Exploring the City - and Getting Lost!

So what else is new....I have already gotten utterly lost! 

Getting lost in Dublin is actually quite difficult - I am very proud of myself for managing it.  Dublin is really a very small city.  Everything is concentrated in the City Center and Temple Bar area on the south side of the river Liffey.  I live just north of the river, but O'Connell Street (the main thoroughfare which attaches north to south) is only a five minute walk away.  It takes me about a half an hour to walk to the city center.  I have been spoiled by New York City - I never realized just how GIGANTIC New York was until I started travelling to other places.  Dublin is a great place, but as far as size goes, the only other rival to NYC that I have seen is London.

How did I get so lost, you ask?  This is what happens when you don't use a map and you just let your feet guide you.  I didn't want to look like a tourist so I took a quick look at my guide book before I left and then kept it in my bag.  I find that this is a great way to get to know a city, but you must be prepared to have no clue where you are going.  I started out on O'Connell:

O'Connell is full of shops and touristy things so I was not out of place snapping pictures. This monument is dedicated to leaders who helped separate Ireland from England.  The statue is Charles Stuart Parnell, a leader of the Revolution.  Across the street, is a gift shop and a post office (exactly what I think of when I think freedom).

Jane Eyre is playing in the theater near my apartment.  It's an actual theater, not a movie cinema.  I haven't gone to a play in years!  Charlotte Bronte isn't my favorite author, but it might be nice.

This huge Spire of Dublin is in the middle of the street.  It is lit at night like a beacon.  I have no idea why they wanted a huge needle sticking out, but it's helpful for me.  When I get lost, I just look for the light in the sky.  If I can't see it, then I am in trouble!

This park is dedicated to those who gave their lives in the 1916 Uprising against British rule. 

Finally, I reached my museum.  It only took about 45 minutes.  Hopefully, with practice, I can get it down to half an hour.  Now, I started to get in a spot of trouble. 

I was just deciding where to go next when I saw a guy disappear behind a wall.  The wall had statues in front and I thought that the wall was solid, but it was actually three parts with a walkway leading through it.  I followed the pathway and found myself inside St. Stephen's Green.  I don't know how I was so close to the biggest park in Dublin and I didn't know it, but that is what happened.  It is a lovely place to just sit and relax (and people watch!)

There was a man sitting on a park bench feeding the pidgeons.  It looked like something out a Hitchcock movie.  I have never seen so many pidgeons in one place at one time.  Some of them were actually climbing the man's arm to get to the food.  I sat for awhile, but decided to leave my park bench to avoid getting attacked.  I went out of the park at another entrance. 

I just started walking, taking in as much as I could. Only later did I realize that nothing looked familiar.  When fewer and fewer people start to surround you, and you find yourself alone on a street in the middle of an afternoon, you know that something is wrong.  I started heading north and I found running water.  I assumed it was the Liffey River and I figured that if I followed the water upstream, then I would eventually find O'Connell Street again.  Apparently, I need to work on my orienteering skills.  I finally asked a nice elderly lady if I was headed in the right direction and she gave me a worried look.  "Oh no dearie. You are very lost!" she said in her soft voice.  It is never a good sign when the locals are concerned about you.  She showed me the nearest bus stop and I let the driver do the work.  I had gone all the way up to Griffith College, near Pheonix Park, and it took 20 minutes on the bus to get back. 

I saw many new places and I'm glad for the adventure, but next time, I think I'll look like a tourist and take a map.