On our first day of adventuring in Dublin, feeling the tiredness of jet-lag, I decided to leave my camera at the hotel. However, within half an hour I was snapping pics with my iPhone. With the in-phone apps such as Instagram, the iPhone offers yet a quicker and simpler approach to digital photography. It has a kind of disposable feel to it – there’s no pressure to get ‘the perfect shot’. It’s simply the enjoyment of composition and lighting.
We’ve been in Dublin for under 48 hours, and have already learned all kinds of interesting facts about this city and it’s history. And so, without further adieu, I offer you 5 things I didn’t know about Dublin, with some iPhone images to illustrate!
If you know some facts about Dublin that you think I should have learned by now (in the last 48 hours) post it in the comments below!
1) Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on 62 acres of property when he started the brewery in 1759. The lease agreement was 45£ per year, and had no stipulation accounting for inflation. 243 years later, Guinness responsibly pays 45£ per year for their 62 acres in the heart of Dublin.
2)You can find a mummified cat and rat at Christ’s Church in Dublin. Both were stuck in the organ in the 1850’s, presumably whilst the cat chased its prey. Someone thought it was worth putting them in a glass case.
3) During the Great Famine in Ireland, from 1845 to 1852, hundreds of people deliberately committed petty crime in order to be incarcerated at Kilmainham Gaol in the county of Dublin, as the State acknowledged responsibility in feeding their prisoners. The youngest person to serve time at Kilmainham was a five year old boy, who was sentenced to 12 days time for ‘stealing a piece of chain.’
Kilmainham was decommissioned in 1924, and is now a museum. Because of the age and condition of the prison, it’s been used for filming several movies, including the original Italian Job, and one Lydia and I really enjoyed, The Escapist.
4) The tallest sculpture in the world stands in Dublin, on O’Connell street
5) Umbrellas in Dublin are disposable. I saw two umbrellas in a garbage can, and more than one person struggling with an umbrella whose frame had forfeited to the wind and rain we had today. Not to worry, spirits are high!
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