Trip to Howth

Saturday was a beautiful and sunny day for January, so we took the Dart to Howth (rhymes with "both"), a fishing port north of Dublin. We had a terrific lunch of fresh fish and chips and walked along the port for great views of fishing and sail boats, as well as the small island named Ireland's Eye (aka Deirdre's island, Mom). 

DART

DART is the Dublin Area Rapid Transit rail line that runs along the coast, as far south as Greystones and north as Malahide. We live very close to the Seapoint Dart station, which makes it very easy to travel to Dublin city centre or some quieter places like Bray and Howth. Jacob loves riding on the Dart and looking out the windows. 

Also, Jacob has been trying a new "cute" face to get us to do whatever he wants. He's practicing it in the third picture.

Snow in Trim

Yes, it does snow in Ireland! Here's a picture of snow falling on Trim Castle, taken after a Fulbright orientation dinner held at the hotel across the street. Seeing this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime event!

National Museum of Natural History

I received a teaching and research Fulbright award in 2008. You can read more about the Fulbright mission by clicking on the web links to the right. The Irish Fulbright Commission held a terrific orientation in January, where I got to meet the other awardees and tour museums, beautiful homes (including Castletown in county Kildare), Rath Cairn (an Irish-speaking area in county Meath), and spend two days at Maynooth University to learn about Irish language and culture. The pictures above are from the National Museum of Natural History, a Victorian-period museum filled with animals of Ireland and the world. The top picture is a skeleton of the extinct Giant Irish Deer (11,000 years old). Other pictures include a Dodo skeleton and of course, an example of an Irish earthworm!

A Day at the Sea

When the weather is not too windy or wet, we like to go and play at the beach. Here are some scenes from Seapoint, a few minutes from where we live. The tower is a Martello tower, a small defensive fort. There are rocky tidal pools, a sandy beach (from where people swim all year long!) and great views of the Dublin bay, including Howth.

Monkstown

We arrived on 2 January, 2009 and quickly settled in Monkstown, a small suburb south of Dublin. It's a wonderful area, close to the sea and right on the Dart and bus lines. The pictures above show Monkstown along the main road, our apartment building, a view of the sea from a side road, and an example of one of the many pretty homes here.

Hello from Ireland, agus dia duit!

We wanted to share our experiences with our family and friends while we spend the first half of 2009 in Ireland. While we are here, Mary will be teaching and conducting research at University College Dublin, John will be taking some much-needed time off work, and Jacob will be making all sorts of new friends and being the 3-year-old that he is. Please check our blog often for updates and new stories.