Phew, what a week!
On the 9th I flew overnight to Dublin for the
EAIE Conference and still haven't stopped to breathe yet. I must admit, I've done a fair share of traveling with plenty of overnight flights, jet lag, etc. I didn't think I'd have any problems this time, but, I didn't factor in being nearly 6 months pregnant. Through swollen ankles and a million pit stops (if you have any questions on public restrooms in Ireland just ask, I think I tried out all of them) I survived and managed to have a lot of fun.
I was traveling with my colleague, Harriet, and from the moment we stepped off the plane we going, going, going. We stopped off at our hotel, dropped our bags, and went for a good, strong cappuccino (we definitely have our priorities in order). After the injection of caffeine we started walking. We walked ALL over Dublin. It must have been at least 5 miles, no joke. Tuesday we had to set up our conference booth, then walked all over Dublin some more. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we spent all day (and I mean ALL day, like 9:00am-6:00pm) in the expo hall talking to people about
Universities Fighting World Hunger and recruiting European universities to join the movement.
I would say the conference as a huge success. We generated a lot of interest from European higher learning institutions and I'm looking forward to following up and connecting further with each of them. Okay...enough about work...
So, first impressions of Dublin, well, it is your typical big city. It isn't really known for anything in particular and isn't a good representation of Ireland. When I think of Ireland, I think of the beautiful, rolling countryside. However, I think Dublin is definitely worth exploring on a trip to Ireland. It is an incredibly easy city to navigate on foot. The people are friendly and the food is great! (bet you didn't expect that one...more on the food later).
One of my favorite things we did during our free time was to go to Trinity College to see the
Book of Kells. The artistry, talent, and patience required to produce this handwritten copy of the Gospels is really just mind-boggling. Definitely do that when in Dublin.
The other thing we did, which I will highly recommend doing if you are on a quick trip and don't have a ton of time, is to...wait for it...book a bus tour. Can you believe it? Yes, I actually went on one of those cheesy and touristy charter bus tours and let me tell you it was anything but cheesy. We did our research and booked one that was not very prescriptive. We just had to meet the bus at certain times, then we were pretty much on our own. The benefit of an organized tour is that it comes with a knowledgable and tested tour guide full of information that you wouldn't get otherwise. Not to mention the other benefit of not having to fool around with renting a car and learning to drive on the other side of the road, just for one day. We met the bus at 9:00am and drove south to County Wicklow to get a taste of the Irish countryside. Our first stop was at a tiny medieval town called Glendalough and saw the ancient monastery housed there.
Side note on the monastery: When Christianity was first introduced to Ireland it was family oriented. Women were allowed to live in the monastery, the monks had families, and the women were educated and often ordained as ministers. It wasn't until the Roman Catholic church came to Ireland that women were pushed out of the church. Anyways, I just thought that it was interesting that the early Christian church was Egalitarian, at least in Ireland.
From Glendalough we went to Kilkenny, the medieval capital of Ireland. By the time we got there it was just about lunch time, so the first order of business for us was to find a place to grab a bite to eat. I would say we found a great one. It was a pub that was part of a hotel in Kilkenny and was actually named one of the best gastropubs in Ireland. (Sorry, can't remember the name) I had the most wonderful piece of pan-fried fish over mashed potatoes with a delicious lightly sautéed samphire (an edible Irish marsh grass) with a lemon butter sauce on top. It was divine.
Since I'm on the food topic I'll go ahead and tell you a little more about eating in Ireland.
Overall, the food is pretty amazing. It isn't just meat and potatoes, there is a lot of that, but there is so much more. One of my favorite restaurants, in fact we ate there 3 times while we were in Dublin, was
Cornucopia. Cornucopia is a vegetarian, whole food restaurant. They are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I guarantee you will not be disappointed. The menu changes daily and offers a wide variety of hot options, salads, and baked goods (including many gluten free goodies!)
Another great restaurant we ate at was called Bobo Restaurant. Bobo is a gourmet burger restaurant. I don't eat beef, in fact, I've never had a "real" burger. So what was I doing at this fantastic little restaurant? I was eating the most delicious veggie burger. In fact it was the tastiest I've ever had. Yumm... I would definitely recommend Bobo for a divergence from the normal pub fare while in Dublin.
For traditional Irish dining, I would highly recommend going to
Gallagher's Boxty House. It is in the touristy Temple Bar area, but it is far from the mediocre tourist food. The boxty is a traditional Irish potato dish that comes in pancake or dumpling form. The pancakes are thin, actually more like crepes filled with various savory fillings. The dumplings are similar to the Italian gnocchi, served with sauce. I had the boxty dumplings with a chicken, leek, and bacon cheese sauce. It was decadent and delicious.
I definitely want to go back to Ireland to explore when I don't have to work and when I can enjoy a nice pint of Guiness.
I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from the trip:
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| Wicklow Gap |
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| Libby! |
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| Christchurch Cathedral |
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| Very important, yet so hard to get used to. |
