Ok, so exactly two weeks after coming back home I'm finally going to tell you how our trip to Dublin went .... I won't go into a lot of details as it would bore the shit out of you, so I will stick mostly to the places connected in any or other way to U2, and with the most notable landmarks of the places we visited. However, if any of you are keen to know more of our visit or any other insight on any of the places we were in, just ask. It would make me immensely happy
Since I am not posting all of my pics here, you might want to see the full Dublin album I have set up on Flickr, where all the photos are tagged with the date when they were taken, the camera (95% of them are from my Nokia N8, 2 or 3 are from Ana's Sony camera) which was used and the like.
So, making a long dream come true, my friends Daniel (he's got an account here, he is pridix) and Ana, and my girlfriend Miriam (also has an account, AIWIU2, although she doesn't have time for being online anymore) and me flew to Dublin last July 26th on a Ryanair flight:
We went up without problems and after 1 hour and 50 minutes of flight I had my first sight of the country I had been wanting to visit for the last 90% of my life:
(I took this picture from that angle only because I promised Kirsten I would do so).
Well, we arrived to Dublin eventually, got out the airport and did our little trip onto the city centre. In less than 15 minutes (the walking time from the bus stop to our hotel, at Aungier Street), I was already astonished by the greatness of O'Connell Street, O'Connell bridge, Bank Of Ireland, Trinity College and many other Dublin landmarks. We eventually got to our hotel, when a great sign greeted us:
Black Irish humour
That night, we went out for a small walk around the Grafton Street zone and we found the first U2 landmark, the Dandelion Market plate:
We also found a very young busker -probably younger than us- who was just starting his nightly performance... And he started right away with Desire!! As expected, I joined him, I did harmonies throughout the verses and also snippeted "1969" (a la Lovetown), and he was loving it almost as much as I was. It was a fantastic welcome, first night, first U2 song out in the street. Nice
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Next day we woke up early and started our turistic route through the city. Since our hotel was near Trinity College, that was our first stop. It surprised me as I knew it was the oldest university in Ireland, but I didn't expect it to be so wonderful.
We got out and started walking down Pearse Street. There, we stumped across a Chemistry exhibition on the Naughton Institute. Of course, we went in and had a great time - specially me, as a Chemist You can see some photos of the exhib. in the Flickr album. Then we crossed to the north side of town through Sean O'Casey Bridge, where we had the first sight of the Custom House and other interesting places from both shores.
Once in the north side, we had lunch and then we walked until we reached the Eastern part of town. If you know Dublin, you'll know that part of the city is the "worse" one, with the dirty docks, some unconvenient people, crumbling or abandoned buildings, and........ The Point Depot. The legend made venue.
The Point Depot (now called O2), where not only the legendary late-1989 U2 shows took place, but also where other famous artists like Bob Dylan, REM, Bruce Springsteen and many, many others have played and recorded fantastic shows. A very emotional place to be if you're a music lover.
At the feet of the Point Depot lies the East Link bridge, another famous location which appeared most notably in the Pride videoclip, and also gave the name to the Spanish U2 website called U2EastLink. The white paiting isn't on its floor anymore, but the bridge remains an important communication road between north and south parts of the city. The sight from there is also amazing, both to the west (you can see or make up most of Dublin's important places) and to the east (you can see the docks, the electrical station towers -which gave name to the so-called song, and also appeared in the Pride videoclip- and the Irish sea). ... [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/u2santos/6013825429/][/url] ... [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/u2santos/6013825205/][/url]
Sergio, this is an AMAZING review. I don't know which moment is the best, I love everything you posted. Your photos and videos look so great All the places you've been are holy places for a U2 fan, and thinking you've seen all them makes me want to go there too.
Your letter is so touching Sergio, and really gives the feeling how much U2 have been and are important in your life.
Anyway, thanks for the review and making me dream about going there once
Just read the whole thing there Sergio, it wouldn't even come up on the mobile site because it was so big and all you html codes Brilliant review, it's cool to hear that you appreciate the places that I grew/am growing up in. Next time I'll have to meet you and I'll show you some more great places
I was expecting a big review, but this is... Uber deluxy
I'll be looking forward to reading this later on
(already saw some amzaing pic on fb and your letter was really great. Again, I hope you'll get an answer !)
Just had the best reading ever in this wonderful site! I'm really happy for you Sergio, and you stories, photos and videos are amazing! A special mention to the first video...Videos like yours just remind me why I want to be a pilot
Really hope to go to Dublin soon and share my experience with you friend!
I still need to read the whole review -- all I just did was watching your "summery of the flight" video from Madrid to Dublin..... it has me left here with tears running down my cheeks, and you know why a sort of homecoming