July 25, 2010

Bring on the music of the worlds

It's this time of the year again where Dun Laoghaire becomes crowded with all kind of colourful people, who are on a mission to enjoy music and food from all over the world.
Yesterday was a surprisingly hot and sunny day for Ireland. I somehow missed the change to good weather and nearly melted in my black jeans.
The festival seems bigger, brighter and more colourful than ever and yesterday evening finished off with a famous man Khaled - King of Raï. He cheerfully sweated through his pink shirt, smiled and tried his best to animate the crowd. He would have been more successful, if people would have interrupted their phone calls and conversations and did some dancing instead.
I enjoyed it though I have to admit that like most people I did wait for the only song of him that I knew "Aïcha" and "Didi". I think the poor man had much more fun performing his other songs and got slightly amused by the various cries for Aïcha.

July 17, 2010

Sand fleas, diddly and the smell of sheep droppings


Last week was spent on a discovery of Ireland. And discovering we did: a beautiful beach full of sand fleas that did not seem to bite, lots of different types of sheep (that crap a lot), any kind of diddly music and beautiful scenery.
First we visited the Burren. Very interesting terrain - a limestone karst area full of little roadside attractions such as castles, stone forts (little piles of stones mainly collapsed, so don't get too excited, or stone walls that one day contained houses and animal pens).
After that it was off to he impressive cliffs of Moher. They were nice, nothing too exciting. Parking was only 8 Euro and the whole thing is very organised tourism.
Doolin and the Aran islands were really beautiful. I can only recommend cycling on the Aran islands to anyone. Its an amazing scenery and there are lots of little sights to discover.
Galway was interesting, but I really liked Sligo and the drive up to Donegal. Beautiful windswept beaches and yes lots of castles make up the scenery.
On a trip like this you really get to experience the beauty and the slow pace of this island. Guinness tastes a lot better outside Dublin, yes one can get fed up of eating fish'n'chips, every pub in any village you stop seems to have an unlimited supply of musicians playing diddly music and at some point you even might get tired of constantly stepping into sheep droppings, but if you are ready to wear your rain gear in July you are in for real treats of scenery and archeological sites, such as the most extensive neolithic site in the world "The Ceide Fields"in Mayo.

July 5, 2010

The Joy of Localisation...

This is one of my personal favourites. I discovered this beauty yesterday during a windy walk on the beautiful peer in Howth. I guess I will be throwing a rope and then try poshing a button :)

June 27, 2010

Gay Pride in Dublin

Wonderful sunny weekend! This must be the sunniest summer in Dublin yet.
Went to see the Gay Pride parade again and this year it was really great. There were so many people and the most amazing outfits.
Enjoy a small selection pf pics!

June 20, 2010

Street Art - Sun - World Records

Beautiful sunny weekend in guess where....no not Italy, I hear its windy rainy there this weekend; no not Spain: it was already raining like crazy in Madrid when I left there last week... a beautiful sunny weekend in Dublin!
Tomorrow in the office it will be a tough competition for the most colourful involuntary teint.
There was also a new world record achieved today at the street art festival in Merrion Square: 1505 Space Hoppers jumped simultaneously for 1 minute. I was not there to witness the event, but enjoy the pics of the Space Hoppers during preparations.
I did get to enjoy 4 performances. It was a good craic and the atmosphere in the park is always amazing.

June 5, 2010

Discovering the taste of London

I am back after spending some days in London.
It was really great as I was not just confined to hanging out exhausted in my hotel room after a day of tough negotiations:)), but I got to see one of my closest friends, who has recently exchanged the chaotic charm of this unorganised island for the buzz of the big metropolitan city of London.
Sadly for her the weather seems to be way better in Ireland this summer as it was nothing but rain for me in London.
I made an interesting discovery in the shops. Walkers seems to want to start this football world cup with an array of interesting tastes. I could not resist to sample the "German Bratwurst" crisps; sadly they taste a little weird. Maybe Bratwurst spice should only be enjoyed on the delicious meat sausage itself. I like the spirit and the idea however and I wish they would finally start selling Marmite Walkers in Ireland (though I could not even find them in London this time)!

