Ireland '23 - epilogue

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Part one - Dublin is a surprisingly small City, very walk-able, and there's no better way to get oriented to the neighborhoods. You'll notice that e-bikes & e-scooters approach quickly, and silently, usually in the dedicated bike lanes next to the sidewalk. 

Typically the drivers don't wear helmets, are in dark clothing, and have no headlights. None of them are licensed, or certified as safe drivers, yet they have the legal ROW, and you have to watch out for them, and not get hit. I had a close call within the first 10 minutes of walking.

Bikes & e-scooters often run yellow & red pedestrian lights, or yellow & red traffic lights, and pedestrians jay-walk, especially where traffic volume is low. But locals know the streets and the rhythm of the traffic lights, while we visitors really have no clue.....    

Visitors tend to stop & wait for the green walking man symbol, while locals on foot or wheels flow around you (like water) and keep going, even when the walking men turn yellow or even red, and more amazing...traffic often just sits there....I never figured that one out.   

Decades ago, the City painted "look left" or "look right" on the ground, at every intersection, no doubt for Americans, and though the letters are fading, they are still helpful. 

Side note - asking a Dublin cabbie for their opinion about e-bikes & scooters is a surefire way to strike up an entertaining conversation. On a cab from Heuston Station to Camden Court, the Nigerian cabbie showed me his continuously operating videocam (very wide-angle) to use as Court evidence, because bike/cab collusions are so complicated.

Our cabbie on the way to DUB for flights home, told of seeing 3 or 4 kids on the same scooter going to work in the industrial district, at all hours of the day and night.   

Part Two - Cultural notes

Dublin is becoming a multi-ethnic City, and there is a general atmosphere of positivity everywhere you go. When out walking people are polite and locals are unfailingly helpful. The variety of languages you hear just about anywhere is incredible.     

Part Three - Final walking in Dublin comment - City aesthetics ? 

Now that I know Dublin better, I have to admit it can be a visually drab looking place (modern buildings excepted) and green spaces are rare, as are tree-lined streets. On so many downtown streets you see buildings abandoned long ago, never likely to be renovated or occupied again, sometimes covered with mean graffiti, or innovative street art, or even impressive murals; they all distract but can't hide an underlying look of decay. I purposely did not take photos of this run-down aspect of Dublin. 

In retrospect, I am glad we stayed where we did, because Camden & Harcourt are close to three beautiful parks, and, most of the main destinations are easy to walk to.

This is a good place to mention that the pre-trip plan that Doris and Mary and I made  - to tour Dublin mainly on foot - came to fruition. 

For me it was a great trip in so many ways.

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