Marc's Weekend in Dublin

Here are just a few photos from the weekend I spent in Dublin at the International Leadership Summit in early June.

Photo 1: I'm convinced that St. Stephen's Green in Dublin is the most beautiful place on earth. This picture was taken on the bridge overlooking the duck pond.

Photo 2: What English major could visit Dublin and not pay homage to the greats? This is the James Joyce memorial in St. Stephen's, Joyce being the author of the epic novel Ulysses. I actually wanted to visit the Cathedral home of Jonathan Swift more, but when we took the tour of Dublin, the Cathedral had already closed for the day :(

Photo 3: Me all tuxedoed up (and in danger of being lickered up--nah, not really, but we all had more than one glass of wine that night). This was the scene-a-faire night of the entire thing; throughout the conference, we had the opportunity to listen to speeches by world leaders, entertainers, scientists, writers (an abbreviated list includes Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, President Vairaveka Freyberger of Latvia, Bill Clinton, Hamid Karzai, Enya, Bono, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Edna O'Brien, Scott Momaday, and the guy who discovered the remains of Lucy). I took pictures of all of them, but because the lighting was dim for effect and because I was equipped with nothing more than a cheap point-and-shoot without snazzy zoom technology, they are barely recognizable in the pictures.

Photo 4: The table settings for the big banquet (I was able to get a shot before everyone sat down to dinner).

Photo 5: Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend, I got to meet the President of Columbia, Andre Arango. At the time he was smoking a cigar, which he casually informed us was "from Fidel!" At the far right corner you can see just a bit of the face of Chris Matthews from Hardball on MSNBC.

Photo 6: One of those photos in which the people appear only as a speck. The purple blur roughly in the centre of the photo is Chuck Berry, who treated us to a mini-concert after the banquet was over.

Photo 7: It was really a pleasure (and really weird) to meet Sam Donaldson from ABC. As we all agreed, there is absolutely no disparity between the man's personality on and off camera. His wife is Jan Smith Donaldson from CNN (this photo was taken at the airport on our way back to DC from Dublin).

I was going to scan in more pics, but the scanner started acting crazy, so they'll come at a later date. The best parts of the weekend not pictured here include a dinner at Dublin Castle (where we were greeted by a live bagpipe band), seeing the Book of Kells and the Old Library at Trinity College, and speaking to James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons (who was so cool as to oblige me and do the voice of Scar from the Lion King--what the heck, the country brought out the kid in me).