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DoChara's Ireland Blog
Random Writings about Ireland and the Irish
Tuesday
February 20 2007
Same Old Dublin, Different View
Last Saturday I boarded an early train from Kilkenny, heading off with my 8 year old to spend the day in Dublin. I lived there for half my life, I know it extremely well, and if I'm in Dublin these days it's generally for shopping or for a specific work purpose. I go, do what has to be done , moan about the traffic and the sheer hassle of it all, then happily leave.
My son however is a true culchie* so to him it's an exciting place, full of unfamiliar pleasures, and an adventure. This was to be a leisurely day, wandering around museums, taking in the sights, soaking up the athmosphere. A day as a tourist in the city where I grew up.
We packed quite a bit in - the National Museum at Collin's Barracks, Trinity College, the Museum in Kildare St, Christ Church Cathedral and Kilmainham Goal, in that order, travelling between them using the hop-on, hop-off Dublin Tour Buses. We had a great day, I'd highly recommend seeing it this way, even if you live there. It's fun, and it gives you a totally different perspective on the city.
On the way back home on the train we both thought about what advice we would give to visitors to the city, based on our experiences, and here are the resulting top tips on visiting Dublin - five from each of us. Make of them what you will.
My Tips for Visiting Dublin
1. Use the open top tour buses, they are a terrificly convenient way to get around between the major sights. While one of our drivers was obviously bored to half to death and determined to inflict the same fate on his passengers, the others more than made up for him with witty banter, interesting observations about the city and even a few well sung songs.
2. Don't eat in the National Museum restaurants - the food looks pretty good, if expensvie, it is actually incredibly bland and over priced.
3. Hang on for the free guided tours in the museums - they are really good, we got a lot more from an exhibit we had already seen when we saw it again with an expert guide.
4. Don't try to do too much. Even our fairly modest day didn't leave us enough time to see the Book of Kells in Trintiy - the queue even in February was too long and we decided not to wait.
5. Wear comfortable shoes! It's amazing how much walking you do inside the museums etc.
A Kid's Tips for Visiting Dublin
1. The open top buses are cool. Make your parents let you go upstairs even if it's raining a bit.
2. Don't miss the mummies in the National Museum. Egyptians were very small, the adults were only about the same size as me, well maybe a bit bigger. The Viking long boat was good too.
3. Christ Church is mostly kind of boring but the part about the cat and the mouse being found mummified in a blocked organ pipe was interesting.
4. In Collin's Barracks there are numbers on the wall which were to tell the soldiers how many steps to take when they were marching. I thought this was good because you could try out marching like them.
5. A kid my age went to jail in Kilmainham for stealing grass. I don't even know how you would steal grass. It was a very sad place but interesting too. You can vote about whether there should be capital punishment. It was my first time ever to vote. Most people said yes (60%), but I said no.
*Culchie: A term used by Dubliners to refer to people from rural Ireland, often in a derogatory sense. Though culchies themselves take it as a compliment!
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Suggested Reading
Lonely Planet Dublin
Very good complete and accurate guide that is easy to carry and has excellent maps
Time Out Dublin
Quite bulky but very authoritive and the most up-to-date Dublin guide currently available.
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