Grafton Street Dublin
Move on from Trinity college and you arrive at the effigy of Molly Malone that marks the entrance to Grafton Street although her working class appearance would be a little out of place in Dublin's upmarket shopping area. All designer stores and chic cafés can be found along this pedestrian street. During the day the pedestrian streets are alive with fledgling street performers. The famous top department store, Brown Thomas is where to begin all retail explorations followed by Powerscourt Town House behind the main shopping street down a small alley way. This is a complex carved out of a set of Georgian buildings set around a courtyard with a coffee bar. Preferably back in Grafton Street the best and most historical coffee house is Bewley's. This place is an institution with its dark wood and marbled interior and Harry Clarke stained glass windows. It has been in business since 1840 and has seen many difficulties, however it is where at least once you should stop for a coffee and sticky bun or head upstairs to the service area and enjoy lunch served to you as you watch the world go by below on Dublin's most fashionable street. If you want some culture while out shopping the Civic Museum nearby gives a historical insight into the city with some quirky artefacts that belong to popular culture. Just off Grafton street on Kildare Street, that runs parallel, is the eighteenth century Leinster House, that now belongs to the Irish Parliament. This magnificent Georgian house has a double façade, built by the Duke of Leinster, one side resembles a town house and the back side has the look of a country house. At the top of Grafton street is the main entrance to the St. Stephen's Green, a public park from 1880 built by Sir Guinness, with bandstands and pergolas. The pond attracts many office workers during the summer and a respite from the trials of shopping and working in the business street below.