Dublin, Ireland

It is confounding how quickly life changed for everyone as Covid-19 rearranged lives this past year. It is devastating to watch it unfold throughout the world and see so many suffer. This said, we are thankful to be retired and past dealing with full time jobs. We’ve made some adjustments to our lifestyle and taken time to rethink safety, but are back to traveling.

During our five months in the southwest, U.S. we took long walks in rural areas, I (Deb writing here) completed an online course “Teaching English as a Foreign Language,” and we discussed how to get back to the Midwest to be with family and friends. After a tough decision we are continuing our full time traveling lifestyle but have adjusted to living in one area for 3 months at a time or as long as a country will allow. We plan to come back to see everyone when covid numbers are at a safer level. Now we look for areas with low infection rates and places we can live “as close to normal” lives as possible. We flew to Dublin in July as they had done a very good job of managing Covid, and the weather is quite nice this time of year. Finally, they were one of the few countries that would allow Americans to enter, although a 2 week quarantine is required.

When we first arrived in Dublin around 6:00 AM , we made our way to our residence booked via AirBnB. We arrived and found it odd when the gentleman who let us in was there at such an early hour. As we ascended the steps to the flat, we were mystified he had cooked himself some eggs and made coffee for himself. After he showed us around the flat, we were again surprised when he offered to take out our trash each weekend. Finally, the penny dropped, and I said, “wait, do you LIVE here?” to which he replied, “well, YES, of course!” Ha. Funny story, but we realized there had been a big mix up and this wasn’t going to work for Tim and I. He was so generous and offered us a room and full refund while we sorted out this mess. It seems that AirBnB website had a hiccup and even though I typed in “rent entire flat,” it showed on his computer that he had requested to share. Good thing I had saved the screen shot of what I had booked to prove this! So, long story short, we managed to find another flat by noon and had moved in by 2pm that day. Those kind of mix ups make us laugh in retrospect, although at the time can be a bit disconcerting. Here are a few pics of our first “real” flat we rented alone.

Rents in Dublin were much higher than one would expect, like Paris prices, so we were glad to find what we did at the last moment, thanks to Tim. The one downside to this flat were the many seagulls squawking night and day as we were right near the canal. As with most things, you get used to it.

First home living room & kitchen in Dublin

A pretty comfortable place to spend our two week mandatory quarantine. We did venture out as needed for groceries, but still it’s tiring being cooped up in an apartment for two weeks, although some people have certainly managed much longer lockdowns. Once we finished our quarantine, we started venturing outside to check out the area. The Covid numbers in Ireland were quite low, in the 3 per 100,000 or so, and we were able to visit museums and outdoor restaurants, and of course do a lot of walking. The museums felt quite safe as there were so few people and reservations were required. Since the first of October as numbers crept up, museums and indoor spaces have closed.

Here are some scenes from Dublin.

Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, Ireland

This choir from this church sang Handel’s first performance of the Messiah. “One of the glories of German music, Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” was first performed in Dublin at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street at noon on April 13th 1742,” according to the Goethe Institute.

“There are two types of tiles on the cathedral floor, the original 13th century tiles and reproductions made in the 19th century. In 1562, when the roof of the Cathedral fell in, lots of the medieval tiles were broken. Those that survived were re-laid in the chapel of St Laud. New ones were made to replace them from the original designs.” Read more here on the church’s history from the official website.

Interior Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, Ireland

Music manuscript engraving on interior church wall

Cat and Mouse (photo taken from the web) remains in the crypt – On one wall alongside the choir in the 1850’s organ, is the famous mummified group of “Cat and Mouse,” found trapped behind the organ and preserved by the very dry air of the cathedral.

The first apartment that we rented was only available for 5 weeks, so we moved to our second and final flat in Dublin shown below. Both were adequate and served our needs well.

We were happy to have a big TV to watch our favorite NFL teams!

More of Dublin streets:
According to Wikipedia, “Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were imprisoned and executed in the prison by the orders of the UK Government.”

Kilmainham Gaol “Jail” Dublin

Early on we were able to eat at one indoor restaurant because of the huge space it provided. This is a converted church and they have a massive amount of space to serve food.

The Church Café & Restaurant, Dublin. The view is from our table near what would have been the altar and behind us was an engraved sign, “Do this in remembrance of me.” It was a beautiful setting to enjoy a nice lunch.

Samuel Beckett Bridge in the shape of an Irish harp. This is a pivot bridge, where the entire bridge rotates around the base of the support tower to allow river traffic. (Imagine the far side of the bridge moving left, and the near side moving right)

Near our first residence in Dublin we visited the Epic Immigration Museum with fascinating stories of how Irish people have moved about since time began. We read much about the potato famine, but I was amazed to hear how often the Irish men went to war for other nations, including in the U.S. civil war. These men fought simply to provide food for their families back home, and to look for opportunities that they couldn’t find at home.

Dockside Quay Dublin & Epic Museum

Below is the Exterior Irish Museum of Modern Art & gardens in Dublin. We had planned to go to the museum a little later during our trip, but museums were closed before we got around to it.

Of course the traditional ‘Molly Malone” statue selling flowers on the streets of Dublin

Lots of gardens, beautiful flowers and the perfect season to visit Dublin – July to October.

Dahlia at Botanical Gardens Dublin, Ireland

National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin

Morning Glory from Botanical Garden Dublin

Dublin, Ireland Amercian Pokeweed

Fall Chrysanthemum in Dubin, Ireland

Many of our days consist of catching up on the news with morning coffee and breakfast. To keep active we try to walk 5-10 miles in the morning. Lunch is at home or, when possible, take out or at an outdoor cafe. Afternoons might be a visit to a museum, knitting for me, catching up with friends and family on Face Time, or taking an online course for Tim. We enjoyed the many murals and street art statues of Dublin. Our favorite place to walk was the nearby Phoenix Park. It is a massive park in Dublin and just walking the perimeter of it provided an 8-9 mile walk.

Phoenix Park Dublin

Street Art Dublin, Ireland

Interacting with street art Dublin

Doors of Dublin

Modern Horse statue, Dublin, Ireland

Hairy Lemon Cafe, a popular drinking pub in Dublin

Coffee art – Dublin, Ireland

Luke Kelly Statue Dublin. Luke was an Irish folk singer and musician.

Part of the reason I decided to get certified to teach English overseas was to give us the chance to live in another country, knowing we were going to be essentially “locked down” no matter where we lived. We would have enjoyed an assignment in South Korea or Japan for a year or two, but the first and most difficult obstacle we encountered was getting the visa paperwork done in the U.S. The embassies and government agencies closed and would not process the paperwork we needed. We made the decision to find countries with low numbers that would allow an American to visit and I would put my new teaching license on hold for now. We have been in Dublin, Ireland as of the end of July and plan to move on soon due to the standard 3 month visa allowed by most countries. We’ve visited several museums and eaten at outdoor sidewalk cafes when possible. I found a knitting class to attend with masks, small groups and socially distanced learning.

I was fortunate to find a young French gal whose husband is working in Dublin, looking for some English lessons. We met in one of my knitting classes. We only met once in person, after that we have met online. She has been a delight to get to know.

Deb and Manuela

A few more pictures from Dublin:

DNA sculpture in botanical gardens. We enjoyed walking through the botanical gardens, especially our “baby duck” that we saw most days. I don’t know if that’s mom or dad in the photo, but they were foraging for food and made sure that baby duck got some of the tender morsels.

The other parent was working on fixing up the nest.

The building below is Arbour Hill Prison, located a few blocks from our second apartment. One of the prettiest prisons I’ve ever seen, at least from the outside!