May 23, 2010

Summer in Dublin

It's the first sunny and warm weekend in Dublin and it's fabulous. Everyone is outside, chatting about the ash cloud and enjoying a pint in the sun. Already there are bets that this might be the sunniest summer since the 1980s...everyone seems to remember one specific summer in the 80s, where it did not rain for a month!
Rumours that sound pretty impossible to critical foreigner I mus say, but entertaining nontheless.

I hope the sun is here to stay for a little while longer!

May 3, 2010

Natural History Museum Dublin reopens

Ever since I live here in Dublin the Natural History Museum has been closed for renovation. I have only heard the stories about the old building filled to the brim with dusty stuffed animals and skeletons. Finally this week the renovations were finished and the museum finally opened its doors again. As it was raining for most of the day we thought it would be a fabulous idea to go and check it out. You can see from the picture that we weren't the only ones with this thought.
We decided to skip the museum for now and escaped the rain in the ifi opting for another long and rather bizarre, but somewhat interestingly enjoyable movie.
I will try the museum again, maybe next time during a sunny day :)



April 26, 2010

Unleash Your Inner Dancer

Arrived back from Prague just before the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull! Lately I feel that taking a plane is as much part of my daily routine as brushing my teeth :)

We spent the weekend walking on the "beach" in Sandymount. It's a fantastic place to unleash the dancer in you.
If you feel like you want to watch dance rather than try it out yourself, you should't miss the Dublin Dance Festival. Enjoy!

April 5, 2010

Easter Impressions!

Easter weekend in Dublin. Free time! Time to reflect, time to enjoy and time to just be. In a few words magical and amazing...and no I did not buy an iPad :)

A lot of time was spent to catch up on sleep and get healthy. Then we caught the very end of the Easter Rising ceremony on Sunday (the very end where people went home, but we saw the planes).

We also spent time in one of my favourite places in Dublin: the Chester Beatty Library. They have a great exhibition on called "Telling Images of China". Really beautiful paintings describing plots that could also be taken straight from a modern soap opera:)

This Sunday was also my first encounter with the Smithfield horse market. I have heard a lot about this event and wanted to find out for myself what it's all about. I am not sure what to write about the event. Some of the things I saw made me feel really sad.

March 28, 2010

Spring! - Frühling!


Spring time in Dublin. The first beautiful, sunny and almost non rainy weekend in Dublin. Everyone is out and about to admire the daffodils and smell of spring.
I finally went to Phoenix park (though sadly there was no park, just a long road with patches on green on each side). The area around Farmleigh house however is really nice!

Frühling in Dublin. Das erste sonnige und regenfreie Wochenende. Wir haben Phoneix Park erkundent, obwohl es der Park eher wie eine lange Straße mit ein bisschen grün daneben aussieht :) Die Gegend um Farmleigh Haus ist allerdings wirklich schön!

Truly Local - Lokale Übersetzungen :)

I have been travelling quite a bit again. Below some of the fun things I spotted while travelling.

Ich bin mal wieder ziemlich viel unterwegs. Anbei ein paar lustige Beispiele für schlechte Übersetzungen, die mich zum schmunzeln gebracht haben.Sometimes a schedule just ain't enough :) If the weather is bad in the German text, the schedule just isn't enough...
Ohne Worte :)

I wonder what else can be requested here :)
Deutsch klingt ganz gut hier...

