There is a cold and rainy city called Seattle, which is located in Washington State in the U.S. I might have thought that living in such a place would prepare me for the cold and rainy city of Dublin. I might have thought wrong. I found myself waking up around 5AM most mornings, without anything to do until the hour of 7. Walking without shelter for hours at a time in a Dublin where the sun has yet to rise will remind one of that time they forgot their windbreaker on a hike above the frost-line in the Olympics.
Dublin is littered with old churches, angry youth, monuments to fine artists, pubs with gilded signage, and emigrant workers from all over our world. I enjoy cosmopolitan cities because I always feel like I fit in while touring there. In a homogeneous place like Kiev or Bizerte, a foreigner can be a point of fascination with the natives; like an exotic hominid walking among his human betters. French, Mexican, German, Mozambican, Brazilian, and Canadian permit-workers and other visitors give Dublin an almost Istanbul-like feel.
Dublin combines the hustle of New York City with the literary tradition and vision of Ljubljana, the flat expanse of Rome with the confused streets of Brussels. It is a delightful and unpredictable mix of tradition and modern influences. It does not bear its scars openly, but the motif of suffering is an inescapable part of Irish identity. It is a place of music, poetry, desperation, heart-break, genius and faith.
albaniacalling 
“… Oh, nothing new. The Murphy brothers are just getting drunk again.”
Have fun in Ireland. Slainte!