Dublin

Rembrandt at National Art Gallary

So after spending five complete days in this city I’ve certainly come to notice a few things.

The first is the weather, but you all would have heard enough about that in my emails, so I’ll leave it there.

There are more beggars holding paper cups here than I was expecting. Well in reality I was expecting any, so seeing so many of them was surprising. Especially since a lot of them are young. There were even children asking for money outside Luas (metro) terminal.
All women appear to wear makeup and blusher is their best friend. Arriving into the city and not wearing it I felt very under dressed.

People here are ghostly white, except if they are wearing fake tan.
There seems to be little architecture in the suburbs. The houses on a street are all the same and none of them are stylish. I feel I could walk into my next-door neighbour and know exactly where everything is.

You can’t just get out of bed and have a shower here. First you need to get up and turn on the heater for the hot water. To make it more confusing there is one for summer and winter.
The city does not know how to make a good coffee. I had been warned but risked it yesterday in a fancy restaurant in a wealthy seaside village ( U2 have houses there) just outside Dublin and it was one of the worst coffees I have ever had.

Tracksuits amongst the youth are popular. It is common to see groups of them handing out in parks in their tracksuits. A lot of the time they completely match i.e. all white, pink etc.
The city is overrun with tourist, in some way’s it is worst than Istanbul. They are constantly slowing me down and they are always taking up the footpath. (I know I am one of them technically, but don’t see myself like them)

Pedestrians appear to believe they rule the roads and will try to cross whenever the road is clear. They seem unfazed by cars, buses etc who narrowly miss them or are tooting at them.

Kate thinks Dublin is actually quiet dirty. While it is not the cleanest capital I have been to, I think its the dark buildings combined with near constant overcast weather that makes it look dirtier than it is.