I spotted this logo in Austria. Strongly reminded me of "Plus" in Germany :) It's funny when a familar chain has a different name all of a sudden.
Dieses Logo habe ich in Österreich erspäht. Es erinnert mich doch stark an "Plus" in Deutschland :)

This one is from Austria. "Fussgeher" sounds like a foot walker :) and they seem pretty dangerous in Austria
Gefährliche Fussgeher :)

February 24, 2010

Back to the Roots

Family ties! Here is to my family and my first bi-lingual blog post.
I have been blessed with a family that keeps me grounded and actually keeps in touch with me though I never live anywhere near them.
Last weekend I had the chance for a quick visit and everyone was there to see me. I really enjoyed it so much. Living abroad makes you miss the funniest things: dark bread with seeds, water pressure in the shower, Kinder Schokolade and well ... my family.

Familienbande! Dieser Eintrag ist für meine Familie. Der erste Blog Post, der zweisprachig wird, damit er nicht noch erst von Google Übersetzer verunstaltet werden muss bevor er gelesen wird :)
Ich bin mit einer Familie gesegnet, die dafür sorgt, dass ich mit beiden Beinen fest auf dem Boden bleibe. Eine Familie, die mich regelmässig über alles informiert, obwohl ich nie auch nur entfernt in ihrer Nähe wohne.
Letztes Wochenende war ich auf einem Kurzbesuch in Deutschland und ALLE waren da um mich zu sehe. Es war so richtig nett!
Ich habe mal wieder bemerkt, dass man im Ausland viele Dinge vermisst: Schwarzbrot, Wasserdruck in der Dusche, Kinder Schokolade und ... ja vor allem meine Familie.

February 14, 2010

Year of the Tiger - Chinese New Year in Dublin

So it's Chinese New Year today and hoping for a dancing dragon, a bit of fun and Chinese food, we braved the cold weather and walked purposefully into to town.
After a quick walk we arrived at a little square next to the Jervis shopping centre with a ferris wheel, a small stage and a few wooden huts. We stopped to watch the performance of two Irish men trying to animate the crowd (or small gathering of people) to join into some basic Tai Chi movements. I found the idea rather appealing and joined in for a while, hoping it would stop the drizzle, but there was nothing for it, it continued to drizzle on us and we were more interested what food would be on offer for this Chinese New Year celebration. Quickly all the huts were inspected and we figured out that only two of them actually sold food. The other places sold toys, brochures for the Shanghai Expo and one sold sweaters from Peru (?). We were surprised about the sweaters from Peru, raised a surprised eye brow when we discovered the Indian incense stall a bit later, but we burst out laughing when we found the food. Two food stalls next to each other: One had German sausages and the other one sold German Brezel and waffles (also supposedly German, but I have never seen waffles on a stick shaped a bit like a Christmas tree anywhere in Germany). This was seriously not what I had expected at Chinese New Years, then again this was my first Chinese New Year's celebration so this could well be the most typical food for this occasion.
We did the only thing you can do in such a situation and escaped into the nearest pub for a Guinness and Fish'n'Chips. On the way back things had lightened up on the party square (as in the sun made an appearance). This time a Chinese pop singer entertained an even smaller crowd of sausage munching people. I thought he did a fabulous job and he really gave the performance his all. We were almost able to hear him all the way home.

January 31, 2010

(hopefully) catching up!

I still have water and I am enjoying every minute of it. It really made me think about how much water we flush down the toilet every day. Seems like such a waste. Maybe I should change my career and become and inventor.

Weekends have been lovely. Beautiful sunny weather, but as awlays they are way too short.
IMMA has a nice exhibition of photographs from New York; I really enjoyed that one. Also Turners watercolours are on display in the National Gallery. I really liked the earlier pieces.

Today's shot shows the fragillity of our infrastructure in this beautiful country (or in other words it's a picture of telephone cables in my neighbourhood. I always have to smile when I see this array of cables connecting the houses in a spider like fashion.

January 20, 2010

we still have water

life is good!

January 18, 2010

I had a shower :)

... at home. We have water now 'til 7 pm and the air lock has been fixed.
Showering at home just feels like an indulgent luxury:)

January 17, 2010

Glorious weekend

We laughed a lot, chatted a lot, ate out a lot and investigated the nightlife together.
Having a good friend over is priceless!
I am recharged and ready for the next battle (just still hoping the water will be back one day).

