The Dublin Community Blog

They are putting up the big wheel at Merrion Square, dancing shoes are being dusted down, there are tourists everywhere, the shamrocks are getting primed as are the beer barrel pipes; it could only mean preparations for the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin are well underway.

I took pix today at different times today of the big wheel being assembled for the funfair on Merrion Square. I’ll update with more tomorrow and of course loads of people will be adding their pics to the Dublin Blog Flickr group and you can also check out pics from all over the world on St Patrick’s Day on the St Patricks Day group on Flickr.

        

11.30am                                                     12.30pm

        

3.03pm                                                         5.59pm

 As tourist season and Paddy’s day approach, I feel a need for public service announcement.  As with any city, there are pick-pockets around Dublin.  Living next door to a pub in Temple Bar, we periodically see women’s wallets thrown into our entryway.  The thieves throw the wallets out of a bathroom window which conveniently shares the entryway to our building.  Most of the wallets that we have found have been from foreigners.   I don’t know what the actual stats are for pick-pocketing but if you can keep your stuff  (and yourself) safe, you’ll have more fun here in Dublin.

So, ladies (and gents), watch your belongings while out having a great time here in Dublin.

As someone who loves to eat new things, what is better than making it a regular event! So we got together a motley (mostly Dublin Blog) crew and trotted on down to Town Bar & Grill last night for our first night out. Firstly – there were a few ground rules: You have to pick from the early bird/pre theatre and you must only order wine from the house selection.

Righteo – starting from the start, our table for 8 was set on a table fit for 6. Which was a bit annoying as they have all the bells and whistles on the table, which leaves little room for anything else. The anything else came along as a selection of delicious breads with some fabulous olive oil for dipping. Moving onto the menu – we had to ask for the pre-theatre menu as only the a la carte was on the table when we arrived. Service was prompt, nothing too exciting, a bit lifeless at times. Everything came in good time and it was hot and fresh tasting. Even though we had been told at the time of booking that we needed the table back for 8, they left us sipping the rest of our wine until nearly 9pm.

I had the chowder with smoked haddock. It had plenty of fish, but I like my chowder a little thicker. But that is my personal preference. For some reason Foie Gras appeared on the antipasti plate. It was delicious, but it seemed a little out of place. For mains I had the risotto, which had quite an intense flavour, I would have liked something sharp to cut through the dense taste. The other mains at the table seemed nice. I managed to get my fork into them all. Colin’s chicken was just a tad overcooked, and I’m just not a fan of polenta. But they did it justice and made it palatable. Desserts were tasty & simple. The house wines came in at €22.50 a bottle (two white and two reds) and they were both decent wines.

Now to the bill! Just as Colin was totting up what each of us owed, he realised that there was a major discrepancy between the items on the bill and the final total. We brought it to the attention of one of the waiters, who took it from Colin and walked away muttering. He came back – muttering some bizarre explanation and gave us the new bill.

SO! My two cents: It was a pleasant dinner, but if I had paid any more than €29.50 for the food I think I would have most definitely felt short changed. I would give it a 3/5 for food, 3/5 service, 2/5 ambiance and 3/5 for value. Giving it a grand total of 11 out of a possible 20. I don’t think I’ll be back in the near future!

I’m really looking forward to the next outing!

P.S. Santa in Holland comes on the 5th of December!!!

Anyone who has attended a couple of St Patrick’s Day parades will know that the weather on the day is notoriously random. Some people say it’s always raining, some that it’s always warm, some cold. Personally I know it’s a lottery, one year I got sun-burnt, the next I got soaked and last year I was so cold I found it difficult to use my camera after a couple of hours, my fingers were too cold out of my gloves and the gloves were too bulky for the buttons.

Met Eireann has the 3 day forecast available today (the 14th), which is usually reasonably reliable:

Friday night will become more breezy and cloudy, with spells of rain expected in the west and north by morning on SATURDAY, St Patrick’s Day. This rain will turn showery as it moves into the east and south; it’ll largely die out through Saturday afternoon and evening; with only small rainfall amounts away from the west and northwest coast. It’ll feel cold and raw through the day with a strong west or northwest wind, and temperatures remaining in single figures.

