1. Irish women tend to have small noses and cute, almost lipless mouths.
2. Irish men, at least the ones who drive the tourist buses and work the numberous constructon crews around the city core are not to be trifled with. Heard in passing from a crew hanging out on the side of the road: "...he was a criking little English f---." OK.
3. bicycles share the major roads here more easily than in Vancouver
4. there are more scooters and motorbikes here. The cars are small. Hardly any SUVs.
5. people who work the tourist concessions are fairly easygoing, and about a third encountered so far are not Irish.
6. Irish tourism likes visitors to drink, so it's good that they also want to shuttle visitors around in what seems like several hundred tour buses jamming the city core: you get a "free" pint of Guinness after touring the Guinness Storehouse and you get a "free" glass of Jameson's after touring the Old Jameson Distillery. Neither is free because you pay admission for the tours. As far as tours go, the latter is the better deal, although the former is apparently Dublin's most popular tourist destination.And it does have a magnificent view of the city.
7. The James Joyce Centre is small and modest (see pic above), and like Joyce in his lifetime, considered important but not popular outside of the university crowd. I was one of six visitors the 45 minutes I was there. But worth the effort finding off the beaten tourism path.
Irish TV: stunningly the same as American TV, especially the news shows, with the same template of young female anchor paired with one or more avunculur or veteran male anchors. Morning show has sunny saxophone tune. Weatherman runs pictures from viewers, especially kids. Top stories: continued fallout over Irish voters' rejection of an EU treaty; scandal involving a former PM; contract killer for hire trial; Irish school children are happy, smart and active; hundreds turn out in Cork to pose nude for art photography. The last story on two different newscasts created an opportunity for male anchor to turn to female counterpart and say something like, "Too bad you missed that one." Sex roles seem more conservative here, with news segments on fashion and weddings openly targeted at women. Also, dairy commercials are frequent.
Note: Guinness is spelled with two n's. I knew that.
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