I’m in Dublin..

Not so much blog posting this week, as I’m trying to get as much as I can from visiting Dublin. I’ll talk about more later.

Highlight so far include
– meeting lots of fantastic Google colleagues in the Dublin office. It was hard to tear myself away today because I was having such a good time talking to people.
– visiting the Guiness Storehouse.
– taking a short train ride to Howth this weekend.

I’ll try to get some pictures and comments about SES London up at some point.

57 Responses to I’m in Dublin.. (Leave a comment)

  1. You HAVE to go see Newgrange if you can get away. One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

  2. Matt

    It was great to meet you at SES Last week! Hope you didn’t mind us thrusting our Umbrella in your face, paparrazi-style!

    The result is on our blog – http://www.tamar.com/servlet.cgi?page_id=150;

    Have a great time in Dublin!

    Andrea

  3. Dublin, what a lovely place. I can highly recommend the Very Berry smoothy from the Bagel Factory in the airport. Also avoid the Champagne Mojito at Lillies Bordello. Apart from that lovely people, lovely Guiness and look out for people with plates of potatoes in random pubs.

    Have a good time, you deserve it.

  4. Mmm, Guiness. Get some Waterford Crystal when your there also. I look forward to the information from SES London.

  5. You will have a good time. Dublin is the biggest city in the world. πŸ˜‰ Keeps on dublin’ and dublin’

  6. Dublin’s a great place and the Guinness Storehouse is awesome. I felt like I was one of the kids in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory when I visited it! I wish they had a Guinness river there so that I could have done an Augustus Gloop… πŸ˜‰

  7. “trying to get as much as I can from visiting Dublin” = “trying to visit EVERY bar for a pint!” πŸ˜€

  8. Brilliant Dublin is the place to be, just a short ferry ride away from where I heard a lot about the Guinness factory though.

  9. @mad4, you kinda ruined the punchline a bit there…

    >> Dublin is the biggest city in the world. πŸ˜‰ Keeps on dublin’ and dublin’

    This is better: Dublin is the biggest city in the world because it’s always Dublin (i.e. doublin’)

    “Keeps on dublin’ and dublin’” just doesn’t make sense… πŸ˜›

  10. Dear Matt,

    While you’re there, can you ask the good people at Google Dublin to help please. There is no category for *Ireland* in the European Google Groups directory:
    http://groups.google.com/groups/dir
    Just about everyone else in Europe is listed, including categories for non-Europeans such as *Central America* and the *Caribbean*.

    Would the Google Groups people kindly list us? This might help to increase the rather low membership of assorted groups associated with Irish interests. I did post a message on Google groups guide but suspect nobody has seen it yet.

    I hope you can help,

    Many thanks, Peter

  11. Guiness – pleh! Never been a fan of stout, personally. Lager, and most ales, yes, but Guiness is too chewy for my tastes.

    Try some decent Irish whiskey while you are there. It’s a different experience to Scotch. Try some of the older Bushmills varieties, preferably straight, or with one ice cube max

  12. Stick to your soda – it’s a good thing that you don’t drink alcohol, even though the folks at the Guinness Storehouse may have been a little disappointed in you…

  13. Sounds like a fun place to be .. I wanna see some pictures of James Joyce’s former residence πŸ™‚

  14. Lever, there are people here who do a literary pub crawl. πŸ™‚

    Peter Scott, I’ll ask about that.

    Brian M, I do imbibe from time to time, just not that often. For example, there’s some cider called Magners that I liked.. πŸ™‚

  15. Magners…served with ice as well. Moving here from the US I must say the selection is vastly different…except for gut-wrenching budweiser.

    Try Tetley Smooth Matt. You’ll enjoy that. Plus it hisses at you when you open them. Makes for good entertainment.

    GaryTheScubaGuy

    ps. Missed you Wednesday night. Decided to take a night off since I was on the 9am My SEM Toolbox the next morning. By the way…the ‘wet paint’ sign in the Crown Plaza was from my red wine the night before.

