This is Dublin Castle. This was the garrison, government offices, etc., that the British always used to control Dublin. It's now the home of Irish government offices...










Here's the courtyard....













This is one of the four 'Round Towers' that was part of the original castle (the tour people said it was built by John I)...

With Trinity on the right, of course with the Protestants in charge, we should have the seat of government across the street on the left. Nowadays it's the Bank of Ireland, but back in the day it was the Irish Parliament. The problem was though, back in 1798, the Irish wanted their independence. It was punished harshly and their Parliament was dissolved and 'united' with Great Britain through the Act of Union 1800-01.






A view of the front. The 'Protestant' character of the Irish Parliament is still apparent in two huge wall tapestries showing 'the Glorious Victory at the Boyne' (when ('prod') William III defeats James II's army by the Boyne River 1690 solidifying 'Protestant' control in Ireland) and the 'End of the Siege of Londonderry' by James' forces in 1689 (Nationalists-Catholics usually say 'Derry' whilst Protestants-Unionists say 'Londonderry').







The 'East' entrance to the Irish Parliament buildings.

Trinity College was one of my favorite places in Dublin. My bus to UCD would pick me up right in front of it and so whenever I had to wait, I'd go through those doors and just walk in the inner courtyard - twas always very peaceful, so it was. Trinity is the repository for the world-famous 'Book of Kells' (medieval Irish New Testament) and the famed 'Long Hall' (library) - my favorite was definitely the Library! Cool beans!
This is the Chapel. Trinity was founded in 1592 by Elisabeth I. It was the 'Protestant' university, whilst UCD was 'the Catholic' university. Until 1970 any Catholics attending Trinity without a special dispensation from the Archbishop would be excommunicated!! (The rivalry between the two is big...)
Here I be with the Campanella(?), Bell Tower, in the back.
Pomodoro's sculpture - there are a few others in the world, including one in front of the UN buildings in New York.

The tour of O' Connell Street ('Main Street Dublin') begins with a statue of...I am still not sure if this is supposed to be James Joyce or his character Leopold Bloom...enjoy....
The GPO (General Post Office) where the people involved in the 'Rising of 1916' proclaimed an Irish Republic (the British came down hard on that!)...
There is a 'north-facing' view of O' Connell Street, and there he is, Daniel O' Connell - credited with doing a lot to bring about 'Catholic Emancipation' which allowed Catholics to hold office, vote, etc.
This is a view of the Liffey River from O' Connell Street bridge - the Customs House is in the background.

There were quite a few things I hadn't done whilst in Eire, one of which was to visit 'The Garden of Remembrance' in Dublin dedicated to 'all who died in the cause of Irish independence'.

The statue is of the children of Lir, an ancient Irish legend of four children who were transformed into swans by their stepmother - I am really not sure why the Irish chose this motif...

Here is me Ollscoile ('university' in Irish). I did my MA at University College Dublin and now I am at University College London - what are the chances?!











This is the Arts building where I took my first semester class (yes, one class. But we did have to read quite a bit...then we'd just get together with our professor and discuss).












Glenomena Residence Hall - ahh...the memories! Memories of drunken roommates, no sleep, ahh...












This is O'Reilly Hall - this is where I would have 'gradumicated' but I couldn't get back for it (the UK/Irish system kills me - I took my 'Final Exam' in May, turn in my thesis in September and then graduate in April! Almost one year after I took my final exam...hmm...) so I decided to 'graduate' myself. Notice the blue 'hooded-robe' and fancy black 'diploma'. Oooh, ahh...

'German Fun' will be occasionally interrupted with 'Fun Times Elsewhere'. The first of these 'interruptions' will be my trip back to Eire. Me friends asked me to come visit them and so I obliged. This first picture is of a RyanAir plane. RyanAir is based on SouthWest Airlines - here is the aggregate desperately shoving their way in to get that seat they always wanted... ;)


Here is the loverly entrance to my friends' (Corneliu, Alexy and Marcos) house where I was going to stay....

Here is the 'mansion'! It's over 400 years old! It had a nice garden and felt kind of like living in 'the Secret Garden' at times.