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| St. George's Arcade |
**SPECIAL NOTE: Today, May 23rd, Ireland is still counting the votes, but with about 60% counted, 71% of Irelanders voted YES to AMENDING the country's constitution to include gay marriage. (Sadly, the U.S. has a LONG way to go). According to the IRISH TIMES TODAY, "Not only has Ireland has agreed to same-sex marriage, it has done so in a louder voice than many could have imagined, carried on the back of a remarkable turnout and an engagement by younger people not seen in years. The campaign became about more than just same-sex marriage. It became a debate about the place of the gay community in Irish society and the country’s acceptance of it." VOTERS HAVE BASICALLY SAID, "WELCOME TO IRELAND, WHERE EVERYONE IS EQUAL AND WE WON'T BE BULLIED BY RELIGION TO HATE OTHERS." (The Catholic church was a large part of the "No" campaign).
(In the words of Betty Bowers - "How embarrassing! Quaint Ireland shows backwards America what it’s like to WANT equality for all citizens, rather than being forced by courts to be fair to them.")
ABOUT DUBLIN - Dublin is about 44 square miles. It's a very busy city (the busiest in Ireland and is the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It's located on Ireland’s east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey.
The first thing we noticed on the map is that the River Liffey runs from west to east, dissecting "northern Dublin" from the rest of Dublin. About 2/3rds of the city's attractions are on the south side but we explored both!
Dublin's medieval buildings include 13th-century Dublin Castle and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191. The Temple Bar is south of the river and is one of countless pubs. It's a central attraction, although we didn't go inside. Dublin has a lot of "buskers" or street performers (and we learned that there's a new law preventing them from using speakers). There's a lot of shopping areas, and we even found a mall there, too.
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| Shops in St. George's Arcade |
LUNCHTIME! - As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the cost of food in Ireland is expensive, so we went to a nearby supermarket, got pre-packaged sandwiches and bottles of iced tea and had a cheap and tasty lunch.
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| Sub-City Comics |
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| Tom and Rob in Dublin |
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| The Marriage Equality Mural in Dublin (defaced) |
The enormous four-story mural of two men embracing by Irish illustrator and street artist Joe Caslin went up overnight on April 11th on South Great Georges Street in downtown Dublin, meant to be a "poignant representation of same-sex love in the city" ahead of the Irish marriage referendum on May 22. However, by the time we saw it, the conservative right-wing nuts had destroyed part of it. SIGH.
To see what it looked like, CLICK HERE.
NEXT: A HOP ON - HOP OFF BUS TOUR OF DUBLIN HIGHLIGHTS
