10 Questions About…

So did I mention that we went to U2? We got our tickets here. A bunch went on last minute sale. They weren’t on the pitch/floor but they were good. We were on the first tier (row 20 or so) on the side. The show was amazing!! They always do an amazing job of new and old songs. The stage and the lighting and everything was very cool.

As we approached the stadium we saw a rainbow. It had rained all day but not one drop during the show and we could see the sun set as we watched the show.

It seems as if everyone in Dublin is going to one of the three shows – but no one we knew was going to the first night with us. In fact the population of Dublin is about 500,000 (that’s just Dublin, not greater Dublin) and with 3 shows 240,000 people will see U2. That being said – much of the crowd is not from Dublin. Tons of people just flew in for the show. Funny enough we ran into Joe Dowling and his wife while we were there. So that was kind of fun.

I took some video and pictures. One thing I have to mention about Croke Park, where we saw them, it’s an outdoor sports arena. It holds 80,000 people. It’s plopped right in the middle of a neighborhood. So while the show ended at 11:00 – we couldn’t really get anywhere for a while. The streets were just wall to wall people.

(or you can see them all here: http://tinyurl.com/lq67ho)

We had Ailbhe and Cait for a sleepover this week. (Then their family had all 3 of our girls to stay, which is just one reason we love them.) Back to the sleepover. We walked to Blackrock to have a late dinner at Eddy Rockets. We walked most of the way by the sea. I have to admit it’s just beautiful. One of the best things is living so close now we get to track whether the tide is in or out. (We live about 5 minutes from the sea.) Being from the Great Plains we weren’t so up on what it meant for the tide to be in or out. It’s a huge difference. When the tide is out there can be hundreds of yards of beach. When the tide is in there’s none.

The morning of the sleepover we went swimming at Sea Point – which again is near to us, maybe a 10 minute walk. The water is cold and the tide was in – but the girls actually got into the water. Aine and I collected shells. There was a wave incident reminiscent of Grandpa at Lahinch last year – but not as good. I wasn’t paying attention and the waves kind of went from 0 to 60 in no time and I got pretty wet on a rebound off the walk.

I tend to walk near the sea most mornings. I walk from Monkstown down the West Pier of Dun Laoghaire. One morning I saw a dolphin – or maybe a porpoise, but definitely not a seal. It was pretty far out but I saw the dorsal fin. Another morning I saw a lobster boat pulling up lobster pots. I am a huge fan of Deadliest Catch so I’d like to pretend that this was a death defying view – but mostly it was a calm day and the guy was picking out as much trash as lobster (or maybe even crab) from the nets.

On Saturday we celebrated Rochelle’s (cousin from Florida) birthday. There were 15 people at Irish Grandma’s house since both sets of Rochelle’s grandparents live in Ireland.

We spent most of the day around the house. The Australian cousins went back home in the evening.

Saturday night Irish Grandma babysat and Patrick and I went to our favorite French restaurant ( L’Gueuleton) and had an amzing meal!

So starting about a week ago, we have been house sitting a beautiful house in Monkstown.

We’re still in South Dublin – but we’re much closer to town and very near the DART – and the coast. The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) is a train that goes further south (to Bray and beyond), into the city center and north to Howth and Malahide. The station is less than a 10 minute walk from the house.

It’s a 10 minute walk to Dun Laoghaire and maybe 0 minute walk to Blackrock. Every morning I have been walking to Dun Laoghaire and down the West Pier. On the foggy days we can hear the fog horm from the house. There’s a beach (Sea Point) about 15 minutes away. I’m using the term beach loosely here – but you could definitely swim there.

There’s a castle in Monkstown. There are two big churches – across the street from each other. There are a few shops, restaurants and a pub in the area. (In fact we saw a band at the pub on Saturday night.)

The houses are very nice – including this one. It’s a pre-Victorian house; built around 1830.

There’s a beautiful back garden with flowers, vegetables and fruit, which we can pick and eat if we want. There are 3 floors. Mostly we stay on the ground floor. The house has about a billion books; Patrick has already found a few gems for his PhD. There’s a marble bust in the dining room of the owner’s ancestor.

If you have ever lived in or visited a bedsit, that is what our room is like. In fact the whole house is like a bedsit put back into its original form. I live in mortal fear that someone will break something big while we’re here.

On Wednesday we headed out to Malahide with Julie, Kilian and Aidan (from Australia). Malahide is on the DART. It’s sort of the opposite end of the DART from us. It’s not on the bay – but out north of the city.

Malahide has a castle – but more than that for most of our concern, Malahide has an amazing playground on the castle grounds. The girls thought it was better than the Cabinteely Park! The whole grounds around the castle are pretty amazing. And the weather was perfect – almost too hot and sunny.

We took a quick glance at the castle and even had lunch there. (I will admit that we miss places like Bruegger’s and Chipotle for lunch!)

We walked into Malahide a bit. It’s a suburban area (or urban village as Patrick likes to say). It seems very nice and pretty upper end.

After Malahide we stopped into town for a while – by then it was raining. Unfortunately it was almost 5:00 and most things were shutting up for the night – but we did get to walk around Dublin Castle.