Dublin
These
are photos from a business trip that I took to Dublin in the summer of
1996 (June 30 - July 13)when I was working for Isocor. I don't remember that much about the
trip. I spent two weeks in Dubin and worked most of the time. Fortunately
Dublin is at a very high latitude which means that in the summer it stays
light until very late. Actually, this was somewhat annoying. It wouldn't
get really dark until after 10pm and it would start getting light at about
4:30 which made it difficult to sleep. I managed to do a bit of site-seeing.
I spent some time at Trinity College and I went to the Temple Bar area.
I went to a natural history museum and to one of the art museums in the
city. My hotel was close enough to work that I was about to walk to work
each morning. On my way to work I would pass by one of the canals which
had several locks. The food in Ireland wasn't as bad as I thought it would
be. I went to a pub once just for the experience but mostly I ate a number
of ethnic restaurants in the area.
Glendalough
On
the weekend between my two work weeks I took a guided bus tour to Glendalough
and to the Russborough House. Glendalough comes from the Irish Gleann
Dá Locha which translates to "The glen of the two lakes".
In the 6th Century St. Kevin founded a monastery at Glendalough in County
Wicklow. Most of Glendalough was destroyed in 1398. The buildings which
survive date from the 8th and 12th centuries. The most impressive is the
1,000 year old round tower which is 34m high and 16m in circumference
at the base.
Russborough House is an Irish Mansion built around 1750. The house contains
a number of masterpieces by such artist as Gainsborough and Rubens as
well as tapestries and fine Francini plasterwork.
Isocor
I
took these photos so long ago that I don't remember anyone's name. The
people at Isocor were nice. On either my second or third night in Dublin
they took me out to the Temple Bar area. The only mistake that they made
was that they took me to the most American bar in the area. I don't know
why people do this, but I see it all of the time. You get a visitor from
Korea and the first thing you do is take them to some lame Korean restaurant
in your area. Most people, when they are raveling what to experience the
culture of the place they are in. The people at Isocor also took me out
to a pub (and laughed at me as I nursed a single beer while they had six
or seven). There was one really nice fellow at Isocor who took me hiking
along a pretty bit of the countryside with his wife.