Ireland day 2: Dublin Bay

So here is a new episode about my trip to Ireland last autumn (how time can fly by...).
Dublin isn't that far away from the Irish Sea, it's got a large area of docks and that stuff. You could see the cranes and some red-white chimneys in the far distance and it was clear to me that I wanted to go there.
On my trip, which partly was a long walk down the liffey, I took of course some nice photos which I want to show you. If you like the photos, take a look at my Picasa web album at https://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay2DublinBay#. All picutures have a Creative Commons cc-by-nc-sa 3.0 license :) If you want to have them in full 12 megapixels, just contact me.

Breakfast started with a really funny and interesting article in a news paper lying around at the hostel:

Shoe-house

The Custom House shown below is a reconstruction of the original. During the Irish War of Independance it was burnt in 1921 by the IRA. The made sure the firefigthers were as far away as possible when lighting it and the whole original interior has been destroyed.

Custom House

After a while I saw and photographed these sculptures, they were only about 10 minutes away from the Custom House. They should remind of the Great Famine.

Dublin Great Famine memorial

 From what I guess they are related to the UN agreement stated in the picture below. Of course the wealthy industrial nations did not keep their promise to feed the poorer people in world.

Liked the bridge architecture

Ship with the Convention Center in background

Did I tell you I have a fetish for bridges? This one is the Samuel Beckett bridge. Depending from which side you see it, it is either the Irish Harp or the Guinness harp. Actually,  when the Irish Republic was founded they had to turn the harp so they do not violate Guinness's copyrights.

Samuel Beckett bridge

Near Samuel Beckett bridge

At the traffic lights I discovered something curious and funny. Oh no they put "dangerous" flouride in the tap water! What comes next? Maybe Dihydrogenmonoxide from which you can get ill if drinking to much of it? (Think of it...or use google :D)

Playing with the focus

The Convention Center Dublin had some special attraction to me, too.

The CCD

October feast ship :D

My dublin trip was at the end of september, the time where the October feast starts in Germany(and no, we are not running around in leather trousers drinking white beer all time ;) ). It looked kind of strange and funny to me and Paulaner is definitely not really the best beer you can drink!

An old T-bar for a crane between to buildings.

Art: Flow

This pice of art looked really interesting. They put tiny metal plates shining in all colors of the rainbow, but mostly blue, in a large array in that gas station. The installation was made by Martin Richmal in 2008 and should show the reflections of water or fire and reminds of the banded containers which were once shipped here.

Next was a bigwheel beneath "The O2" which is a multi-purpose hall which you might have seen on some of the pictures before.
I had of course a ride for I think 8 €(special offer for students) to to take some beautiful pictures. Only some of them will be shown here, for the rest take a look at the web album.

The O2 with the bigwheel behind

View on Dublin Bay far in the distance

The pictures above shows my destination, Dublin Bay. If I am not completely mistaken, the mountains at the horizon are outer areas of the Wicklow Mountains. It was clear to me that I definitely want to go there some other day which I did, see one of my next posts :)

View back to Dublin city

On my way to the chimneys and the lighthouse, it became clear to me that I had underestimated distances a bit. Nevertheless I saw these nice and beautiful houses near the docks area.

Carribean dream

The house above was a bit special because caribbean plants in Ireland looked really weird to me.

Power plant entrance with mountains in background

I took the picture above only because of the wonderful view on the mountains behind.

Hooray, I'm nearly there! The way was a bit difficult to find because the city map didn't show anything of this area. The building in front made me a bit curious, but I cannot get any additional information. From what I guess it belongs to the power plant and maybe is the old power generation building which has been replaced by a more modern one.

I saw some interesting stuff on my way, like the basin above. Being curious what it contains, I took the photo above.
The picture below shows something I have never seen in Germany in that way: Movable homes and where (poorer) people actually live in! Looks really messy around, but I'm happy to have seen some sides of Dublin which are not seen by everyone.

Poolbeg Generating Station

They even had a horse for some purpose, which looked kind of nice in the landscape. But I also felt a bit uneasy because appearently those poeple don't own as much money and stuff as me. I felt with them, which made me a bit sad.

Beach at Dublin Bay with view on the Irishtown Nature Park

Final destination: Dublin Bay. For some 360° shots, see the web album.

Power station towers

After a while I had to return, because Isy was waiting for me in Leixlip. While I was playing around with the camera's settings I discovered it has a smiling detection, which had to be tried out :D

Some tiny park in front of the basin 

The O2 bigwheel again

The way back was a real power walk, because I had my ten kilo backpack with all the clothes and that stuff on my shoulders and my feet hurt like hell, but I had to catch the bus to Leixlip.
I will stay at Isy's, a really lovely friend from my old school, the rest of the days I have left. Isy works as an Au-pair there, taking care of her host-family's son Tiagh(say Taigh). They were all soo nice and lovely and little Tiagh was really, really cute. Interesting thing was he could get everything he wanted with two word: Baba(bottle) and tata, which basically meant pointing to something or "please give that to me". Little children are always fun and Isy and I had a great time playing with him.