Sunday 21/7/19
After a few days in Dublin, we can almost call ourselves rub a dub dub Dubliners (ie locals).
Today is the last day on our own and we join our tour group this afternoon.
We tried the (free, as in already paid for ) breakfast in the executive lounge and it had everything except hot food which was fine.
I had my first Guinness for the day and poured it from the pour it yourself tap. Nice with .. anything.
Paul suggested we visit a church (it is Sunday and he is Catholic. Oops, so was I)
We went to the Pro Cathedral which is where The Cardinal used to say Mass when he was in Dublin. We arrived in the middle of a Mass so not easy to take photos. We sat through some of the homily (you never forget).
We did a walk around O'Connell street which is the main business and retail centre. It was full of tourists on a Sunday morning.
We had coffee in an Italian bar and met an Italian film crew who were filming a documentary on St Patrick (one of my favourite saints). I heard them speaking and thought, more Spaniards, but they came over and said they were from Italy. I was even able to converse briefly in Italian. They spoke excellent English. The lovely lady who i assume was the presenter was very kind and thought we were brave to travel such a long way from Australia to Ireland or anywhere really. She was from Sardinia which she said is the most beautiful place on earth. I wonder if she is some famous Italian celebrity and we missed the opportunity to take a photo with her. Oh well i shook her hand if that means anything.
This is a photo of the Post office which is used as a post office and reminds me of the one in Newcastle. There is even a tram out the front of it. Also a bit Newcastle. Maybe a sign.
One of many bridges over the Liffey. And lots of old buildings and alley ways with amazing little shops and bars.
And lots of churches..
this is another bridge over the River Liffey.
Then we did carriage ride as my ankle/back were bad and i needed to sit down. It was really nice to be chauffeured around by a horse. The driver spent the whole time turned to us (Paul) and talking while the horse just drove itself.
This is the Huguenot cemetery, one of the oldest in Ireland.
These are all Georgian buildings which have been done up and now used mainly as professional offices. They are allowed to have coloured doors which look great. And have beautiful portals.
This is the residence of their version of the prime minister. They call him the Taoiseach.
As was the library which is organised not in the Dewey system but another weird Irish way where the biggest books are on the bottom and the smallest at the top. Also some weird classification by who donated the books.
And in our 'free' time, we went to the nearest pub for a drink, you guessed it, Guinness. This was the best one yet. This is meant to be a photo of the pub but i think i made a video.
After more driving/touring around the Georgian area of Dublin, we arrived back at the hotel for the initial meeting and dinner. Our guide Aine (pronounced Onya as in Good Onya) seems OK.
Tomorrow we leave for Galway.
Our bus of 36 people has lots of Australians and and Americans and Canadians with a large age range. Quite a few Aussies from Melbourne and would you believe, a couple from Tumbi Umbi.
Just down the road from Sam. Incredible.
After a few days in Dublin, we can almost call ourselves rub a dub dub Dubliners (ie locals).
Today is the last day on our own and we join our tour group this afternoon.
We tried the (free, as in already paid for ) breakfast in the executive lounge and it had everything except hot food which was fine.
Paul suggested we visit a church (it is Sunday and he is Catholic. Oops, so was I)
We went to the Pro Cathedral which is where The Cardinal used to say Mass when he was in Dublin. We arrived in the middle of a Mass so not easy to take photos. We sat through some of the homily (you never forget).
We did a walk around O'Connell street which is the main business and retail centre. It was full of tourists on a Sunday morning.
We had coffee in an Italian bar and met an Italian film crew who were filming a documentary on St Patrick (one of my favourite saints). I heard them speaking and thought, more Spaniards, but they came over and said they were from Italy. I was even able to converse briefly in Italian. They spoke excellent English. The lovely lady who i assume was the presenter was very kind and thought we were brave to travel such a long way from Australia to Ireland or anywhere really. She was from Sardinia which she said is the most beautiful place on earth. I wonder if she is some famous Italian celebrity and we missed the opportunity to take a photo with her. Oh well i shook her hand if that means anything.
This is a photo of the Post office which is used as a post office and reminds me of the one in Newcastle. There is even a tram out the front of it. Also a bit Newcastle. Maybe a sign.
One of many bridges over the Liffey. And lots of old buildings and alley ways with amazing little shops and bars.
this is another bridge over the River Liffey.
Then we did carriage ride as my ankle/back were bad and i needed to sit down. It was really nice to be chauffeured around by a horse. The driver spent the whole time turned to us (Paul) and talking while the horse just drove itself.
This is the Huguenot cemetery, one of the oldest in Ireland.
These are all Georgian buildings which have been done up and now used mainly as professional offices. They are allowed to have coloured doors which look great. And have beautiful portals.
This is the residence of their version of the prime minister. They call him the Taoiseach.
After lunch was the official start of our Ireland tour, actually they are not tours, they are now known as 'trips'.
Our trip started with a bus ride around London with a special visit to Trinity College.
The bus ride was similar to the carriage ride and our various taxi rides, even the same stories.
Trinity College is the oldest still running college in Ireland. It has an interesting history and we had a lovely young guide who was a student there but had 2 degrees and was about to go to Europe for another before returning to Trinity to do his PhD. Extremely confident and charming young man.
The architecture was amazing.
As was the library which is organised not in the Dewey system but another weird Irish way where the biggest books are on the bottom and the smallest at the top. Also some weird classification by who donated the books.
And in our 'free' time, we went to the nearest pub for a drink, you guessed it, Guinness. This was the best one yet. This is meant to be a photo of the pub but i think i made a video.
After more driving/touring around the Georgian area of Dublin, we arrived back at the hotel for the initial meeting and dinner. Our guide Aine (pronounced Onya as in Good Onya) seems OK.
Tomorrow we leave for Galway.
Our bus of 36 people has lots of Australians and and Americans and Canadians with a large age range. Quite a few Aussies from Melbourne and would you believe, a couple from Tumbi Umbi.
Just down the road from Sam. Incredible.
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