The Butterfly Effects: The Awaited Irish Post (Part 1)

I know this post should have come up at least 2 months ago, which is the exact date when I just came back from Dublin, Ireland. I would say that everyone who has been eager to hear from me what Dublin is all about, have given up on me. I have only myself to blame for that.

In this entry, I'm gonna review what I think about Dublin City, Ireland. Any specific trips would be highlighted here briefly and be posted separately in future. So there will be more posts regarding the trip to Ireland. :)

Welcome to the land of leprechauns - Ireland!

I must once again highlight as I did 2 and half months ago that this trip is not a touring around trip for me. The main purpose of this trip to Dublin is to, along with my mum, help my sister, who got a job in Dublin, settle down and get used to the new environment in a foreign country.

To simplify the matter, my expenses are covered by FAMA loan, and we don't have to spend a single cent on our accomodation (Sis's company PWC provided that for our first month stay). Talk about being lucky! Basically, all of our expenses goes to grocery shopping, souvenir shopping, and touring around. :)

Upon arrival, it was raining at casual pace. Drat! For those who doesn't know why am I making such a fuss, it's a freaking Summer!! According to my sis, she said that in Ireland, it rains 300 days in a year. So we are left with 65 days of pure sunlight.

We were greeted by PWC's man who's in charge of bringing us to the apartment arranged by the company for my sister to stay in. He is rather friendly and helpful, and filled us up with local cultures and places to look for during our stay. It is from there that our dialect is no doubt Asian! One can't speak like them unless you talk to them for like around a month or so, then only you can pick up their slang! Fortunately, he understood our slang so it's not a big deal.

He also mentioned about the weather, stating that...

"The weather here is unpredicatable, just like women!"

He advised us to bring along an umbrella whenever we go out, just in case.

The outside view of the apartment we stayed in.

Well, touring around is not the major spending in this trip though. Most of the time is spent inside the city!

Despite that, there are quite a numerical tourist attraction can be found inside the city! I could highlight a few of these places. (just because I have the pictures!)

River Liffey

The River Liffey is like erm, Sungai Klang, but definitely 1000 times cleaner and more beautiful! It separates the Dublin City into two regions, which are Northern Dublin and Southern Dublin. Northern Dublin is considered the downtown whilst the Southern Dublin is the uptown, where rich people and ambassadors of various countries rule the area! Oddly enough, our apartment is situated in Southern Dublin. Hrmm...

River Liffey is the heart of Dublin City. It connects the two regions with pedestrian bridges for both pedestrians and automobiles. It is common to see people in office suits walking across the bridge every morning, no matter rain or shine.

The Spire

What on earth is that? is my first impression towards the tall metal tube that goes skyward. According to the locals, the main purpose is a giant antenna for telco's. It's not actually a tourist centre, but plunging one metal pole in the middle of the city, and you won't get lost with it as your landmark!

St Stephen's Green Entrance (yeah that's my sis lol)

There are quite a lot of parks in the city. With the buildings insight wherever you look at, it's good to have a look on the greens. St. Stephen's Green is one of the largest park in the city. People would enjoy strolling along the path, some having their meals, and even have picnic on the lawn. Even some would have their afternoon nap on the lawn under the sun even with the amount of people around. I suppose it's a norm for them, especially if the weather's glorious. To them, the sun is a blessing, whereas for us in Malaysia, the less sun we get the better!

During summer, temperature's at average of 16°C, and goes down to 10°C at night without considering any rain. Not the type of summer one would expect aye?

There are other places that one mustn't miss. One of them would be the Guinness Storehouse. Yeap, Guinness is Irish! Which I would blog about it in the next post. There's the Dublin Zoo as well which we didn't visit at all.

With mum around, our breakfast and dinner is served at home. Buying groceries and cooking by ownself is always cheaper than dining out, considering the price one has to pay per meal, not forgetting the conversion rate of RM4.67 for 1 euro dollar as well. Even for the locals, dining out is considered a luxury. It's proven, cos if one dines out, you would tend to eat the most delicious meal available on the menu. That would cost around 8 euros at least. The good news is that it comes in set with side orders and drinks, and the most important aspect, you would be darn full after consuming it.

Ireland has Tesco!!!!!!

Shopping is made easy as we walk around the city for one whole day. Walking is the simplest means of transportation, and that's where you made the most observations. Jervis Street and Grafton Street is the shopping haven for the locals and the tourists as well. It's like Orchard Road in Singapore, where rows of shops are filled with branded shops as well as shopping malls that one wouldn't know it existed at the corner end!

Graffton Street in a rainy afternoon

The food one should look out for while in Ireland is the traditional Irish Stew. Mutton lovers would love this especially as chunks of mutton meat is served in stew garnished with aromatic herbs, served with 2 scoops of mashed potatoes and generous portion of carrots and brocollis (glances at FC ^^) Apart from that, shepherd's pie is a must try in this country! Compared to Secret Recipe's, this one is above of its own class~!

Now I wished I didn't mention them. I'm missing these food~~! T_T

I guess that my post for now is very long. I would cover more about Ireland in the next entry.

See what rain can do to the River Liffey.