The Emerald Isle

Last week I was at a conference in Dublin, a special treat.

While I agree with the common belief that Dublin is nice and the people are friendly, I admit --- I struggled to understand language. For example, when the bellhop asked me, "Are you finished with that," I understood through his brogue that he was asking, "Are you friends with that." We were talking about a rental car at the time: the resulting conversation was pretty entertaining.

This conversation happened at the end of the trip after a free day I spent with colleagues. After a few days of work in Dublin we were ready to break away from the urban scene, so we pooled together on a car rental and headed for the hills.

With a manual drive and right-side steering, no one was really rushing to be behind the wheel, so for better or worse I elected to drive. That made the day a little more mentally stimulating than I had in mind, but my colleagues were very understanding when I stalled the engine, ran a little too close to the hedges, or swore a blue streak. More than once.

We had lovely weather - a mix of sun and cloud. An "Irish heat wave" as one local called it, with temperatures in the mid-twenties... enough to give me a light and unexpected sunburn.

We stopped at the beautiful Powerscourt Gardens for a wander:

The rose gardens were in full bloom - a garden so beautiful that it made even me want to drop everything and become a gardener:

Then it was up and over the Wicklow Mountains for rugged and expansive views:

Of course, enjoyment of Ireland wasn't only visual. A stop earlier in the week at the Jameson Distillery in Dublin warranted a sampling of whiskey:

We had to find some way to recover from all the Jameson and Guinness: a few brave souls, plus me, joined Sightjogging Dublin for early morning runs around town. On two mornings during the conference, we ran through many of the areas around central Dublin on Sightjogging's City Highlights and Waterside tours. Thank God for jet lag - it's way easier to get up at the crack of dawn if you're body is already confused and angry with you to start with.

I left Ireland with still plenty to explore. And if I take a few language lessons, I'm sure my next visit will be better still.