Dublin 2009

A New Year means time for my annual trek to Ireland to visit Funderland, Kylemore Karting and other pleasures the city of Dublin has to offer. First observation was that the Pound is so crap against the Euro that everything was 40% dearer than last year. The hotel bar was selling a pint of cider for £6, thinking it was just the hotel pinching us tourists we were very surprised to find a nearby pub offering similar for only 20 pence less.

That aside I still had a nice weekend away, definitely needed as I'd worked most of Christmas and New Year.

Here are some pics...

Quite a bit of development had taken place North of the Liffey. This weird tipped cylinder building wasn't there last year. Further up the riverside the main music venue The Point has been replaced with an O2 complex.

The rubbish scrawl graffiti around U2's studios.

Some nice graffiti in a car park.

Look like this has been done by Eine, who's notorious for doing similar around Hackney and Shoreditch in London. Some of the letters here don't look as sharp as there though.

Eelus is perhaps mostly famous for being mistaken for Banksy as he uses a similar stencil style.

With the exception of the Cans Festival this was the first time I'd seen his stuff on the street.

As much as I hate the scrawls, this one did make me chuckle.

Another Eelus tucked away behind the Grafton St shops. I seem to be developing a sixth sense for finding nice pieces. I had done no research into what to find here and still managed to come across bits like this.

Local boy Maser has left his mark all over the city.

A little hard to make out in the pic but the sticker says "No bombs please"

There were loads of these of various sizes all over the city. No idea who they were by though.

Liking the warning sign.

Not the best crew to belong to.

This is the Grand Plaza development across the road from the hotel that has taken years to construct. In fact the last 2 years I'd been here the site was flat, so at least progress is being made now.

The eternal flame that usually flickers here had gone out. Not sure if that signifies the end of the world or not.

Kylemore Karting have managed to somehow squeeze a third circuit into the building, so close to the ceiling in fact that the crash helmet saved me giving myself a concussion. Having won the first 2 championships then losing last year, I was keen to reclaim the title, perhaps a bit too keen as I spun out on the first race and had to ram my way into victory in the second. I came second overall, so no trophy this year.

In the Smithfields part of the city is a little big wheel and ice rink, still fairly popular but not as popular as Funderland.

A random stroll around the city. Having been here a number of times previously I have to find new quarters to explore. On this occasion I chose West Dublin and the Castle.

The castle grounds were stunning!

Cute!

Clothes peg art

A Pro-Palestine rally took place on the day I was there.

A couple of nice pieces beside the O'Connell bridge.

The Ferryman was the first place I ever stayed when I came to Dublin in 2002. Its rather coincidentally around the corner from the where I now stay.

The looping star is the standout ride at Funderland.

This ride was spinning so fast that the majority of it was spent felling like I was going to fall out.

New for this year was Psycho, a haunted walkthrough that was supposed to feature live actors (we had one) and 3 effect rooms. It was alright but not great. I've done some similar in Germany that were much better.

Once again a nice break, roll on Next Year!