So cold and damp, wrap up warm if your going to the parade and dont forget your umbrella.

People across Dublin (and across the globe!) are deciding what they’re going to be up to this Saturday for St. Paddy’s Day.  Many will head in to town to join the festivities and hang out with friends, while others will avoid the city at all costs - but still enjoy their friends and family wherever they might find themselves. 

As a “newbie” to Ireland, I’ve asked many people what my wife and I should do for our first St. Paddy’s Day in Dublin and generally people recommend heading in to the city for the parade and a pint of the black stuff.  Funny enough, when I asked those same people what they’d be doing, often I just got a shrug and a response along these lines: “Probably just stay home and watch the parade on TV.  Maybe have some friends over.”  Whatever you decide, it’s a unique opportunity for some good craic!  

My hunch is that plenty of people will be out and about here in the Dublin area.  Here are a few online resources I’ve found that provide info. on events and festivities across the Dublin area.

St. Patrick’s Festival
Dublin Events
Lucan Festivities
GoIreland
Around the World

If you know of things happening in your area of Dublin, be sure to share it with the rest of the Dublin Community Blog in the comments section.  And “Beannachtam na feile Padraig!”

People often wonder why Dublin’s traffic is so bad. Usually, and rightly so, it’s blamed on the city’s completely inadequate public transport network. As an illustration of this, Dublin today received it’s first new train station in 116 years!! Yep, you heard that one right, it’s one hundred and sixteen years since Tara Street Station opened its doors. Ok ok, there have been various DART stations opened up through the years, but, we’re talking main line stations here.

But enough history, today saw the opening of the new Docklands Station in the IFSC. The new station serves commuters from Clonsilla, Coolmine, Castleknock, Ashtown and Broombridge, and has allowed for an additional four trains each direction per day already. Amazingly, Iarnród Éireann claim that this gives them a service frequency of about 10 minutes from West Dublin to the city centre between the hours of 07:10 and 09:00. It will be interesting to hear tales of whether or not this becomes reality for people along this route.

Also, to tie in with this, Dublin Bus are offering a range of services to and from Docklands Station. The new 151 route and new feeder bus 93 route will be available for Docklands Station commuters.

More details on all services can be found on the Irish Rail Website and the Dublin Bus Website

I hadn’t heard of Duke Special until last month when a friend suggested we go along to see their show in Tripod. After checking out their myspace, site I figured anyone who lists Tom Waits and Rufus Wainwright as influences would be worth listening to. In addition, the album was short listed for the prestigious Choice Music Award – which was won (unfairly in my opinion) by Divine Comedys Victory for the Comic Muse.

So I bought myself the album Songs from the Deep Forest and a ticket for the gig. I haven’t been disappointed.

The gig started off mellow enough – just himself, Peter Wilson – aka Duke Special – and the piano and the audience singing along. A very impressive vocalist and pianist. Highlights for me included Everybody Wants a Little Something, Wake up Scarlett, an impressive duet with Divine Comedys Neil Hannon of Tainted Love (a Belfast performance can be found here on youtube), the wonderful Freewheel and a performance of I Saw the Light down amongst the audience.

A great show and worth every cent of the eur21.20. I’m looking forward to his May Vicar St. show already.

Early last week, there was an article from the Irish Times in which some remarkable statements made by Ireland’s current Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, were applauded.  The statements were made at the end of February when Ahern spoke to a group of inter-faith representatives at Dublin Castle and expressed his concern to keep faith and religion in the public square.  The Taoiseach was quoted as saying that people who were promoting “a form of aggressive secularism . . . would deny a crucial dimension of the dignity of every person and their rights to live out their spiritual code within a framework of lawful practice which is respectful of the dignity and rights of all citizens.  It would be a betrayal of the best traditions of Irish republicanism to create such an environment.â€?

