Day 1 in Dublin

Today was our first full day in Dublin. It began with the students making their way to Delaney's for a 10am pick up from John. They then came to city center to pick me up outside the flat at 10:30. John gave a bus tour of all the highlights of Dublin. He took us to Phoenix Park where we got out and took a group photo near the cross that was erected after the 1972 visit of the Pope, when a million people showed up in the Park for mass. We also saw the home of Ireland's President  (a woman), and even more impressive to our group, the gated entrance of the US Ambassador to Ireland, Steeler owner Dan Rooney.

John took us around the city where we saw the historic Post Office on O'Connell Street (complete with the bullet holes on the columns out front), the new bridge over the liffey named for author James Joyce, and the oldest pub in the world, a pub we will visit later in the trip. He pointed out various statues of famous Irishmen, in addition to numerous pubs and shops of interest. He parked on Nassau Street right across from the Kilkenny shop where I dined yesterday, and I walked the group up to Grafton Street and then to the Tourist Center. The Tourism department is located in an old church and has a small cafe on the second floor. It's a great place, with lots of nice gift ideas. The students were able to pick up brochures, maps, and purchase bus tickets. We then hopped back on John's bus for a short ride to the Guiness brewery factory. Guiness is celebrating their 250th anniversary in 2009. The seven story museum showed way more than I needed to know about the history and brewing process of Irelands most famost export. The highlight for the students, of course, was the free Guiness at the end. I gave my ticket to one of the students and when I left they had only gotten to the fourth floor cafe and had yet to make it to the bar on the top that had a 360 degree view of the entire city. I left with four of the students and made the 15 minute walk back to city center. We stopped at a local pub, The Bull and Castle, for a late (3pm) lunch. The students went on to find the bus company to double check the bus they needed to catch to get back to their host families. They were also going to explore Christ Church Cathedral and check out the Vodaphone store on Grafton Street (to buy a local phone), and also find the Temple Bar district. The group was planning on meeting at a club, 21, tonight near Trinity College. I went home and took a nap. I stayed up until 3:30am watching the Phillies (Got up again at 4:30am to check the score. Phils had just tied it in the 8th), and needed to nap if I plan on repeating that schedule tonight. I'm glad Cliff Lee is pitching tonight. Not only is he the ace, but he also works quickly so hopefully I won't have to miss the late innings due to complete exhaustion and the late (early morning) hour. This is it. Let's go Phillies! I know it's November, but I'm still not ready for the season to end.

I feel the need to explain why we will not be in the schools this week. The first week of this trip always coincides with a bank holiday here in Ireland. I don't know which holiday or why they have a week off, but it gives us the opportunity to travel a bit and to also adjust to life in Dublin. Tomorrow is a free day for the students to find their schools and make a trial run. Some will be walking while others will need to take public transportation (bus). They can also make a trip to city center to do some shopping and start to find their way around the city.  I will be using tomorrow to trek to the bus station to get the schedule of all the busses and to pick up a few things I need at the flat. I am looking forward to the day to explore some of the places I found last year, and discover some new ones. It will be my only free day in Dublin, as the rest of the trip will be spent in the schools during the week and on trips on weekends.

Below are pictures of Christ Church Cathedral. My flat is directly across the street. At the bottom is a group photo from Phoenix Park this morning.