open courtyard from which prison cell doors opened was designed so that a guard could see all within a couple of seconds (the modern type shopping mall is based on the same principle - now you know it is true we are all being watched!!). The Gaol also houses a wonderful political history museum (where I was reminded of all that Sinn Fein history I had forgotten). Although no longer used you could feel the atmosphere of the unpleasant home for a number of prisoners during its opening including the leaders of the 1916 uprising - 14 were killed by firing squad - after trying to free Ireland from the English clutches. And prior to that Catholic leaders who tried to give Catholics the same rights as Protestants (ie to own land and to vote) were held there. During the famine, the prison designed to have 101 people in individual cells (it was the first of many social reform prisons - where people were meant to work in silence and contemplate their deeds alone for many hours - rather than living in crowded chaos), housed 9000 women, men and children (many knew going to gaol would mean food no matter how meagre and so committed a crime - like travelling on a train without a ticket - to get entry). Anyway, truly an awful place to stay for any length of time, and sobering to go and visit.
A number of people we met had been to New Zealand, with the lead singer in one of the bands telling us that he spent 3 months in the South Island playing music in mainly in Christchurch and Kaikoura. On our first night in Dublin we took the chance and bussed into town to try and find a meal and some music. We went to a large hotel, where they have a show and meal (quite reasonable), and was seated right in the front with a great view of the singers and dancers (having not booked it was a surprise) and right beside a young girl from New Zealand (So are we ... and so it went). We were lucky enough (as it was May Bank holiday - we get another long weekend in 3 weeks) to take 2 bus trips one to the north of the city and one to the south. One day we caught a taxi as the buses took forever and found that there is 1 taxi to every 98 people in Dublin - I think that Dublin was top or second on the list - Wellington was 10th with 1 taxi to every 295 people. To the north is wonderful coastline and you can see the pictures of them - does it remind you of Kapiti Island or Rangitoto Island? Malahide Castle is a 12th Century little gem in park like surroundings - not a real castle as the English say - as it was never used for defence (although there were 2 moats at one time). Anyway, biggest surprise is at the door way was a Kowhai tree - in flower and growing so tall and proud. The castle was sold to the local authority back in the 1970's as the owner could not afford to pay the inheritance tax - so sold up and moved to Tasmania. 
Our last excursion before heading to the airport was to Phoenix Park. It is the largest urban park in the world we were told (every bus trip likes to tell us that something they have is the largest, tallest, smallest, oldest etc etc). The park has been around since 1662 and was originally a walled garden, but now has a number of grassed areas, ponds, monuments, deer farms and was great to cycle round for a couple of hours in the sunshine. We did have some fun at the airport. We had both, being rather security conscious, put our little bag with money, credit cards and passport under our clothes. When we got to security we were told to take them off and so both Harry and I had to do a Mr Bean act while everyone watched. We were laughing so much but the customs officers weren't impressed. I then went and bought a bottle of water while Harry looked after the bags. I couldn't figure out where to get the bottle and so asked Harry to go and look and I watched as he kicked and shoved the wrong bottle dispenser while the other one beeped at him and told him to take the bottle - it took a while but eventually I managed to quench my thirst. The flight home was uneventful but imagine our surprise when we walked through the airport with no security or passport check and no one asking us 'why are you in England' and 'where do you live' and 'where do you work' etc etc.
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