b'DESTINATION In Dublins Fair CityWALKING AROUND DUBLIN YOU GET THE FEELING THAT HERE IS A PLACE CHAMPING AT THE BIT, EAGER TO BE GALLOPING WILDLY INTO THE FUTURE YET FINDING ITSELF LOCKED INTO ITS TROUBLED PAST.I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF DUBLIN ASseems to be the trigger for the population to BIG CITY SORT OF SQUISHED INTO A SMALLindulge in what they do best: having bucket VILLAGE, or a village steadily morphing intoloads of fun. There are endless streets of bars acity.Everythingdowntowniswalkableasand pubs, each one decorated in their own nothing seems to be that far away. Even thestylecomplete,nodoubtwithanelaborate countryside, clearly visible through a forest ofstory of its history and even if its not true, you cranes, is just a few minutes out of town. should simply trust in what youve been told Today,itsatrulybooming,cosmopolitanand go with it.capital,fueledinpartbyarecentinfluxofIhavealwaysthoughtthatRussianscould immigrants and millions of tourists (most ofdrink, but in Dublin people start drinking in the whom seem desperate to try and claim any potential Irish ancestry) who have brought theirmorning and, by evening the streets around energy and ideas and infused a multi-layeredTempleBarareakintoattendingagiant city with a mlange of new, bold flavours and afestival, celebratingwell, anything you like.riot of vivid colours. Walking around Dublin you get the feeling that Thenofcourse,therearetheDubliners.here is a place champing at the bit, eager to be IfIthoughttheIrishfromWestCorkweregalloping wildly into the future yet finding itself garrulous,delightfulandwitty,thesecitylocked into its troubled past.folk seem to be all of that and then some. The 1916 Easter Uprising, often referred to as TheyreawonderfullycharismaticbunchBloody Easter, is a landmark chapter in Irish whose demeanor is instantly compelling and altogether infectious. history and no matter how young or old you are the date is part of every Dubliners collectiveIts a pretty odd place, but what it does haveconscience. Poorly planned and executed, the in spades is a magnetic charm even though itsdrivetoridthemselvesfromthetyrannical architecture is nothing particularly special. TheBritish, was a spectacular failure. Reminders of capital of Ireland seems to be a place wherethe infamous date pop up right across the city, one doesnt much care about buildings as onewhether it be graffiti, festooned across walls of feels the city, osmosis like, through its people. side alleys or the bullet holes plainly visible on Its the height of summer (a term certainlythe columns of the Central Post Office, worn open to interpretation) and the weak sunshinealmost as a badge of pride.URBANDRIVER19'