Day 01

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Day 01

Today we expected to be a long day, since leaving mid-day, and traveling for 14 hours or more, would be tiring, even for young folks. Well, we started on April 29^th, going to the airport around noon, and getting to Dublin around noon on April 30^th. We switched planes in Frankfurt, to make our final destination in Dublin.

The plane ride was on the large Airbus 380. We had a dinner, and a breakfast served. Not much sleep, but some. While not individually plated by a chef in the galley the food did not taste like airplane food that I was accustomed to.

We met my brother and his wife at the airport. We coordinated flights to be there close to each other. The initial wait time was going to be around 30 minutes, but as we all know, not all flights and arrivals are as booked. Several things caused us to be later than usual, as well as Michael and Gail. They wound up waiting only 5 minutes for us outside Customs.

We had several places we wanted to see and hired a driver to drive us around, telling us some of the high spots about Dublin, give us insight on various landmarks.

One of the most interesting was the Spire of Dublin. It is on the Liffey and we found out that there are some nicknames for it that are not very flattering. One that Alan told us was “the Stiffy at the Liffey”.

We wanted to see the Guinness Brewery, Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Book of Kells and the Long Room Trinity College Library. We had tickets, and didn’t have to wait in line, so we entered, and enjoyed the discussion with a curator, and found out it was a live research library. But, you didn’t just walk in and browse the shelves.

Because of time constraints, several of the sites were “drive-bys”, Dublin Castle, Guinness Brewery and Storehouse and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Brewery is not open for tours like some of the craft beer producers at home, and the Storehouse is hard to park and get to. The Castle is not one of the better Castles in Ireland, and we are planning to see others. We wanted to see the Book of Kells, and the Long Room, which is a functioning library for the college, and a historic collection of very old books.

The final site we wanted to visit was the Battle of Boyne, where in 1690, William of Orange defeated King James II of England.

From there, we made it to Armagh, where we spent the night.

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Photos

Todays Menua
We are flying premium economy, and got a menu for tonights dinner, and tomorrow morning breakfast.

Breakfast
I didn't get dinner photo, too hungry and just ate it. This is an omlettte with grilled tomoatoe and spinich, fruit and roll.

The Oldest Pub in Ireland
We didn't have time to go in, but did get some photos.

Gail and Richard
Selfie for the blog.

Beginning the Jail tour
Kilmainham Gaol. Where the uprising leaders were jailed, and executed.

A jail cell
Seen through the little hold in the door. Beds were hay or grass on the cold floor. Cold and damp would describe conditions.

The "new" wing.
A new wing was added to allow the commitment to one person in a cell. Some common criminals were also housed here. The thought was that light helped rehabilitate the prinsoner, so they had the sky light as part of the design.

Spire of Dublin
Referred to by some of the locals as the "Stiffy on the Liffey". The Liffey is the river through Dublin.

A story about the icon of Ireland.
The story of the harp goes back to Brian Boru, died in 1014, and is legendary. Also known as a cláirseach, and while it did exist in ancient Ireland even before Brian Boru, nonetheless a fantastic legend is attached to this iconic instrument.

Ireland Symbol.
The Irish tried to make it a symbol on their flag, but Guinness already had the harp in their logo, and the family said, "no", we have the harp.

The library.
Also, the Long Room, and Harry Potter followers will recognize it as Hogwarts Library.

Upclose shelf contents
You can see there are some old editions here. Curators and restorers work every day on repair and restoration. You will notice some of the books have a piece of tape across the back. That indicates there is work for restorers to be done.

Claremont Arms rear entrance.
Much prettier than the front entrance on the street. I didn't get a picture of the front, but you can probably find one on Google. :-)

Comments

[James Keating]

Oldest Pub?
How old is the oldest pub?

[dadkeating]

Oldest Pub in Ireland
It was built in 1198, so a lot has happened within those walls. We didn't go in, just passed by.