June in Dublin – The Leaving Cert Summer

Here  are my  highlights  of What’s on in Dublin this June, There is myriad of Choice  but first a note about the expected weather  in June or the “Leaving Cert Summer”. I hope that someday the RTE TV weather forecast begins and the poor sap that is charged with predicting the unpredictable will simply stare at the camera, shrug his shoulders and admit to the nation that they truly have no clue what the Irish weather will do next.

We have a saying here in Ireland, “if you don’t like the Irish weather, just wait 5 minutes it will change”. Despite the shear unpredictability of Irish weather there is one Irish Weather phenomena that occurs once a year which you can count on. From the 4th of June to the 20th of June this year, students from all over the country will be sitting their leaving certificate exams. These are the final exams of the Irish school system and for some strange inexplicable reason these always seem to be three of the nicest weeks during the horrible disappointment that is the Irish summer. Luckily for you intrepid travellers there are plenty of events on here in Dublin during this period. Unless like most Irish people you are content to sit in a football pitch or public park basking in the sun and the misery of the Irish students as they glance intermittently between their exam papers and the blistering sunshine outside

Forbidden Fruit 31st of May – June 1st

Dublin has some pretty decent venues, Vicar Street and the Olympia are just two of my favourites. These venues are great, but nothing beats attending a concert held in somewhere steeped with history, with far more eye-pleasing surroundings than sweat drenched walls. 2 many Dj’s take to the stage this year at Forbidden Fruit and I have had the great pleasure of seeing them perform in Dublin Castle and this will remain one of my all time favourite gigs. If the scenery and the history of the beautiful IMMA building doesn’t interest you the line-up should. In fact I am currently bashing my forehead against the reception desk as I scroll further down as I will not even be in the country this weekend. If you like me are a student of the old school then you need to make it your business to be at the Undergrowth stage on the 1st of June for Public Enemy. If Public Enemy’s brand of controversial New York hip hop isn’t yo thang fear not other acts include , The Flaming Lips, the Young Knives, Squarehead and the fiddle playing, effects peddle stomping Daithi

The Taste of Dublin 12th – 15th of June

I honestly can’t imagine a better event to attend in Dublin during June. The only thing better than eating at a fancy restaurant is pretending that you can afford to eat at a fancy restaurant and gorging yourself on free samples and champagne. The event features cooking demonstrations by notable celebrity chefs and probably best of all, chefs from Dublin’s 20 finest restaurants will by vying for your attention and praise. This is not only a must for any and all foodies visiting Dublin this June, with tickets costing only 15 euro this year isn’t a bad option for the scrimpers and savers. You would be hard pushed to find a better location for an event like this than the iconic Iveagh Gardens, there are very few things in this world that would beat eating Hors d’oeuvres and sipping free champagne by the waterfall…. yes that’s right I said waterfallhttp://www.tasteofdublin.ie/

Bike Week

After  all that  Food  you  may want  to shake off a few extra Calories . No  better way than peddling your way around Dublin . You can just hire bikes from Isaacs Hostel and do your own thing  or Bike Week offers the chance to attend cycling events all over the country, organised by local authorities, community groups, charities and cycling groups. In Dublin, among others offers, there will be a 6km long trip along the coast, leaving from the near seaside place Dún Laoghaire. The best occasion to hire our bicycle and visit Dublin and the Irish coast on-two-wheels!For more info: http://www.bikeweek.ie/home

 Dublin Pride  Pride Festival 14th – 29th of June

You may not know this about Ireland but Homosexuality was only actually decriminalised here in 1993, previous to this attendance of this parade and festival would have landed you in the slammer or in a labour camp like the much loved Oscar Wilde. Fast forward 21 years and Dublin Pride  it’s now the second largest parade in Ireland rivalled only by the St Paddy’s Day festivities. It like most parades of it’s kind all over the world goes a long way to promoting understanding and mutual respect. If you’re at all interested in the festival make sure to download the “Dublin Insider Guide” it includes a whole host of suggestions about where to drink, eat and even attend meet & greets with members of the LGTBQ community. For me the spirit of this festival and parade is just about as Irish as you can get, standing up for your rights and the rights of others and demanding equality for each and every Irish citizenhttp://www.dublinpride.ie/

Bloomsday 16th of June

Once every year on June 16th I get to feel like a time traveller as I sit on a bench in Stephen’s Green, read the paper and watch droves of people in Edwardian style dress stroll by. If you’ve never heard of Leopold Bloom ,don’t worry he’s a character from a book that a lot of people pretend to read in order to sound intelligent. How do you know if someone’s read Ulysses? They will undoubtedly tell you. Bloomsday is a celebration of this literary classic and it’s esteemed author James Joyce. The book tracks the movements of one Leopold Bloom through Dublin over a single day, June 16th. Joyce was a wonderful writer and with his stream of consciousness style and love of Dublin City almost made the city itself a character in his novel. A Trinity college student once told me that there is an entire class devoted to Ulysses in it’s English literature programme. I have no idea whether that is true or not but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. If you are in Dublin on June 16th and plan on doing a tour, head to your nearest second hand or charity shop, find yourself a copy of Ulysses and some Edwardian garb and see Dublin the way it was meant to be seen, through the eyes of one of it’s greatest authors. Check out events here http://jamesjoyce.ie/bloomsday/bloomsday-festival-2014-events/calendar/?ai1ec_cat_ids=500>

Daniel