Yesterday, we made the requisite pilgrimage to the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. It’s an indisputable tourist trap, made even more depressing by the need of most 13- to 30-year-old male visitors to have a photo of themselves groping her. The statue itself is located at the edge of the city, not far from a…
Copenhagen is expensive. Bibi’s Diner: Decent. This story is told elsewhere, but the food itself was solid. We had dolma, tomato/cucumber salad, broccoli salad, cabbage salad, and potato salad, plus something bread-like which I think was chick-pea-based. In that part of town, this seemed to be one of the only affordable places to eat. Aamanns: This was…
Royal Library Gardens: It was very relaxing to sit in here. Surprisingly devoid of crowds, it had some pretty trees, a fountain, a statue of Kierkegaard, and a lot of benches. Worth it. The Dome: There was a temporary art installation set up near the water, which looked like a transparent biodome. It was intended to convey a both…
Glendalough: An old monastic site, this place has church ruins, tower ruins, a river-like thing, and a lake. It’s certainly pretty, but not sure that it merits being singled out as the thing to see. The best part is the elevated wooden walkway on which you can stroll around the lake. And the sheep grazing…
Glendalough Hotel (Glendalough): Decent, especially for a tourist location. I had a fish cake, and B had spring rolls. Cafe Sol (Kilkenny): Our favorite! I had a quinoa/roasted veggie/pumpkin seed salad, and B had Guinness bangers and mash. Lombard St. Take Away (Waterford): Surprisingly decent. I had curry fries, and B had bacon and cheese…
13 things we weren’t expecting to be true about Ireland: Dublin In Dublin, they have a lot of signs which say ‘TO LET’ (meaning ‘for rent’), but they all look like they intended to say ‘TOILET’ and lost their ‘I.’ This is largely because the spacing between the two words is quite small. I even…
I’ve seen British-US English translators, but here’s a bit of an Irish dialec-tionary: Ramps: Speed bumps! They’re used somewhat differently though, making them seem more like a motor speedway device than a suburban fixture. Specifically, most US speed bumps are used in areas where the driver is going ~25 mph. In faster zones, American road designers seem…
Before leaving on the trip, I started doing research into housing options for us. Since we would be staying for longer time periods, apartment rentals seemed like the thing to do. However, after scouring seven such (reputable) sites in multiple cities, they turned out to be quite the pricey proposition. Maybe if you’re traveling as…
This morning, we drove into a small town called Dunmore East, where I immediately spotted a bakery. B had availed himself of leftovers for breakfast, but I was ravenous. I carefully examined each item in each display, since this was clearly not a decision to be taken lightly. As I was making up my mind, I made a…
Kilmainham Gaol: This tour of an 1800s jail was our favorite activity by far. It was given by a charming archaeologist, and it was very well done. Especially good for people not into long drawn-out history recitations: gives a succinct summary of the attempts at Irish independence, full of the kind of personal stories that…