Ah, no.
We visited Dublin a decade and two daughters ago and were highly impressed.
This time, not so much.
Here and there we saw bits of Irish charm, row houses, winding streets, even weathered old men in sweaters and peaked caps. But in 2019 Dublin feels like a European version of a mid-sized American city, Cincinnati for instance. We're not knocking Cincy, we're just saying we expected more from Dublin.
Like other major cities, Dublin has a lot of concrete, steel and glass now. Also like a lot of other major cities Dublin is globalized. We saw Starbucks, McDonald's, etc. Every few blocks we saw a tourist shop filled with merch, just like in NYC, London, and even Paris. The pub we and Mrs. Stroock went to for dinner felt like an American version of an Irish pub. Dublin has plenty of non-Irish folk. As noted before we saw the hijab. In Dublin. We're sure that's what Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman were fighting for.
Dublin also has a graffiti problem. Worse, it has a homeless problem.
We took a river tour of the River Liffey and came away unimpressed. The Seine it is not.
Honestly, Dublin felt a little dumpy.
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