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.

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.

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 :)

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!

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.

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)!

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!

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 :)

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!

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.