Yesterday I was presented with the opportunity to yet again play into the role of the tourist that I am! My very good friend Anthea came to visit as part of her whirlwind trip to Europe. As an academic she had a round trip to the UK funded by her host university to present a paper in relation to her current research work. Given that it’s really not worth flying all the way to the UK from Australia without also throwing in a little bit of Europe she decided to pay us a visit as a side trip from a Belfast family reunion.

Of course every good girlie catch up begins with either some food or some drinks. In our case we opted for a lovely lunch at Juice on South Great Georges Street, which bills itself as Dublin’s only sit down vegetarian restaurant. For someone who has issues with nuts Juice is great, as the menus make it clear which of it’s dishes contain nuts, although, of course, everything these days is potentially contaminated with traces. As with the rest of Dublin, in order to mitigate any drop in business Juice has implemented a discounted lunch menu, and for around 12 Euro you can get three courses of good, healthy and colourful food (well needed in a city where many of the other lunchtime options are brown foods). I chose the bruschetta, which came with a small side salad, and the spicy corn fritters with guacamole and another small side salad before a nice cup of Earl Grey tea as there was no way I could fit in another course. Anthea, for dessert chose the apple and rhubarb crumble. I mention the crumble because it was made from grains and seeds rather than biscuit, which made for a healthy and very tasty alternative well worth trying at home.

Now, the reason I’m telling you about the food is because the content of girlie discussions is full of gossip and innuendo that needs not to be published on an internet blog site. In any case, it was good to spend time with someone who knows at least some of the people, places, news and goss from home. Oh, and to hear a welcome Aussie accent in full conversation and not just from the girl behind the counter taking my coffee money. It seems my own accent has gone walkabout since my arrival in Ireland. I’m rolling my Rs and am getting better at the full Dub vernacular the longer I spend here…as a put on of course, although some of it seems to be sticking!

Mr Emmet took us on a tour of Dublin, as my own attempt at playing guide during the walk from Connolly Station to the restaurant had exhausted my knowledge of the City. I was able to point out that the large phallic structure in the middle of O’Connell Street, but really you can’t miss that! It is, of course, the Spire of Dublin, which was built to replace Nelson’s Pillar, which had previously stood in its place but had been bombed by the IRA in 1966. Thanks to Emmet for this information. We wandered along O’Connell Street and then down towards Trinity College, which was of the most interest to our guest – being of British decent and an academic this comes as no surprise. Trinity was founded in 1592 (we were trying to figure out the date yesterday while standing in the cobblestone courtyard) and opened by Queen Elizabeth I. The college was originally for Protestant students only, however these days Catholics, and presumably students of all other religious variants are permitted to attend. Although we didn’t go in this time, I’d advise visitors to take a look at The Long Room, which is literally a long and very large room lined with some 200,000 of the University’s oldest books. The library at Trinity is a copyright library for the UK and Ireland, which means it contains a copy of every title under copyright in those countries…which makes for a lot of books! The Long Room is very impressive, not only for bookworms. The Book of Kells (or Book of Kelly according to one very annoying American tourist I overheard), is also on display in Trinity. The text written in 800 AD is illustrated, or illuminated, with intricate hand drawn images and is well worth a look. It costs about 9 Euro for the privilege of seeing both the Book of Kells and the Long Room. Go early, as there is often a line.

Onward from Trinity and beyond statue of Molly Malone with her cockles and some bloke dressed up in a leprechaun outfit on Grafton Street, we wandered towards St Stephen’s Green, which was this time devoid of ladies in their bikinis and lads in their shorts. The weather was a wee bit nippy but even so locals were making the most of what still passed for outdoor weather luncheoning or just hanging out in the park. The park is an oasis in the middle of the City, with a similarly calming effect as Hyde Parks in London or Sydney. The sounds of bustling cars, buses and trams seems to disappear inside the hedged walls of the Green. The park has a number tributes to local heroes within it. Yeats is there, as is Joyce, but it was Robert Emmet who we managed to walk by. Emmet is my Emmet’s namesake and was a nationalist leader who was, eventually and unfortunately, found guilty of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered.