Previous to this quote, the journalist speaks of the word “toleranceâ€? with a different kind of contempt than what many are accustomed to seeing in the media.  “. . . [Whereas] those who engage in such superstitions are to be ‘tolerated’, they are also to be regarded as engaging in a near-obsolescent and unmodern activity.  Our society seems merely to put up with people who believe in God because such ‘tolerance’ is part of our liberal ideology.â€?  (Surely he’s speaking of European society and not Irish society!)

In one sense, the Times journalist’s defense of religion is ironic in a country where an inseparable mixture of religion, politics, and national identity has brought violence, division and deep resentment.  As a result of these things, one might be tempted to think people would be leaving their religious roots in droves here in Ireland.  However, for various reasons, this is largely not the case.  Irish people may be increasingly disillusioned with the institutionalized version of their national religion, but it appears that they are not ready to throw out belief in God altogether.  Recently I came across some statistics from 2002 which said that of the 3.9 million people in Ireland, 500 claimed “atheismâ€? (that’s .01%!) and about 138 thousand claimed “no religionâ€? (3.5%).  (Figures from the latest census in 2006 are due to be released later this year.)

It might also be tempting to think that the Irish are a rather gullible, superstitious lot, caught in the grip of their antiquated embrace of religion, due in part to their tireless reaction to their British oppressors.  However, a closer look reveals a much more thoughtful, well-educated understanding of humanity’s spiritual impulse.  The “spiritual codeâ€? that Mr. Ahern spoke of in his speech was informed by “considerable evidence that [religion] is, in fact, a natural and essential element of the human psyche.â€?

Whereas many in today’s world will point to the wars and other damage that religion has brought to humanity (eg., Mr. Dawkins), a growing number of people recognize that religion is not necessarily the same thing as evil done in the name of religion.  Could it be that, in the words of our Irish Times journalist, “we are born with a longing for what is ‘beyond’â€? and that “there is a religious dimension inherent in the human being?â€?

RECENTLY myself and The Boyfriend went to Dublin Zoo for the day and I was so impressed with the experience that I thought I’d share it with you here and recommend it for both natives and tourists alike.

First off I will say that for many years I was suspicious of zoos, I did not like the idea of animals being caged into a small compound in drizzly Dublin when they’re used to the scorching heat and space of the Serenghetti. I thought that they must have an awful life and be terribly depressed and suffering. Truth be told, I hadn’t been to Dublin Zoo or indeed any zoo since I was very very young, so I thought I’d go along and see what was what, before I made up my mind.

Currently Dublin Zoo can be divided into about three areas – the main zoo with animals such as tigers, monkeys and sea lions, the African Plains with animals such as giraffes, zebras and hippos and then the part almost on the way out with some restaurants, the petting zoo and the gift shop.

In the first part of the zoo, most of the compounds have literature and signs outside telling you about the animal and the area in which they are housed. You are informed that staff at the zoo have conferred and worked with animal experts in designing larger more comfortable compounds so that no animal suffers or is in any danger. Several of the animals in the zoo are endangered species and would not be alive were it not for zoos and I was even more impressed to learn that other animals are hopefully scheduled for release back into the wild as soon as they are ready.

The sea lions are currently being trained by staff to respond to a red marker on a stick, being rewarded with fish, meaning that if they have to be transferred or have medical assitance it’s easier for them, as they trust their trainers. We were lucky enough to see the sea lions being fed and the trainer in charge mentioned that recently a sea lion was sent to London and in the past she would have had to be sedated or bundled into a crate causing her undue distress, but thanks to the new training technique she simply hopped into her crate when prompted with the red marker and went to London with no difficulties at all, happy as Larry.

In the African Plains (I think about 13 hectares) I was impressed by its sheer vastness and the acres of fields the animals have to run around in. We saw hippos bathing and then being fed, zebras munching lazily while eyeing us, giraffes wandering around in the manner of supermodels with their fantasitc legs and even an unblinking lion, lounging in the sunshine.

