Advertisement
Published: August 16th 2017
DSC08796
Fletcher, Feng and IOur last day in London was a quiet one. We spent the morning getting packed and updating blogs etc.We walked next door to Brown's for lunch. For once the sun was out and we sat outside. As it was a Sunday there were several families also enjoying the sunshine and the food. for lunch. I chose a fish pie while Fletcher thoroughly enjoyed his lemon sole. The fish pie was excellent and went well with the Gavi de Gavi pinot grigio. Kevin Gosper was also dining nearby and stopped by for a chat. We chatted to two couples next to us . Both had small girls who were very cute. After a pleasant couple of hours in the sunshine we returned to the hotel and watched the 20km walk on the TV..
At the track I first went to find the husband of my former student, Lauren McMenemy. I knew from Facebook that Chris was one of the volunteers and he said he would be on Bridge 3 that afternoon. As this was close to our VIP viewing area I went out the entrance and there he was. We chatted for a few minutes and took a photo to send
DSC08800
Dani Stevens receving her silver medal to Lauren. Fletcher had found Peter Thompson and his brother so spent some time with them. We also caught up with Feng Shu Yong from China, former head coach of the Chinese Team and now a Sports Commentator for Chinese TV. He had been a student of Fletcher's nearly 30 years ago. Back to the competition, the highligh of the night was Dani Stevens winning the silver medal in the discus with a new Australian record. She threw a great series and the last throw soared past 69 metres. After the drama of the 4x400m relays there was a special farewell to Usain Bolt which was very moving. So the Championships finished well and we have thoroughly enjoyed them.Back to the hotel for a farewell drink and Fletcher stayed on with Jorge and Gunther, three of the Sri Lanka Mafia.
When the alarm went off at 5am the next morning neither of us were happy. However, we made it to the bus which then took us to Heathrow. But all was not simple. I thought we were flying Aer Lingus so they dropped us at Terminal 2. We soon found out that it was an Aer Lingus flight operated
DSC08808
In front of the GPO by British Airways so we transferred there and evetually got to check in and relax in their first class lounge. The flight to Dublin was uneventful and we took a taxi to our hotel, The Gresham. This used to be one of the top hotels but is old. However, It does have an elegant olde world air. We went out in search of lunch as we could not check in until 3pm. We had lunch at Flanagan's across the road which was OK without being fantastic. Then we walked to the GPO. This was the main headquarters of the rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916 and now has an excellent exhibition in the basement detailing the events. There are some terrific videos, both of historians explaining aspects as well as a short film reenacting events. Very impressive. It certainly stirred my memory of first year Uni History when I studied this. We spent an hour or two looking at it all.We visited a nearby souvenir store and then it was back to check into our room. After a rest while we watched the rain pour down from our window, we ventured out again. We walked along Henry St which
DSC08812
The GPO and the Spire is a Mall next to the GPO. However,by this time most of the shops were closing and it was still raining. When we reached Capel St we went into Slattery's Pub and had dinner there. This is a very Irish pub where many of Ireland's musicians,such as U2, Van Morrison and others got their start. We had a beer and I had an enormous Chicken Caesar salad while Fletcher settled for Thai red curry. Pub food, nothing special. We then returned to the hotel for a drink in their elegant Writer's Bar and then an early night.
On Tuesday morning we were out at 9-30am. We had some scrambled eggs for breakfast at a local cafe and then walked the length of O'Connell street to the Liffey River. There we crossed the bridge and walked along the river to Ha'penny bridge, named after the toll people had to pay to use it. We then went into Temple Bar, one of the oldest parts of Dublin which now has lots of pubs and shops in its small streets. We eventually arrived at Dublin Castle. Last time we were here we had not come to this place. It was
DSC08813
James Joyce statue built originally by King John in 1204. It was the seat of colonial power where the Viceroys of England lived and ruled the Irish.. We did a self guided tour and wandered through the impressive State Rooms.
The best of these was St Patrick's Hall, a magnificent Reception/Ball room with beautifl painted ceilings. The dining room was also impressive with portraits lining the walls and the table set for a Reception in the 19th Century. There was also an exhibition of bookbinding and some examples of the embossing tools that were used to make the beautiful covers. From there we walked around the corner and through the gardens of the castle to visit the Charles Beatty Museum. This contains the collection of manuscripts of the eponymous collector. The display of Asian documents and books with a vast array of gilded manuscripts and wonderful calligraphy was quite overwhelming. There were so many it was hard to take them all in. We then went to Trinity College. We had been there last time and had seen the magnificent Book of Kells so this time we revisited the quadrangle and admired the wagnificent buildings,From there we went back to Temple Bar, the
DSC08819
Ha'penny Bridge oldest area of the city . I was interested in a series of large posters that covered the walls of a couple of small streets which celebrated and commemorated the Female writers of Ireland as well as a Rock'n'Roll hall of fame. There was also a series of Nobel Prize winners from Ireland and other notable literary figures.The painted panels were very interesting.
After a basic lunch of panninis and a beer we returned to OConnell St where we caught a local bus out to the Killmainham gaol. This had been where the rebels from the Easter Rising and many other Republicans had been incarcerated and executed during the Troubles and the Civil Wars which ensued. Unfortunately, as I alighted from the bus which had been a fair way from the kerb, my foot gave away and I was sent sprawling onto the very rough stony ground. Consequently, two bloodied knees and a sore hand meant I was not very happy, as well as being acutely embarassed by my clumsiness. To top that off we found that all the tours were booked out so we could not see inside the gaol. However, we were admitted to the
DSC08822
Temple Bar courtrooms and the museum which proved very interesting. As we walked to the museum we were struck by the huge outside walls which must have been intimidating for the prisoners. The museum contained records and evidence of both criminals and rebels and their treatment. The last resident was Eamonn De Valera who became President of the Irish Republic in the '60s and who was a guest at the reopening of the restored prison.
My phone had confirmed I had walked about 10kms so I was a little tired. We went back to the hotel in a taxi and I tried to soothe my bloody knees.We stayed for a couple of hours getting ready for the night ahead. I had booked a Literary Pub Crawl of Dublin and I was really looking forward to it. We left about 5-30pm and walked along O'Connell St and down to Grafton St. Then in Duke St we stopped at the Duke pub from whence the tour was to progress. We had a nice meal there, Soup and Bruschetta for me and Tiger prawns for Fletcher. Then we gathered in a small upstairs room to start the show. Two actors, Derek and Frank, took
DSC08827
Dublin Castle us on a literary journey both figuratively and literary. They started by acting a scene from Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" which was very amusing.Then some storiess of the various poets who had frequented the pub. We then moved on to Trinity Quad where Frank enacted an amusing anecdote about Oscar Wilde and his time in America. An excellent impersonation. Then we moved on to O'Neill's, a pub which contains a Writer's Bar and which has been owned and run by the same family for many years. We were given 20 minutes for a beer and a visit to a couple of places that gave clues to the quiz which was to be the ultimate phase of the night. Next we assembled next to the statue of Molly Malone that stands outside St Andrew's church. Here the two performed a segment from a play by Thomas Plunkett which was amusing, but moving too.The next pub stop was at The Strand where again we could drink for 20 minutes before the final phase. We chatted to a lovely family from Wales there. The last section included the quiz. I really wanted the T shirt which was the first prize and as it
DSC08830
St Patrick's Room was a verbal quiz I stood close. And yes, in the end,I got in first with enough answers to win!!! We finished in Davy Burn's pub where we chatted to a family from Philadelhia. It had been a great night and we walked back through the streets about midnight having thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0469s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
