Ireland

So, I’ve been in Ireland for almost two weeks and it’s not until now that I have time to write about it. I have been here for work. Basically, my company sold a machine to a company here, and when the customer asked for a modification on that machine, they sent me and two other guys. I have spent most of my time either at the customers facility working, or at the hotel resting (it has been many long days of hard work). However I did get a bit of time to explore the emerald island so I have one or two things worth writing about.

Me and the other guys landed on Sunday around lunch. After checking in to the hotel, the others were tired and wanted to rest but I headed out to see the city. We are in a small suburb of Dublin called Dun Laoghaire (for some reason this is pronounced Dun Leary), just by the coast. So, I caught a bus down to the town center and walked down to the harbor and out along the pier. It was a gorgeous end of summer’s day, sun shining brightly above and a cool breeze in my face, and I had a really enjoyable stroll. Naturally I also snapped a bunch of pictures, so with no further ado, picture time:

Selected shots from my walk in Dun Laoghaire harbor

 Coming back from the pier, I sauntered along the waterfront just enjoying the nice weather. By the time I started feeling it would be good to head back, I had walked so far I was in the next little suburb (apparently the suburbs here are pretty small). With tired feet I got on a bus back to the hotel and from there on out it was work pretty much all week. Here are a few shots from my walk into the next suburb:

A sort of dilapidated area along the waterfront

On the weekend my parents and brother came to Dublin to meet up with me. We had a nice dinner Friday evening, then Saturday morning we rented a car and drove west to the Cliffs of Moher. We got a hotel in a small village called Lahinch, not far from the ciiffs, then drove out there. The cliffs are really something; the green hills of Ireland dropping off dramatically straight into the Atlantic. It really fills you with awe to stand on the edge and loook out over this marvelous sight. I can understand why they were put in one of the Harry Potter movies.

Full of awe and wonder at the shapes nature makes, we headed back to Lahinch. There we had some dinner in the sunset then spent the evening in a small pub listening to a folk band and watching people dance.

On Sunday we drove north along the coast up to a village called Doolin. We stopped by to look around a bit in the harbor, and to ou surprise saw a dolphin swimming around; apparantly it lived there. Pretty nice village, but small, and not all that much to see.

We drove on from Doolin, through the area know as the Burren, a strange rocky moon landscape that spreads out over this part of the county. It’s very austere but also very beautiful in its barrenness.

We kept driving on the small winding roads through the Burren, when we finally got to a bigger town, we got on the motorway and headed back towards Dublin. We got back just in time for the last entry into the Guinness Brewery museum. I forgot to bring my camera but there was not really that much to see inside. The best part was the Guinness Academy where we were taught how to pour a perfect pint. That was it for a very nice weekend, after that it has been nothing but work.

Now we are finally done for this trip, me and my colleagues are just waiting for the next flight back. Since I had a bit of time this afternoon, I went into Dublin city for a bit of a look around. As it started raining I didn’t see much but still better than staying at the hotel all day. Here are a couple of shots from my visit to central Dublin to end the post: