Mark: Walk Through Dublin

Due to overwhelming traffic in the Dublin area and the small size of the city, I find myself walking everywhere. Coming from the suburbs of Philadelphia I am not used to walking far distances all of the time. By the end of the first week I had a blister the size of a 2Euro piece on each of my heels, and every toe was lucky enough to have its own blister-buddy. I couldn’t imagine the type of pain I would be in if I didn’t buy a new pair of Nike walking shoes before the trip. Although a lot of Nike shoes are made for jogging and running you wouldn’t need them here. It is actually the opposite, there is never a chance of walking at a quick pace in Dublin. People here constantly walk slowly as if there was no destination at the end of their trip. People float from one side of the sidewalk to the other with no orderly lines to follow, so I constantly find myself ducking and weaving between people. I was never a fast walker at home but here I feel like should try out for the Olympics as a sprinter. The only thing in this country that is in fast motion is the merciless cars driving past you on the street. It almost seems as if they want you to fall in front of their car. They come from all different directions. The hardest part of walking around the city is trying to cross the street. There are no stop signs, the cars drive on the opposite side of the road and the city was not built on a grid. Other than that the walks are great being able to see historic landmarks everywhere and enjoy the beautiful weather (when it’s not raining). Sometimes it is nice to slow the pace and enjoy a leisure walk through Dublin.