Goodbye Dublin

For 6 days we have joined the overwhelming population of tourists in Dublin and enjoyed some of the many things Dublin had to offer:

• Oysters
• Guinness
• James Joyce
• Christ Church
• Trinity College Library
• Music at O'Donoghues

And of course one of my candidates for Dublins number one cultural export, the Elvis Presley of Ireland, Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy:

War, conflict, oppression, rebellion - both internally and with a certain specific neighbor - is very present everywhere you go. As a foreigner you should be aware of this background. I learned, that the most safe strategy is to never mention anything related to this history when interacting with the locals. Don't mention the name (in any shape, form or derivation) of their neighbor to the east or anything related to it. No matter your intentions, there is much to high a risk that this conversation don't end well. I learned again that we are very lucky where I live, that similar conflicts are so long in the past, that the effects of them don't play such a present role in our society anymore as they do here. Let's hope this continues many years into the future for us, and that future Irish generations will experience that as well some time.