  16. Hi matt,

    Hope you have fun in dublin. Wile you’re there let us know if you’re inerested in any of the stuff here: http://www.lastnightoffreedom.co.uk/stag-weekends/dublin/ – we’ll give you a great price πŸ˜‰ – especially if you have any idea why we seem to be really suffering in the SERPs. hope you have a great time. Matt (another one)

  17. Matt

    “I’ll try to get some pictures and comments about SES London up at some point.”

    Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? only pictures from SES πŸ™‚

    How about some pictures of Google WebSpam Team & AdWords Team in Dublin?

  18. Pretty expensive out there isn’t Matt ;)!

  19. Matt if you like Magners then you have to ask for Bulmers as that’s what it’s called in Ireland (licencing issues).

    And do try to get out of the city. Just 45 mins away is Wicklow which is very beautiful.

    Hope you enjoy your trip here, and it was nice talking to you in London πŸ™‚
    (but I’m sure Adam hates me now πŸ™ )

  20. Matt,

    While your there, you should go up to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab, cleverness, and coaxing talk. That way maybe you can coax the black hat SEO’s to give up their Google spamming ways. πŸ™‚

  21. “It was hard to tear myself away today because I was having such a good time talking to people.”

    They do have pleasant accents. But if you meet anybody over there from the Blogger group, slap them for me. Whose bright idea was it to have the new Blogger software add a NO-INDEX tag to the main page of established blogs with hundreds of inbound links? Of course, if they thought it up while drinking, it may be the group to join:-)

  22. That sounds so great. I would love to be on a working holiday like that.

  23. Two things 1. Try and get out of Dublin to see the “real ireland” – I’m from Cork. 2. Go to the Rugby game in Dublin this weekend – you will be a witness to history.

  24. Instead of NOT posting because of the desire to get as much from visiting Dublin – Google

    Using your cell to take videos and uploading them to YouTube or Google Videos will allow everyone to share those experiences

  25. Matt,
    Bono is in there.
    What about AdWords (Red)?

  26. Hey Matt

    Are you approving new posters while you’re away? My colleague Andrea is trying to post to thank you about the great shot you kindly posed for while at SES London – seen here on the Umbrella’s own blog! : )

    http://www.tamar.com/servlet.cgi?page_id=150;

    Henry

  27. The Guiness factory was a favorite of mine, I raided that gift shop before leaving. If you have time check out the distillery district. The Jameson distillery is amazing and they have an amazing tour.

    Have fun.

  28. Matt
    when you coming India?????

    Deb

  29. He will come soon to India. Deb

  30. Hi,

    and in France :p?

  31. Thanks for chasing the Irish groups issue, Matt. By the way, don’t go to the Carmelite church at Whitefriars Street in the city centre to see the bones of Satin Valentine – they were scheduled for removal last weekend! If you’re getting your DART from Barrow Street (beside the Google offices), you’re on Ireland’s oldest railway line, the Dublin to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire – pronounced “done leer-y), built in 1834.

    Have a good trip, Peter.

  32. Show Pictures!
    Guiness Storehouse sounds great.

  33. While you are in Dublin, I was wondering if Google uses the Dublin Core meta tags?

  34. Matt,

    I am waiting for your inputs…

    Have a happy and safe trip πŸ™‚

    Pratheep

  35. Matt

    Cead Mile Failte

    when you get off the train at howth – nip downstairs to the Bloody Stream for a pint.

    If you want to have a nice lunch – head to Aqua, anyone local will tell you where it is. Great views and great food.

    Enjoy your stay in Ireland.

  36. Too bad, that you do not have time, to go north to see giants causeway – http://www.google.com/search?q=giants+causeway – which is a pretty amazing phenomenon. Also the cliffs of moher are a must, if you are in Ireland! I think you are missing some great spots – I have been travelling around the island twice in the last years. So, good reason to come back, right?

  37. Ahhh, Howth, my old home. Stop in the Bloody Stream for a pint. It’s just below the DART station. They also have awesome food. There is another a fantastic restaurant called Cibo on Main Street. It’s owned by a great friend of mine, so tell her that I sent you! For sight-seeing, there are spectacular views from the Howth Summit. Hope you have a wonderful time!!!

