Dublin: Week 2 - IMMA and Pub

IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art)

The Royal Hospital building houses the IMMA and was designed by Sir William Robinson in 1684 for the Duke of Ormonde as a home for retired soldiers. It remained a home until 1927 and was restored in the 1980s. In 1991 it opened as the IMMA. This was definitely a favorite of mine, but let me tell you a little story.

So... the IMMA was our one main reason to venture out that day. It was FREE (keyword) and looked like a cool spot to check out and go. But with all the hop-on-hop-off stuff going on, our stop 24 at IMMA seemed so far away from say, Trinity College at stop 4 where we spent a considerable time walking around and gawking at the Book of Kells. By the time we arrived at the IMMA, we were in desperate need for caffeine and sweets so we hit up the lovely cafe at the IMMA and ordered 2 lattes with one chocolate chip cookie (delicious!!!) for me and one double fudge brownie topped with mini chocolate chips (delicious!) for Marisol. 

See how happy we are we finally fulfilled our java and chocolate craving and relaxed for a moment?

I am happy!
I am happy too!

Super CUTE cafe with delicious coffee and snacks.

Because of our need for java and snackies and our overall laid back approach, we missed entrance to the museum by like 10 minutes. :( Well, we definitely plan on returning at an earlier time. But for now, I would like to leave you with these photos that were taken outside in the courtyard on our way to the cafe!

Entrance to the IMMA

Please follow signs!

Verrrry interesting! How does one create?

We are late and missed last entry. Look at the time! They close at 5:30 PM!Update: the time is wrong on the clock pictured, please disregard! No one advanced it one hour. 

"What am I?" I have no clue what this is since we were rushing to the cafe and just snapping away, but it reminded me of all my pets. :(

Oliver St. John Gogarty Pub

After the IMMA fell through, we hopped on the bus one last time and went back to Temple Bar now starving in search of ANY ethnic restaurant. As we were about to give into American food, we saw peeking from a corner the word "Thai". We were beyond excited and almost ran to the restaurant where we satisfied our bellies with pad thai and spring rolls. Yum. Feeling content in satisfying our ethnic food cravings we walked down the street and heard the blaring sounds of Michael Jackson songs. No hesitation, that was good enough for us to stop by. The place was packed and practically everyone in that full house was singing at the top of their lungs to all the songs they were playing. It was the most random mix of music from Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Tom Jones' Delilah to U2 (who were due in town for a concert the following week), and just other very random songs. 

Please no hating, so haters to the corner. No Guinness for me that night because I was really really full from the Thai food. I stuck to vodka all night. Clear drinks for me when I am full! Hey, I have discipline! 

Our very nice German father and daughter neighbors sitting next to us. The father accompanied his daughter while she scoped out schools around the area. I believe this was their last night in town.

Our friends that night although they left fairly early.
Next to us was not one, but 2 major celebrations. The guy dressed up as a vintage styled woman was celebrating his bachelor party. And the woman on right from Wales was kicking off her 50th birthday with a bang. She had bobby socks on that looked cute on her!

I am certain that no female was involved in the application of his makeup. All he needed was just a kabuki brush to blend in the blush and maybe a belt for his dress.