World Wednesday: Dublin, Ireland
For this weeks World Wednesday post we will be traveling to the beautiful city of Dublin, Ireland! So pack your bags, leave the snow shovels, hats and mittens behind because we have a plane to catch!
Before we dive into the specifics behind this home, we will first be going over some funs facts and some interesting facts about Dublin you wouldn't otherwise know! So get your pen and pad ready, class is about to start and be in session. Don't be late! The word Dublin is derived from the old Irish Gaelic which means "Black Pool. Believe is or not the Dubh Linn was a lake used by the Vikings and was considered a Viking settlement! It was otherwise known as the Norse Kingdom of Dublin!
The City of Dublin covers a total of 44.5 square miles and has a population of 1,273,069. The average temperatures in the city is 41 degrees in January and during the summer in July it is a warm 63 degrees. But if you are looking at it on a much broader scale, the temperature can range from 46 to 75 degrees. Spring begins in the month of February believe it or not and summer begins in May. Not too shabby I might add! Fall actually peaks in August, I can deal with a short summer and minimal heat! Basically you get a little cool weather, but also miss the really hot stuff as well. Not too hot but not too cold. Sorry pool goers, you might want to go to Miami, Florida instead to swim!
Interesting enough Dublin has the youngest population in all of Europe! Believe it or not, about 50% of the population is less then 25 years old! Wow, talk about a youthful city. Some of the more famous Dubliners that have grew up in this city is the Nobel Prize Laureate George Bernard Shaw and Poet James Joyce. There is a famous college called Trinity in Dublin as well that boasts some celebrated graduates such as Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and the fellow who wrote Dracula, Bram Stoker! If you are 18 then you are in luck! The legal drinking age in Dublin is 18 years old! So grab your mug your chalice your stein, because they have 666 licensed pubs that you can visit. That's quite a few bars for only a city that is 44.5 square miles in width, but we all knew the city was famous for this brews though. Did you know that the city produces 10 million pints of Guinness a day? Wow! You might want to check out the Brazen Head though, it is know as Dublins oldest drinking pub which first started back in 1198 AD.
One of Ireland most cherished National Treasures is "The Books of Kells". It is a sacred book that contains the four gospels of the New Testament. This book is actually gold and was made by the Celtic Monks around 800 AD. If you happen to visit Ireland, you can view this in the Trinity College Library. While you may think that soccer and rugby are popular in Dublin, which they are, the Irish also have there very own unique sport called Gaelic Football. If you are as confused about this sport as I am, just combine rugby and soccer together and that is how the sport is played.
Dublin has a wide array of music from pop ballads to rock music. A couple of the more famous bands that have formed out of Dublin have been the boyband called Boyzone and Westlife. Other rock bands have formed there such as U2, My Bloody Valentine, The Script and the heavy metal band called Thin Lizzy.
Now that you are an expert on all things Dublin now, let's go over some details about this beautiful modern home that exists in this city. This home is known as the Piano Nobile home. It is a contemporary two story extension to a victorian styled terraced house. This home was designed by plus architecture. The texture of this red brick victorian home was what originally peaked the interest of this soon to be homeowner. The layout of this house is somewhat unusual but the client wanted to keep the original concept of the home but he wanted to extend the back of the house to create a large living space and modern kitchen as well. It look's like he achieved that. When you take a look at the photos below you will notice that the front of the house where the front door is located is the red brick that we just talked about but on the other side it look's like a completely different home where you can see the large kitchen and living space. Now that you know so much more about the city itself and this home let's take a look at some photos!
