From today on you will be able to see a vast selection from the Natural History Museum’s collection in Collins Barracks. As the original Natural History building on Merrion street is closed for renovation, the museum have decided to set up this temporary exhibition for the time being.
A mix of familiar and new animals and geological specimens will be there to greet you!

Opening hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-17:00 and Sunday 14:00-17:00 at Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7

Going to bend the rules here slightly, but, it’s St Patrick’s Day (in Oz already!) so that’s my excuse, and I’ll mention Dublin somewhere, promise!!

Attended the Paddy’s Day Parade here in Brisbane at the weekend, along with the younger brother and best mate. I was actually surprised by just how many people turned out (there were estimates of 30,000, which knocks the socks off London’s 10,000) and how good everything was. It was a nice balmy autumns day, temp hovering around the late 20′s and the sun shining and everyone out in shorts, not quite your typical Paddy’s day!!

There was a good mix of Aussie’s, Paddy’s and just about every other nation in the world around town to watch the parade too! St Patrick himself even turned up for the occasion, and in true Aussie style, traveled on the back of a ‘Ute’

But, just to remind us that we are Irish, and to ensure that we don’t miss home too much, about 10 minutes into the parade, the sky opened and the rain began! Now, being Irish we’re well used to rain, however, rain in Queensland is slightly different (warmer and a hell of a lot heavier) than anything we’re used to back in Ireland.

However, the bands marched on, and everyone continued to have a fantastic time. More photos below and at this link. Hope everyone, no matter what part of the world that they are in today has a fantastic day.

On a more serious note: besides the Talk-like-a-pirate-day there’s also the Dublin Culture Night on Friday.

Dublin’s first Culture Night took place in 2006 as an initiative led by Temple Bar Cultural Trust in association with the Council of National Cultural Institutions and supported by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, to provide a new and imaginative route for people of all ages to connect with the arts and cultural life of the city.

Since then Culture Night has grown to include over 100 of the city’s arts and cultural organisations with the vast majority opening until 11pm and their very own free events programme for young and old, which is expected to attract in excess of 100,000 people this year.

This year is also the first time that the Culture Nights expands to other cities, such as Limerick and Cork. So, if you want to spend Friday night with culture instead of getting drunk, this seems like a good opportunity – the cities gallerys and librarys are at your disposal all night long. A map (PDF) is here.