January 16, 2010

good news...

...our neighbour has running water. It can only be a matter of time now 'til we can enjoy a shower in our own 4 walls again.
In other news the weather has started to be mild and lovely (and a bit rainy). No sign of winter anymore.

January 15, 2010

trying to be patient :)

I have been waiting for this Friday. A very good friend will come to spend the weekend and I wanted things to be perfect.
It will be an interesting weekend; no sign of any water and it seems no masterplan in place yet. To add to the craig the electricity is now flaky as well (as in there was none all morning :)).

I don't want this to become the blog of the biggest whiner in Ireland so I wish everyone a happy early weekend as I have a FREE day and am really looking forward to the weekend.

January 13, 2010

waterless for a change - day 4

You guessed it, we are without water for a change. Funny how quickly one can adapt to the situation.
I had a warm shower at work this morning. It felt like heaven.
There is a nice article in one of the German papers about the arctic temperature crisis in Ireland. There is a lot of truth in this one :)

Otherwise it's back to wind rain, wind and more rain. Lovely! It's a great place to be in January.

January 12, 2010

You almost guessed it - Looking for water day 3

The situation is not getting much better. The beautiful winter wonderland has vanished and instead we have wind and storm. The floods haven't quite reached Dublin yet, but there are rumours that they are already roaming elsewhere in the country.
The water situation however has not improved. There is no water to be had and our county has now officially switched off supplies 'til 4 am (so far it was only running on so low pressure that it sadly never reached the flat), but there is more to life than taking a hot shower right? It's really fine. I think it's a good thing to be reminded again of how many commodities we take for granted every day.


January 11, 2010

Looking for water - Day 2

Still haven't found any. It does not look like the water crisis is over any time soon.
On the bright side; the news are predicting floods on the next 24 hours...

January 10, 2010

Looking for water

RTE news warned to preserve water. At a visit to Tesco I noticed that the shelf with drinking water was empty and I was secretly amused how easily people panic when they see warnings on the news.
Back home I tried to go for a shower, but there was no water coming from the mains. Not laughing quite so hard any more...

Snow, this time for real

Last night we walked through the most beautiful winter wonderland.
The world had gone quiet and was wrapped in beautiful white fluffy snow. There were almost no cars on the street and it was snowing really heavily. Instead of cars there were lots of children and even adults on the street making snow balls and chasing each other. Quite a nice atmosphere (though when will people figure out to wear hats and gloves when it snows).
I feel a bit responsible for the snow chaos. After a few years in Ireland I have started to miss seasons and maybe I have fantasized just a bit too much about a calm world wrapped in fluffy snow. If my theory is right than Ireland should see a real summer this year.
Let's wait and see what happens.

January 8, 2010

Sand for Grand Canal Bridge???

Back in Dublin I arrive in the midst of a snow chaos! Yes, the unbelievable has happened in Ireland...after making an appearance for the last time during the 80s, this Christmas it has...hold on...snowed in Ireland! Claims have been made that almost 8 inches of snow have been spotted.

So Monday morning I innocently started my slippery way to work and witnessed an inferno of stranded busses, sliding garbage trucks and generally scared people.
After 1 week of snow, ice and sleet I mastered the art of not falling when walking on ice again, but I have to say I am very surprised that very busy areas have not been cleared at all. Every morning when I reach the bridge at Grand Canal I see the most cautious of people falling flat on there back. It looks really painful and could easily be avoided with just a little sand.
Another thing struck me as well. What makes us jump up straight away declaring to everyone that we are fine when we fall, when it's clearly visible that the fall must have been rather painful?
Anyways; it does not look like the snow will stop next week. I think I will walk even faster and enjoy to see some white in the trees. It's almost winter in Ireland :)