Travel trivia
April 22nd, 2007
1. Spotted at the University train station in Birmingham, this poster from Central Trains:
Yes, it is a list of the names, (outline) addresses and fined amounts of fare-dodgers. Yikes.
2. BBC Radio 1 has been playing this track, Thou Shalt Always Kill (myspace | video). I can’t get R1 via the Net at the moment, and have no cable, so I only get to listen when I’m within physical range of the FM transmitters. Anyway, it’s a great song (like the late-90s Sunscreen song except without the psychobabble, the self-righteousness and the nonsense). Go listen.
3. Eeugh. The nice picture of Trinity’s Old Library, and the reference to the wonderful Iveagh Gardens, are perhaps the only redeeming features of this cringe-inducing New York Times article on how to spend 36 hours in Dublin. Oh blogging community, we can surely do better than this - anyone want to start work on an alternative?
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April 22nd, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Ok, so this will damage whatever credibility I have; but what exactly is wrong with the NYT article? It seems entirely straightforward to me, it has a few obvious ideas (Guiness Storehose, Book of Kells, Abbey Theatre, National Gallery), a few very good ones (Hughes’s Bar, Queen of Tarts, Solas ) - and of course a howler (Bruxelles), but only one that I can see. Ok, it’s inoffensive; but it’s not twee; and it will prove a helpful guide to your average NYT reader (or me: I’d happily spend a weekend like that in a foreign city of which I knew nothing before arrival; I’d enjoy myself, and believe that I’d seen something of the city).
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Ah, it’s more that it’s unrealistic as an itinerary - I mean, Book of Kells and Dublin Writers’ Museum in 2.5 hours? It strikes me as having emerged from a close study of a guidebook rather than actual experience. I don’t see why anyone would go to the Abbey other than for a specific play (so why include it?), and the Saturday evening (Ely followed by The Village - what?) is uninspiring.
I have had quite a few occasions to do ‘a city in 24 hours’ due to self-inflicted flying visits…but I don’t think trying to tick off as many attractions as possible gives you much of a flavour (if anything, I’d recommend that a visitor to Dublin spend less time indoors than they recommend - although to be fair they mention that walking is recommended at the end).
Oh, and the prose is so purple it is post-purple
- “Draped in wrap dresses, cashmere sweaters and stone-washed jeans, Dublin’s fresh-faced professionals pack the dining room”, “A pint of beer in Dublin will run you 4 to 5 euros, but the famed Irish wit is free”, etc.
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Daithi, I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately this is pretty standard for the New York Times’ travel section. I tend to regard their destination articles as handy lists of places to avoid, although I will concede that quite a few of the attractions they mention are must-sees for the first time visitor to Dublin.
That said, I would be keen to acquire a Guinness Storehose that Eoin has mentioned, although I expect this invention is merely the result of my imagination making far too optimistic use of a typo!
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Damn damn damn that video is great.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am
“Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry” … Genius!
April 24th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Does name and shame really work outside of Japan?