dublin 04: the prick with the stick.

After close to a week here in Dublin, I think that I'm starting to "get" the way of the Dubliners. Those early honeymoon periods of feeling like a tourist are slowly getting away - and I'm seeing Dublin in a new light.


The Dubs, as many like to call them love, and I mean love to give nicknames to statues and objects in the city.

The bridge where I shot this photo is nicknamed the Penny Ha'Penny Bridge by the locals. The bridge's official name is the Liffey Bridge.




Perhaps the most prominent structure in O'Connell Street is the Millenium Spire. The Dubs call it the The Stiffy By the Liffy or The Skewer or The Skewer In The Skewer.

I've also heard the nickname The Stiletto In the Getto as well from Dubliners, or the Binge Syringe even.




This sculpture, which is currently the tallest in the world is often associated amongst locals as a sign of the once boom economy in the country and the insane spending associated with it.

The country until know still hadn't recovered from the recession. As I walk along the streets, I can see many closed shops. Not to say street longs of closed shops, but prominent enough that you kind of just know something is not right with this country - economy wise.




Let's move on.




Perhaps the most famous of Irish writers is this man James Joyce. To continue with the tradition, the locals call him The Prick With the Stick.

The nickname might sound rude, but Joyce was known for his sometimes rigald sense of humor, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind the nickname if he was alive.

He wrote the novel Ulysses, and he once said that if Dublin were somehow destroyed tomorrow, you can rebuilt it, brick by brick just by the description in the novel alone.




His last novel before his death entitled Finnegan's Wake is something that I think everyone alive should atleast read a sentence from it, just for the absurd and abnormal and dreamlike way of his writing. I couldn't even make it past the first page. The book was so weird.

Sweny's Pharmacy. In the novel, the main character bought his soap of "sweet lemony wax" here, which is still sold to this day. The place is no longer a pharmacy though, but a place full of Joyce memorabillia.




James Joyce Cafe Bar, this bar is very near to where we live.




The man is considered to be Ireland's greatest modern writer. He passed away in 1941 at the age of 59 due to perforated ulcer.

Dublin is also know for its many statues. Here's a statue of Daniel O'Connell, which the street is named after. The statue took 19 years to finish.




His philosophy for peace inspired many leaders including Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King.

I stayed in Lucan for 4 days. On the fifth day, my parents and the rest of my family arrived from Malaysia and we stayed at an apartment that abah booked.




Here's what it looks like.




There's 2 bedroom. This room right here has 2 bed, whilst the other one has a single queen sized bed.




The place is quite comfortable. There's free WiFi too and the speed is amazingly fast. 24MB down. To give an idea of how fast it is, I can play 3 simultaneous 1080p Youtube videos without stuttering.




It feels nice for us as a family to be reunited again.




Mom brought these serunding from Malaysia. She also cooked a simple dish - fried veggies for breakfast. We ate it with rice of course, also brought from home.




Not to forget my favourite drink of them all.




And these delicious fruit cakes. Eaten with nescafe (but abah prefers hot coffee).




The house is nice and all but we don't have time to waste.

This is directly outside our apartment. Infront of the apartment just besides the cafe is a foodcourt selling halal food. But no we don't eat there, mom prefers cooking the dish herself.




Mom really love flowers. She was jumping in excitement when she saw these.  Especially looking at those colourful tulips.




The rest of my family went left towards O'Connell Street but I took a moment to go to the bridge to take a picture instead.




Liffey Bridge, the bridge where I shot the very first photo in this entry.




This is essentially the same photo as the first one except I shot this is in a landscape orientation. I also changed the settings of the camera to Astia so that there are more contrast in the colours. The first one was shot with the Velvia filter, which makes the photo more saturated than normal.

Yeah.




But you know, I love Dublin and its people. Honestly the Dubliners are amongst the friendliest people you will ever meet.




I'm going to catch up with my family.




Penneys, Arnotts, Marks & Spencer - you name it, its all here. It is the premiere shopping street of the city.

My 3 sisters strayed away from us. Where? I don't know but I'm willing to bet that my youngest sister will go into a large Forever 21 boutique inside the mall.

Mom and abah went to Moore Street, where street markets are aplenty.




But it kind of look a bit empty today.




But the fruits here certainly looks fresh. I'll let these picture do the talking.

Mom bought some vegetables, pears,apples and some bananas.

Mom also bought mackerels from the friendly fish seller. She wants to cook asam pedas for lunch.




Afterwards I wondered off on my own.

Mainy looking at clothes, videogames, novels, just generally a personal time for myself.




I did went into this toy shop hoping to get some sweet deals on Lego but alas, the price is not as cheap as I hoped, even after discount.




But I had a great time just wondering around and let my mind go free.




Abah called and said lunch is almost ready. So I went home and that concludes this entry as well.