Dublin streets and miscellany

Last night we arrived in Edinburgh after a couple of wonderful days in Dublin.  Having Irish ancestors and siblings who lived in Dublin, I had visited the fair city on many occasions.  However it has been quite some years since we were there last.  Being back made us wonder why we had left it so long to return.  A charming welcoming city of elegant Georgian buildings, it is easy to see why my sister has made it her home town.

I am planning to write a few posts about Dublin but for now, I will start with some photos I took on the streets and some miscellany.  Above is our first meal in Dublin.  My sister Chris and her partner Fergal were wonderful hosts.  They picked us up at the airport and fed us freshly baked scones, then fed us Ottelenghi's potato and goats cheese tart tatin with chickpeas and roasted sweet potato on the side.  How good was that after 24 hours on a plane eating food of dubious quality!

The next morning we were still on jetlag time and were up before the sun.  All the better to admire the Christmas lights.

We had already planned breakfast with Chris but had a first breakfast at Centra (think 7/11, Spar, or your corner shop or convenience store).  I had a chocolate pastry while reading Jamie Oliver's potato recipes in the Daily Mail newspaper.  It wasn't fancy but jetlag makes you do strange things!

When it was light we ventured out again and admired the Christmas displays in Dublin's streets. I think I am right in saying that Butlers are well known for their fine chocolates throughout Ireland.

I loved the Irish take on the traditional gingerbread house with a wee leprechaun outside it.  I guess this is where he keeps his pot of gold.

Brown Thomas in Grafton Street has a quirky mix of traditional Christmas and snooty fashion in their windows.  I liked the snowman and the dummies.  My sister was amused by the dummy having a sleighride in another window.

Just to remind you that not everything in Dublin is gorgeous to look at, I took a photo of this tasteless snowman.  Fortunately for you I don't post videos to this blog or you might have been treated to a video of the snowman doing his dance.  Moving right along!

We also saw signs of Dublin hipsters in the streets.  Here is a sweet poster we spied on a walk early yesterday.

If I had had lots of time to take photos with my zoom lens I might have taken a better photo of these traditional Dublin street lamps.  Alas, this was the best photo I could do.  It will do.  I love the beautiful design on these lamp posts but even more I love them because they remind me of my excitement at being in Dublin many years ago.  (Actually I didn't love Dublin at first sight but I did love these street lamps.)

The Irish Parliament building with no windows (to avoid window taxes) also reminds me of lots of previous visits and tours I have done.  An iconic image in Dublin.  I will write more about the places we went in another post.

Time to leave you as the day is beginning in Edinburgh and we have things to do and people to see.  I will leave you with a glimpse of some of the goodies we took away with us.