    Kev

  38. Gary is was was also supposed to be on my SEM toolbox accept unfortunately got kidnapped by some of the biggest UK and US agencies the night before. They promised to have me safely tucked up in bed by 1am but obviously lied. As a penance I have been told to do it as a web cast

    Enjoy Dublin, ps get them to make the search api available again.

  39. Blogging from a HTC TYTN is really frustrating. ‘Gary is was’ meant ‘I was’, evidently haven’t quite recovered from such a lengendary night yet. Sure you’re going through the same initiation in Ireland Matt.

    pps. Good to chat at SES would be awesome if Vanessa can add in a switch for the geo-location setting on non regionally specific domains to Webmaster Central or you can revisit lang=.

  40. Hey Matt, but having a great time in Dublin and that you get the chance to throw back at a few Guinnesses. Thanks to the great blog I been reading for quite some time now but just never got round to commenting. Keep up the great work!

  41. If your going to Howth, get a taxi to the top of Howth Head, and take the 15 minute walk along the gravel path for incredible views over Dublin.

  42. Dublin – the home of the pub crawl! Fantastic – by the way – Google is still doing funny things … we have a retail client that has completed disappeared in Google after ranking really well less 48 hours ago – has anyone else seen this happening ……

  43. Matt,

    Happy Journey πŸ™‚

  44. Matt,

    Welcome to Dublin… cead mille failte a chara!

    Anyway after you run that through a translator (or question a gaelic speaking collegue there) I have a problem here… recent interview you done there with WebProNews.com… the problem is that we all expect that if many thousands of users see links to a site and many thousands of siote owners provide a link then Google values the site more highly… the problem is am I not CHEATING google if I take your suggestion and add ask for a nofollow in links another site gives me…wheter paid, unpaid, wanted or unwanted!

    If an incoming link is a vote and we all live in a dem ocratic internet then surely I can lobby for votes! lobbying costs money… if it doesn’t go to the guy who gives me the link it’ll go to me in salary or another site in advertising etc.

    Mick

  45. You should go to the Boar’s Head and have some Beef and Guinness Stew

  46. Matt, share us photos of your trip. Enjoy and take care!

  47. when I wuz in Dublin, I past a pub called, get ready for this, The Waxy Dargle. My big regret was not checking it out…
    probably nuthin special, but Gawd what a monicker.

  48. Hi Matt cheers for the chat last week. Am sure the deluge of people made us entirely inconsequential.

  49. I went to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin when I was 18. I got my free pint, as part of the tour, took a sip, and handed it off to my mom.

    Too strong for my blood – give this American girl a nice Coors Light anyday!

  50. Dublin is a nice enough provincial town, but we all know that Cork is the real capital of Ireland.

    πŸ˜‰

  51. Hope you got to see the Book of Kells.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

  52. dublin suck, fly to Galway on the other side of Ireland πŸ™‚
    don’t leave europe before seeing Cliff of Moher and Aran Island some pictuers here : http://flickr.com/photos/dsom/sets/72057594123131271/

    byez matt

  53. Dublin is a great city! I was there for a few days at the end of february, and actually more or less undertook rather simmilar activities as you: I visited the fantastic tryvertising concept of the Guiness-Storehouse, and visited the cosy city of Howth as well. You can actually take a great walk from this city all around the cliffs, it will take about 6 hours or so, so you do need a nice sunny day to enjoy it…

  54. thank alll.dublin is nice? i am osman but i didnt see dublin
    i hop i will see dublin…

  55. Dublin is nice, I’ve been there and it’s one of the best place that I have been… hope you enjoy it very much there..

  56. Hi Matt, When are you back over in the UK, are you doing any conferences over here in 2008!

    Matt

  57. Hi Matt,
    I believe you are giving a talk next Monday 24th, 11:30am, Google, Barrow Street in Dublin. I know its a bit cheeky, but how can an SEO nerd like myself get his hands on a ticket? Can you ‘make it so’.
    If not, no worries.
    Thanks a million,
    Hugh

css.php