Touring the City... Again!?!

The past two days, my Atlantis group and I decided to explore some hidden gems within the city. 

One of these places is called 'Cafe En Seine'. Just like most places in Dublin, it is a pub but.. my goodness... on the inside, you would be amazed.

Someone that told us about it described it as 'four floors of beautiful architecture'. Let's just say that we all had the same expression about the place.

The place has the feel of entering a mix of a palace ballroom and an elegant dining room due to the dim lighting in the room.

Cafe En Seine

I honestly think that I could sit in there for hours and find something new to look at around each room. Also,the service is laid-back and the place overall really had a nice and relaxing vibe to it. 

In my opinion, it appears to be one of the best places to go to after work, especially around the early evening when you want to just kick back, relax, and just talk to other people. 

Another place we went to visit was this restaurant that had a 'little Italian' feel to it because the guests are allowed to bring their own wine to accompany their meal for less than 10 euros.

Finally, we checked out one of the recommended places that we wanted to go to for the Super Bowl: The Bleeding Horse.

I was a little skeptical about the place because of the name but it is MASSIVE. I can't wait to see the Super Bowl in this place on Sunday but I am also more interested in how other people will react while watching the Super Bowl. 

Today, I was caught on the other side of the coin because the highly anticipated rugby event 'Six Nations' started today. 

I have no idea what are the rules for rugby nor how scoring was done but, after watching it for a little bit, I became fascinated by the gameplay.

My friends told me the basic rules of rugby while we watched it such as scoring and the passing but I was always interested in how often athletes got injured in this contest. Within 10 minutes, I saw 3 players getting helped off the field with varying injuries. I can definitely see the joy in watching this game, especially with the enthusiasm presented after every score.

Also today, I decided to go on my third tour of this wonderful city. What can I say? I can't get enough of learning about this place haha.

I found it interesting to be able to listen to this walking tour for the second time and, despite it being a different tour guide, being able to remember a good portion of what my previous tour guide discussed with my group about Dublin. 

I did learn a couple of new interesting facts about Dublin on this tour. For example, Dublin originally was named based on a mis-communication between natives and Vikings establishing themselves in Ireland. The Vikings thought that the people said that the name of the city was Duvlin and hence established this city by that name instead of its original Irish name, which is Baile átha Cliath

The name of the city eventually became Dublin under the English rule of Ireland.

Another thing that I learned is that the top of the remaining part of Dublin Castle was renovated in the 19th century because the city authorities did not think that it looked 'castle enough' to be considered a castle without a renovation.

As shown below, I also learned that the Temple Bar area had some history other than the 1980s tourist boom. It was the main area of Dublin where navigators would settle in during the marine trade through Dublin throughout the centuries.

Temple Bar

 In fact, some parts of Dublin are built where the river used to flow through Ireland during the 800s. 

Finally, I really did not know too much of the cultural significance of Trinity College. I thought it was just known for being the tourist destination for the Book of Kells but it has also been used in movies or replicated in movies such as Star Wars and Harry Potter. In fact, as part of an agreement, Trinity College had to sell Star Wars memorabilia for three months to promote the movie.

I bet even the most fanatic Star Wars fan did not know that. :p

Inner Part of Trinity College

 Finally, another thing is that Trinity College give a 10-year window to graduates to marry in order to use their campus for the wedding. As I took the picture below, a bride and a groom appeared under there shortly after and prompted the tour guide to talk about another spontaneous occurrence when 200 Bollywood actors did a 15 minute dance in Trinity College on one of his tours!

Courtyard of Trinity College

I also heard that, if you know a student from Trinity College that you can see the Book of Kells... for free. Let's just say that I'm going to start to use my connection there so that my group can hopefully see this ancient book! Unfortunately, there is a great chance that no photos can be taken so I will just have to look for a replica around here so that you can still see how it will look.

Bonus fact(s): Ireland is typically referred to as a Catholic nation but, until the early 1800s, only Protestantism was allowed as the main religion in Ireland. In fact, Catholic life was very brutal until that point and not very welcoming to practice in public until a guy named Daniel O'Connell fought for the rights of Catholics here.

Nevertheless, although Irish are predominantly Catholic, the two main cathedrals in Dublin are Protestant based on the heavy investments by Guinness owner Arthur Guinness to St. Patrick Cathedral and Whiskey owner Henry Roe to Christchurch Cathedral.

I always heard that Irish drink pretty religiously but, in this case, you could say they are doing it out of respect for those that saved these main cathedrals in Dublin. 

Cheers!