Local Tourists

An article currently in the travel section of the New York Times website tells readers what to do in Dublin in 36 hours. We've been here more than two months and haven't done even half of what the Times suggests we do in less than two days. I'm not exactly sure how to react to that. Are we travel losers? I'd like to think it means we've just become locals. After all I'd bet most travel gurus would say you can't travel halfway around the world to San Francisco and not ride a cable car. But as a former local of the city by the bay I can promise you none of the locals ride the cable car and most probably roll their eyes at the fabled cable cars. And don't even get me started about fisherman's wharf.
But as Mark and I talk about heading off to adventures in points further east, we began to muse about what we still "need" to do as tourists here in Dublin. Which took us to the heart of the downtown and Dublin Castle. England's King John had the original castle built in 1204, but a massive fire burned most of that original structure in 1684, after which it became a palace rather than a fortress. The castle is still used by the Irish government for state functions.

The outside of the castle is rather unremarkable but the interior rooms are just as posh and grand as you'd expect from a castle.

It is impossible to go on a tour of this grand scale and not feel like a tourist. In fact, just moments after arriving we were asked to fill out a questionnaire. First question: where are you visiting from?