Travel Diary IRELAND - Day 5

Our last day in Ireland! Let's focus then on what we couldn't visit in Dublin previously, and, above all, on what's around us.
Right across the street, on Custom House Quay along river Liffey, the Famine Memorial which consists of several bronze statues of starving people and a dog heading to the docks in order to board a ship that would take them to America. These disturbing life-size statues have a powerful effect on the viewer - at least they had on me: they illustrate the misery and despair of the people during that dark time in Ireland's history.
A little farther, the O'Connell Monument, the memorial to Daniel O'Connell, the 19th century nationalist leader which stands at the entrance to the street named after him, O' Connell Street. The centre of the street is dominated by the imposing presence of the 1818 General Post Office and the 120 m  Spire of Dublin, a needle-like self supporting sculpture of rolled stainless steel erected in 2003 in order to replace a former Nelson's Pillar, which was destroyed in 1966 in a bombing by former IRA members.
Dublin / Ireland is also famous not only for its musical exports such as U2, the Cranberries, Enya or Riverdance but also - and perhaps even more - for its writers: William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Jonathan Swift, Sean O'Casey, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce,... are among the most important names in Literature and that's exactly why, being so close, we wished to pay James Joyce our respects and went to North Earl Street to have a look at his statue.
At the northern end of O'Connell Street, a memorial to "all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom", the Garden of Remembrance, as well as Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, whose main attraction was surely Francis Bacon 's chaotic studio.
Now please have a look at some pictures of the most important visits of the day!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Hope you have enjoyed these postings as much as I have.
Before putting an end to this, some THANK YOU words especially to:
- Teacher Helena Soares and Cláudia Sousa and their group from AZOGLA. Again, we worked real hard to make this trip possible and to produce materials;
- Teacher Natália Costa from my schoolboard;
- Câmara Municipal de Soure;
- Sr Carvalho;
- Isabel Silva (our guide) and Pinto Lopes Viagens;
- other colleagues who, one way or the other, made it possible;
- last but not the least: teachers + senior participants + learners. Without YOU, this school trip to Ireland wouldn't have come true. BLESS YOU for the good atmosphere and support.
Take some time now to see us ALL in Ireland: