Lunch at Powerscourt Hotel

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It’s amazing how many nice places you can find just at a stone’s throw of Dublin. It took about half an hour by car and we were in a different world which was beautiful and surrounded by stunning nature. The hotel itself was also nice and so was the restaurant and the food. And we were lucky that the shower passed just when we were sitting inside and enjoying our lunch looking at the Sugarloaf Mountain behind the window.

After the lunch when the rain had stopped we walked around and explored the hotel and the surroundings. Unfortunately, it was too late to go into the gardens but we will definitely do it the next time. At least I got a glimpse how beautiful it was and we spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

Another park on my list

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This summer is a bit different. But every summer has its warm days, nice days and days when you just want to step out of reality, even if it lasts only for a little while. Have been staying near a big green and probably nice park but still haven’t had a chance to walk around there. Today I had a chance and even if it wasn’t the warmest day of this summer I tried to forget it and made it a summer day. And it was again a time to test my new camera. I hope that I will start to love it. At the moment I am still quite confused how to use it properly but so far it has been a great fun anyway.

 

 

Malahide again

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This time we didn’t go to the Castle but just wanted to have an early dinner. The first place that we tried didn’t have anything appetizing, so we drove around and decided to head to Malahide town, a nice place beside the sea.

malahideThe weather was brilliant and we found a nice local restaurant which offered monkfish as their specials. who can say no for a monkfish, especially when it’s so well cooked? We couldn’t and had monkfish, all three of us.

Malahide seemed to be a nice small town where I would love to come back and wander around a bit more. The seaside walking paths will take you back to Dublin and that’s what I’d like to do one day – take a bus and then walk as long as I can.

And I could wear my new dress 🙂

Me and Dublin alone

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I have been here so many times that I know exactly where to go and how to take shortcuts, how to find my favourite places and what to expect. This time I was walking around to test my new camera and start to get on well with it. And to get rid of thinking, which is something that I am probably not able to do. But I found out that even without knowing too much about all the settings on my camera, it’s still a good meditative activity and gives you a purpose to come out and walk around.

I started from the Remembrance Gardens, which I pass every day but don’t usually enter. This time I even sat on the bench and enjoyed the warm and sunny day, admired the flowers, listened to a bit of the tour guide talking about Lir’s Children and took a photo of 4 foreign school girls who wanted to pose altogether.

Lir’s Children, Remembrance Gardens
Remembrance Gardens, Dublin
Remembrance Gardens, Dublin
Remembrance Gardens, Dublin

It was a good position to make some shots also from the church on the corner, where I still haven’t been. So I tried to find the right angle for getting the church right.

Remembrance Gardens
Remembrance Gardens

My next stop was by the river where I took the Bachelor’s walk to get some photos of the bridges. Just some days ago I had read an article about the Bachelor’s Walk and how careful you have to be there not to be robbed. Unfortunately, it has become a place where the junkies gather and try to get money for their next dose. I didn’t see any of them but saw quite a lot of drunk people and the cafes that are located on the bank of the river didn’t seem the places where you could want to sit down. What a shame it is that the town has let it happen because that could be a nice place for walking and enjoying the town. I was careful and took some photos of the bridges and the Liffey itself. Meanwhile, the nice weather turned into some showers but it passed quickly.

River Liffey, Ha’penny Bridge at the background
Grattan Bridge, Dublin
Grattan Bridge, Dublin
O’Connell Bridge
Ha’penny Bridge

The last stop of my walk with the camera was at Christ Church where I have been several times before but not like that, taking photos and not posing on them 🙂 Usually, when you are walking with others, you just cannot take so much time to stop and take photos from different angles and of every little thing that captures your mind.

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Geting a bit Scientific

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Dublin Science Gallery is a small place and you won’t probably find it if you don’t know where to go. But it’s a place where you can touch, feel and play and therefore it’s highly recommended for families with children. Ok, we didn’t have any children with us but we can act like them by ourselves without problems 🙂

We walked around, touched and tried out everything that was meant for trying, I even tried to swing and play some instruments that sounded like drums or something similar. Even if we didn’t spend there a long time it was a nice change and worth visiting.

Once

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I had never seen the movie or not even heard about the musical before Sean’s sister went to see it and I started to notice the ads on the buses. That’s quite strange because I really like musicals and also the movies which are full of music and that’s why I try to get myself acquainted with news about musicals. Somehow I managed to miss that one and even before we started to watch the movie I didn’t actually realise that it was happening in Dublin and it was a love story between a Chech girl and an Irish guy. If I had known that before I had probably watched the movie much before. But it’s always nice to discover that there are still a lot of nice things that you can do or see or read for the first time and that makes them much more special.

OnceWe started with the movie and two days later went to see the musical and I loved them both. I really loved the movie because I always love the movies which have been set in Dublin and it’s so nice to recognise all these places. It came out that I had heard some of the songs and I was very happy for the tickets that we got for a present. And this was my first time to go to the theatre in Dublin 🙂

Of course, I couldn’t miss the possibility to go on the stage, where they had their bar which was open before the show and during the intermission. And the show was really brilliant – all that music, cast and the whole stage which actually was the same all the time but with small details, they managed to change the places and made you believe that it took place in several different locations. All the cast was really amazing – I was even thinking that some of them must really be of Chech origin because they played the Chech music so authentically and even talked with an accent but looking them up from the program it seemed that they were all Irish. We both enjoyed it a lot and as the Cork people who were sitting behind us and told that they were doing it for the third time already, I’d love to do it once more one day.

My first Erasmus+ students in Ireland

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In November when I attended the seminar “VET connected – GET connected in Dublin, Clontarf Castle, seems, that I did a good work because now we have partners in four different Irish schools and one in North Ireland as well.

Erasmus+ helps the students of vocational schools to get some foreign experiences and do their placement in some other European country. So it means that if we want to send our students, some other school has to host them, help them to find working places and we do the same for their students. And what’s the role of Eramsus+ program? Erasmus+ finances their stay, flights, accommodation and food, isn’t that great. Of course, before that, I must write a project which has to be accepted, only after that the school gets the money and can send the students to European countries.

We were lucky to start a new project just before my coming and so the first students who are studying Nature tourism arrangement, came to Dublin on the 5th of July to start their 4-weeks experience in Westport. I went to meet them at the airport and brought them to Heuston Station. As Erasmus+ supports Life Long Learning and in Estonia, the age doesn’t matter and you can study a new profession at any age, these students are quite mature and I don’t have to worry about their stay at all.

 

Newbridge House in Donabate

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Newbridge House is the next nice site at Dublin’s neighbourhood where I had never been. It’s a real Georgian Mansion where we had a very private tour, just the three of us. The guide was an old gentleman who was really into the history of this place and of course, he knew every single person on every single painting and was able to tell us lots of stories of all the inhabitants who had lived there.

As there were just only three of us, he let us hold some old vases, which could be expensive as hell and we were asked to step over the barriers to see everything very close. That’s why I like those guided tours here – they are all run by real fanatics in the best way. It’s amazing to see people who love their work so much and whose knowledge is so large and who are able to talk about it so that you really see the life and the people they are talking about.

Malahide Castle and Gardens

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It was my first time to visit Malahide Castle which is actually quite near to Dublin but you definitely need a car to get there. To light up the day, we made this trip on Sunday and it was a beautiful place to walk around and enjoy the nice weather. When the sisters are involved, we usually take a guided tour and we did the same this time as well.

It was the first time for me to use my brand new camera and I am not too experienced to do any magic with it yet but I hope that I can improve.