Ceilings & Floors | Dublin from top to bottom with Emily Westbrooks

Those who've read Issue 7 will be familiar with Emily Westbrooks, writer, blogger and resident of the wondrous city of Dublin. Today Emily has stopped by on the blog to take us on an extra special tour of her beloved city not seen inside the magazine. Take it away Emily...

I've never been the biggest fan of museums and history exhibitions, but living in Dublin has certainly changed that. The museums here are free (just not open on Mondays), which means you can pop in for a quick visit without feeling like you have to see every inch. But as an added bonus, they offer some of the best examples of Georgian architecture in the city. I've been known to spend more time gazing at the ornate ceilings and snapping photos of my feet on the patterned mosaic tile floors than at the actual exhibits! Now, in each city I visit, I make sure to look up and down to see what the other views have to offer.

Here are some of the best ceilings and floors you'll find in Dublin:

The National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street The National Museum of Ireland on Kildare Street focuses on Irish history through archeology. It's the home to several "bogmen", people who were found after being preserved in peat bogs. They still have some of their clothing and hair intact! But the big domed ceiling and patterned floor, with mosaics depicting Greek mythology, in the entryway might stop you in your tracks.

Dublin City Hall (This one has a small fee for entry) Dublin City Hall holds an exhibition that shares the history of the capital city from 1170 to today, and the classic Georgian ceiling and mosaic tiled floor filled with flowers, shamrocks and images of Dublin Castle are well worth a visit.

The National Library Technically, you need a reader's card for entry into the National Library, but there are tours available for the public every Saturday at 2:30pm. Inside the main reading room, the domed ceiling is painted in shades of turquoise, which is especially striking against the dark wood bookcases and desks. The grand setting will certainly make you want to crack open a book!

EMILY WESTBROOKS writes about life, travel and DIY projects on her blog, From China Village.

 

A love letter to London

My dearest London,

You look so handsome today. The sun is making you all shiny; warming you up after you shivered for a while under the snow. I like seeing you like this. It reminds me of all the reasons we’ve stayed together over the years. The golden cityscape you treat me to every morning from the top of the hill; your ability to pleasantly surprise me, like when I first heard classical music being played at Clapham North tube station or learned you were home to a family of flamingos; and the way you rally everyone together when times are hard.

I might not always show it, but I want to make things work between us. There’s a lot going on underneath your often tough exterior that I love. There’s your markets; your mews; your green spaces and Victorian trees. There’s your guerrilla gardens, like the Edible Bus Stop in Stockwell, and your inconspicuous jazz bars, like the Hideaway in Streatham.

Then there are your many characters. The lovely Sara who taught me how to keep hens in the city; Steve the London Honey Man, who makes your urban bees very happy indeed, and the elderly gent I see regularly on Portobello Road carrying a Jack Russell on his shoulder like a parrot.

The past eight years have not been easy; we’ve gone through our fair share of testing times. I blamed you when things were going badly – the redundancy, and those early days when your rents left me broke, when I questioned why I was still with you and felt I could find a better life back up north. But you didn’t abandon me. You taught me the tenacity I still see in you everyday - in your unwavering desire to grow skywards, and in your leafless apple tree at my local station that refuses to let go of its fruit.

Living in each other’s pockets was always going to be volatile. You really do have a tendency to overcrowd me at times. When distance is called for it’s always me putting those 200 miles between us, as I escape to a quieter place. Those early days were especially feisty, remember? I’d go from feeling excitement and awe to having my bags packed ready to leave in a matter of days.

Then often against my will I begin to miss you. I think about your beauty at night, and about finding your organic coffee shop in Notting Hill that’s been serving me flat whites well before the world put a name to them. And I think about all the other little things I haven’t even discovered about you yet.

It’s fair to say it wasn’t love at first sight, but we’ve grown together and mellowed over the years. It’s on days like today when the sun is shining and you’re beckoning me in that I feel we’ve got something special – let’s hold onto that.

 

Yours, Rachel