St. Patrick's Day Parade

Here are a few pictures from St. Patrick's Day when Jason came to visit. It was so crowded that we could not see any of the floats due to the wall of people lining the streets. So instead of taking pictures of the parade, we decided to take them of the bystanders.

A kid holding onto a pole while trying to see over the wall of people.

A crowd of people on O'Connell Bridge

A shot from inside a pedestrian sidewalk cover near a construction site.

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The M.Phil Graduate Reception

The really great thing about the Irish people is their hospitality. The English Graduate program decided to throw a reception for the entire major and the best thing about it was that it was totally free! We had a blast chatting it up with all of Cindy's fellow classmates. This is a picture of the roof at The Bank, which is now a restaurant housed in the former Belfast Bank. The vaults still exist downstairs where the restrooms are now located, and the teller stations have been converted into the bar. Here is a picture of the ceiling of The Bank in all of its 19th century opulence. Due to slight yet ever-increasing inebriation of the masses, we opted against posting any portraits.

Job Celebration Dinner

This week was a big week for us. I had an interview on campus for a Technical Officer position for the CRANN which stands for Center for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices. The position entails supporting the researchers and the equipment at the CRANN. the CRANN is one of two major research facilities that specialize in nanotechnology. The interview with a panel of four went well and Wednesday I got a call offering me the position. We are so stoked! This is a great opportunity for me to get into the field of Research and Development (R&D) and see if I like it. Now all I have to do is fill out the required paperwork and wait for the work permit to be processed and sent.

The news of the job offer cannot go without a proper celebration so Cindy and I decided to treat ourselves out to dinner. Along the way we took some night photos of downtown Dublin. We decided to eat at a placed called The Shack Restaurant and had some traditional Irish food which was scrumptious! The Shack is located in Temple Bar and boy is it full of tourists! We heard some authentic Irish music by a band called Mutefish and a sample of their music can be downloaded here (scroll to the bottom of the post for a streaming version). Let us know if you want to hear some more of it! 

A view of Ha'penny Bridge.  It got it's name because it used to cost a half a penny to cross it.

A view of Temple Bar

A view across the O'Connell Bridge.

Mutefish - Sláinte

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Dublin Walking Tour

Cindy and I had the pleasure today of partaking on a walking tour of Dublin for international students setup by the Postgraduate Department at Trinity. We walked all over the city and saw many of its highlights which included the Natural History Museum, the Parliament Building, Christ Church, Dublin Castle and more. The cool thing about taking this tour with other international students is that they are in your same shoes. Allison was from Washington D.C., Alexandro was from Chili, and Manno was from Spain. We also learned a bunch of interesting facts about the city. Dublin comes from two words meaning black pool, and that name was given because Dublin Castle used to be surrounded by the River Liffey and Poddle River (which is now underground) and a dark pool lay near the castle. After the 2 hour tour, the entire group went to a pub and shared a pint at Cassidy's Bar!

This a view of the Department of the Taoiseach which the Attorney General and the Department of Finance reside.

Oscar Wilde just lounging around in Merrian Square Park with his wife in the foreground. Apparently, he grew up in a house just across the street from this statue.

A statue of Molly Malone which stands at the top of Grafton Street which is the 4th most expensive street in the world in terms of realestate.  Grafton Street has all types of shops ranging from McDonalds to Brown Thomas. The following blockquote about Molly Malone is taken from Wikipedia:

Molly is commemorated in a statue designed by Jeanne Rynhart[6], erected to celebrate the city's first millennium in 1987; Placed at the top of Grafton Street in Dublin, this statue is known colloquially (in rhyming slang) as "The Tart With The Cart," "The Dish With The Fish," and "The Trollop With The Scallops." The statue portrays Molly as a busty young woman in seventeenth-century dress. Her low-cut dress and large breasts were justified on the grounds that as "women breastfed publicly in Molly's time, breasts were popped out all over the place."

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Chapel at Trinity College

On Sunday we attended mass in the Chapel at Trinity College. After mass we had the chance to chat with the priest over some tea and biscuits.

The above two photos are composite images created by taking multiple photos from the same spot but at different angles and stitching them together with Microsoft's new Image Composite Editor (ICE).

Our Apartment

Yesterday we finally got around to taking some photos of the outside of our apartment. We are located in Dublin 8, which is about 4 miles west of the City Centre. The town is called Fatima which is in the beginning stages of a restoration project. Our apartment building is one of the first buildings to be completed. One great thing about our place is that the LUAS tram station to the City Centre is literally outside of our building. Soon we will be posting a video of the inside of our apartment.

The door to the inside of our building.

The LUAS tram station right outside of our building.

Massive construction; evidence of the restoration. Apparently this is going to be a comercial/affordable housing building.

The back view of our apartment. We have the ground floor, corner left unit.

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Dublin, Ireland

We found St. Stephen's Green on a stroll through Dublin City Centre. These photos are a few of many to come. Soon we will be posting photos of our apartment and its surrounding area. All is well in Ireland (except for it's "official recession")!

A pathway in St. Stephen's Green.

A random house in St. Stephen's Green.

The sun is shining in St. Stephen's Green!

A gift given to the Irish people for helping children of the Holocaust

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