Ireland!

Panorama from the cliffs of Howth, north of Dublin.

Just made it back from a big, slightly delayed trip to Ireland to see my good friends John and Cecile.  John's there studying creative writing at Trinity College, and his beloved Cecile is teaching French with the amazing Alliance Franciase (forgive the lack of diacritical marks).  Here they are with their new favorite hats:

They were nice enough to let me stay at their flat in Christchurch.  It's a nice part of town, close to the Guinness Brewery and not far from the center of town.  I've seen Dublin before, so this wasn't really much of a sight seeing trip... It was more of a Drinking-Guinness-And-Eating-Pork-Products trip...

I know, I know.  It's a sad day when one engages in culinary tourism by going to Ireland.  But it was great! And it's all of the kinds of things I can't easily get in Istanbul, the land of fresh fish, pomegranates, and lamb.

It was a really great trip, mostly because it was just nice to hang out with John and Cecile.  We went to Saint Stephen's Green...

...where John and I threw some Lucky Irish Coins into a Lucky Irish Fountain.  Oddly enough, we seemed to be the only two people good-lucking ourselves at this ancient Celtic fountain.

One thing that surprised me, and made me a bit sad, was the fact that Ireland already had their tacky department store Christmas decorations up. 

Tacky, I know, but I won't be seeing anything like that for a while.  Santa Claus does not come to Turkey.

When we tired of the unfamiliar Irish and their culture, we retired to more comfortable settings for some more familiar beer and food...

Now I don't know if you can make out the sign, but it's a Czech bar that was playing all the hits! Pickled cheese, Gambrinus, Staropramen.  It was great.  Not the top of anybody's list when traveling to Ireland,  but we couldn't resist!

We also took a trip out to small town on the coast named Howth.  It was a beautiful, clear, cold day and we did some hiking around the cliffs out there, ill equipped as we were to do any actual hiking.

Cecile and I, with John's shadow taking the picture*

The town of Howth from the pier.

Of course, we also went to the Guinness factory, which is now kind of like a black-beer theme park.  Amazing nonetheless, and very educational.  We were able to find John's apartment building on the small scale model of the Guinness factory (which takes up most of the neighborhood around it).

That's about all I've got for pictures.  As interesting as the Guinness factory was, it was moodily lit, so I didn't get many good shots.  We did have our complimentary Guinness at the top of the factory though, and definitely had the best view of Dublin from up there.

I'm glad I went, I had a great time, and I didn't hear a single U2 song the entire time I was there.  Success!

*I realize this may be first picture of me that anybody has seen since I got rid of the beard.  Be kind.