The afternoon eventually led us to St James’ Gate Brewery and the Guinness Storehouse. For 15 Euro you can walk through several floors exhibiting information and paraphernalia on the Guinness empire including the stout brewing process, log books of orders signed by Arthur Guinness, and examples of the various advertising campaigns Guinness has presented. I must admit that the Storehouse is a little less exciting than when I first went some years ago (and it seems to be undergoing some renovation – but that’s not currently advertised when you’re paying for your ticket), the 15 Euro ticket also gets you a pint of Guinness in the Gravity bar, which just happens to have the most spectacular view of Dublin. The view is panoramic and quite wonderful to observe over a nice cold pint…not that I would know, as I opted for a Coke knowing full well I would not be able to handle a whole pint of stout! The only downside is the lack of seating…remember, this is a tourist attraction and they generally arrive by the bus load…and the children…pondering why people bring their children to an alcohol related attraction is just confusing.

A short bus ride back into the centre and it was time for dinner, with Temple Bar a fitting location. Now, Temple Bar is allegedly the ‘cultural’ centre of Dublin, however in truth it is a collection of bars with some intermittent galleries, buskers and the IFI (Irish Film Institute). It’s just as commercial as anywhere else in Dublin, but with an atmosphere I can only reckon to, and I’m being generous here, Newtown in Sydney.

As we browsed the outdoor menus we were approached on the street by a woman spruiking her restaurant, La Caverna, and decided to give it a go as they’d extended the early bird menu to 10pm. We were seated in what felt like an escape tunnel but was more likely once-upon-a-time someones wine cellar and were served by a lovely young Asian fellow sporting Colin Farrell’s accent. The lamb shanks matched with mash potato and red wine reduction was melt in your mouth. Unfortunately, the apple pie had a strangely textured pastry but the apples were lovely and so too the accompanying vanilla ice cream. But with the bill coming to around 20 Euro each I really can’t complain.

Dinner conversation took a turn for the worse (my tongue is firmly in my cheek) when Emmet and Anthea began their rants on Twilight. Emmet read Twilight, the first of the series, while we were in Wollongong, and although I have not taken the time to read the whole of the series myself I was able to share in Emmet’s pain and struggle as he read aloud a number of passages either made up of too many adjectives describing a car or not enough words making up a conversation between the two main characters. I would be interested to know how many times the word ‘glaring’ ,or some variation thereof, is used in this book. Similarly, I’d like to know why Meyers inter-textual references are so blatant and whether she actually read and understood Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice, cause I think the versions I read were completely different. And, I wonder what happened to the life Bella had built for herself before she met Edward… Emmet and I bought Anthea a copy of Twilight for her birthday last year. It was an intentional gift with loaded repercussions as Anthea’s field of specialty is women’s studies. From what I can gather she may be one of the first to have an article published on the topic of the Twilight series, and she is not likely to be too kind. I can empathise with her thoughts, as I have found the character of Bella, from what I can gather, to be basically non-existent outside of her relationship with Edward. Why is she so reliant on him to provide her with context, and why is it that she can’t even walk in her own shoes (Bella has a penchant for tripping over) and continually needs rescuing by big strong Edward? Meyer appears to skirt around the idea of sex, although it is obvious that teenage sex is bad, it’s Bella’s fault for being too enticing while Edward should be congratulated on his ability to control his natural urges. Even when the two protagonists do have sex, within the sanctity of marriage of course, Bella is left covered with bruises, Edward wants her to abort the monstrosity of a child and the eventual birthing process is enough to frighten any teenage thinking of hanging sex into purchasing a chastity belt. Don’t even get me started on the whole vegetarian vampires who sparkle issue! In any case, the enthusiastic conversation encompassed Twilight, Michael Jackson, who in case you’ve been living under a rock passed away last week, the idea of celebrity and celebrity culture, and a number of other very serious but also very light topics.

We bid Anthea farewell on return to her hotel in the middle of town. Hopefully we had put into her head some ideas for sights to see and things to do for her second day in Dublin before returning over the border back into Northern Ireland.