[OT] A holiday in Dublin

[NiTessine]

So, I'll be going to Dublin, Ireland for a few days with my mother, leaving on the 14th and staying for... a few days. I was wondering if any of you Enworlders would have any ideas of where to go, what to see, and where are all the gaming stores. We have already some museum trips planned, but we still have some gaps in the schedule that could use a filling.

As for the gaming stores, I'd like a few addresses of local gaming stores of good repute. Preferably ones that stock Reaper and Confrontation minis and d20 products.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ravellion]

When I was in Dublin, the only store for D20 I could find was a comic store. The only gaming store I could find was a Games Workshop.

Rav

 

[mmadsen]

It wouldn't even occur to me to look for game stores in Ireland, but I'm not living in Finland (where, I assume, the latest games are hard to come by).

Anyway, definitely swing by Christchurch Cathedral (especially the crypts) and the attached Dublinia exhibit on medieval Dublin. Dublin castle is fairly modern, but it still has one old medieval tower and an underground exhibit showing some of the original moat, etc.

Trinity College and the Bank of Ireland might not have much pull for a D&D fan, but they're quite impressive -- and everyone has to visit the Guinness storehouse.

There are lots of great museums. The National Gallery did not impress me at all, but the Natural History Museum has, among other things, Irish Elk skeletons -- very impressive -- and the National Museum has a whole section on Vikings.

Lastly, Dublin is a very, very young city (demographically), and the night life's amazing. But you're with your mom, so maybe you need to come back with your friends.

 

[schporto]

When I was in Ireland (not just Dublin) a couple months ago I found it great to wander around. Being in the US we don't have much of that 'old' feel to our cities and coutry side. Driving around and seeing a castle just poking out of the country side was damn nifty. Skulking around in said castle was far too cool. Seeing really old buildings (~1000 AD), old layouts to cities and towns, and countryside that seemed to have far more character then I'm used to was really the great part. Better than a game store. Considering the oldest buildings I'd been in previously date from 1700s. My ideas of a castle were far different after trouncing through a few. A spiral staircase in a castle has taken on a whole new meaning.
So my vote for things to do in Ireland is wander around some. Maybe try to get out of dublin for a bit and see some of their countryside.
-cpd

 

[mmadsen]

Being in the US we don't have much of that 'old' feel to our cities and coutry side.

Bits and pieces of the east coast are almost old, but, no, most of the US is new, new, new. Architecture from the 1960's is old.

Driving around and seeing a castle just poking out of the country side was damn nifty.

In the US, you just don't drive past ruins. And you certainly don't leave them out, with no fence around them.

My ideas of a castle were far different after trouncing through a few. A spiral staircase in a castle has taken on a whole new meaning.

Balance check!

Monte Cook has an article on just that, Real Castles and Dungeons on his site. Once you've been in a real castle, you realize that they're, in some sense, small, they have no corridors, and the stairs are surprisingly challenging to traverse.

 

[blackshirt5]

In the US, you just don't drive past ruins. And you certainly don't leave them out, with no fence around them.

I drive past ruins sometimes(well, ok, abandoned mental hospitals, but I have seen a castle off of Clinton Road). You just don't live in the great state of New Jersey.

 

[schporto]

I drive past ruins sometimes(well, ok, abandoned mental hospitals, but I have seen a castle off of Clinton Road). You just don't live in the great state of New Jersey.

Nope just south. Delaware.
And still trust me. It ain't the same. Everything just feels different. Very weird.
-cpd

 

[blackshirt5]

Nope just south. Delaware.
And still trust me. It ain't the same. Everything just feels different. Very weird.
-cpd

Are you trying to say that abandoned mental hospitals and the Slaughterhouse aren't weird?

BTW, NiTessine, I'll ask you the same thing I asked Alish2o before he left.

Could you mail me an Irish girl? Preferably between 17 and 29, with red hair, short(around 5'1", max maybe 5'5"), with a fondness for drinking, and if you can swing it, glasses and a green sweater?

Thanks!!!

 

[mmadsen]

Could you mail me an Irish girl? Preferably between 17 and 29, with red hair, short(around 5'1", max maybe 5'5"), with a fondness for drinking, and if you can swing it, glasses and a green sweater?

By the way, there aren't many redheads in Ireland -- just in the tourism ads. Almost everyone's light-skinned though.

 

[blackshirt5]

Yeah I know, I come from an all-Irish family Madsen, we look like freakin albinos. I literally can't go down the shore and swim without a shirt on, or else I cook in the water(my older sister's even worse. But apparently, pale is in. All my guy friends think she's hot. But I'm smart enough not to let them say that in front of her husband. But not smart enough not to voice my opinion on his 21 year old sister in front of him, but that's another topic entirely.)