Towards the end of the day we headed for the petting zoo (actually I think it’s called the Farm or City Farm) where we saw and petted cows, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs and cats. Some of the animals, such as the cats, have the full run of the zoo and all those we saw seemed to have plenty of room, food and water and responded well to the children and adults cooing at them. Equally as impressive were the large signs all over the place reminding us to wash our hands on the way out, accompanied by several sinks boasting hot water and soap.

Which leads me on to general impressions of the zoo. Overall it is superbly clean and tidy with loads of different plants, trees, flowers and shrubs. There are litter bins and picnic tables at every turn and dotted throughout are toilets (with wheelchair access) which, while basic and functional, are clean with toilet paper, soap and handdryers. There are also a number of cafes and restaurants and even vending machines selling snacks and drinks. You’re also free to bring a packed lunch with you if you’re trying to save some cash, though it’s important to clean up after yourself. We left it too late to get into the gift shop, but I understand there are loads of souvenirs available from posters to stuffed toys to keyrings.

Adult tickets cost 14 euro per person, which you may think is a bit steep, but you can literally spend the day there for that price and when you think that cinema tickets cost about a tenner each, for just two hours maximum, it’s a small price to pay. Children under three go free, and those under 16 pay 9.50 euro. There are various other prices for the unwaged, students and OAPs, all available at www.dublinzoo.ie which also gives you admission times and other information about the zoo, as well as directions.

We spent the entire day there, from about noon til around 5.30pm and really enjoyed ourselves. In addition to the zoo itself, just outside is the magnificant Phoenix Park and the area where the zoo is boasts fantastic scenery, a lake, stream, a playground and gorgeous walkways. So the fun doesn’t have to end when you leave the zoo!

All in all, we had a wonderful day and judging by the amount of couples, families and students there, we weren’t the only ones. In order to be balanced, I did try to find some negative aspects to our visit, as I didn’t want this to come across as a puff piece but in all honesty our experience was entirely positive, as I hope it will be for you. As we went in off-season time, we didn’t have to queue and had plenty of space to view the animals, but I suspect during the summer things get extra busy, so maybe try to get in early if you’re visiting on holidays.

I had inteneded to post some pictures but I recently got a new phone and lost all my pictures on that and a disposable camera I had with me went awol, so my apologies for that. The pic of the lion accompanying this is taken from Dublin Zoo’s website www.dublinzoo.ie where there are many more splendid pictures to browse through.

I hope you all enjoy the zoo as much as I did. I was certainly reassured about how they work and how the animals are looked after and I intend to visit again in the near future. 

According to Wikipedia, Dublin has a population of 1.7 million. So, I thought that I’d never run into people I knew. Wrong. I actually bump into people on a pretty regular basis. One day, I saw one of my friends as she was on the way to the theatre. On another day, I ran into one of my coworkers twice in two different parts of the city centre but we were both shopping. I also periodically see a former coworker who now works in the city centre. We pass each other as she walks to the train and I walk away from the train heading home. I have seen clients out and about a few times.

I have now seen a coworker’s fiance twice. Each time, I recognized his face but couldn’t place him (I’ve only met him once). The first time, I was getting on the train and he was getting off the same train. He immediately knew my name and we had a brief interchange. I knew that I knew him but just couldn’t remember from where. Today, he was getting off one train and I was waiting for a different train. I was distracted and but when I saw him, I recognized him and he said hi. I was a bit thrown off because I was trying to figure out what was up with the train I needed and I am always thrown when I see people I know. When talking to my coworker today, she told me that her fiance texted her telling her about the interaction and to tell me who he was! I was slightly embarrassed. Oh well.

Anyway, what is my point? For a largeish city, Dublin is really a small town. Everyone goes to city centre still for shopping or going out and there is always a chance that you will bump into someone that you know. Dublin is a big enough city yet it has this down home, friendliness to it.