Wanderung 24

Spring Fling

From March to May 2011

Thursday May 5th: Day 1 in Dublin, Ireland

Bob:

Our plan was to take the number 41 bus from Swords to Dublin and then take the Hop On Hop Off bus to tour the city and get around for the day. We found the 2-day ticket for the HOHO bus was 14 Euro each (senior rate) so we opted for that on the possibility that we would want to spend another day in Dublin. I should mention that there is a competing green-colored Hop On Hop Off bus that has exactly the same itinerary and apparently the same schedule and identical prices. The only noticeable difference was that the Green HOHO company had a much more detailed map of downtown Dublin than the map used by the Red HOHOs. Since we had already bought a ticket on the Red one, we just used the map of the Greens for walking around and then the map of the Reds to find our bus stops.

Climbing aboard, we found seats out in the open on the top of the bus, but they were still wet from the overnight rain. As it was cold and windy up there, Monika and I had that part of the bus to ourselves as we went careening around Dublin. To get the best view to both sides, I was sitting in the center seat way in the rear, but that position also subjected me to a good deal of jouncing around. Trying to get decent, sharp pictures under those conditions was quite a challenge, but also quite a bit of fun!

Monika:

This was a hotel, not a B&B, so breakfast was not included, but for 5 Euro the restaurant attached to the hotel had a very nice breakfast of English bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. After breakfast we were ready to ride the bus to Dublin. We had found out that Bus 41 would take us to the heart of Dublin, although the bus stop was 10 minutes down the road from our hotel. The bus first went to the airport, where it stopped at both Terminal 1 and 2 and we were happy to have a chance to examine the airport traffic pattern. After that we went straight south to Dublin. The bus stopped on O'Connell Street right by the tourist Information Center and the start of the Dublin Pass and the Hop-On-Hop-Off tourist busses, two competing companies both doing pretty much the same circuit of the city with the same stops. Both offered senior rates, 14 Euros for a two-day pass, and that sounded really good.

It had rained in the morning - our second rain of our trip - but now was clear, so Bob and I decided to go upstairs in the open air, since that would give us better picture opportunities. Lois decided to stay downstairs where it was enclosed and warm. We had decided to make one complete loop, and then go on to Trinity College to view the Book of Kells.

Bob:

On O'Connell Street we passed the General Post Office, site of the 1916 uprising that ultimately led to independence for the Republic of Ireland. Across the River Liffey we circled past Trinity College and the Georgian District of Dublin before seeing Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Monika:

The complete loop took us from O'Connell street across the Liffey, past Trinity College down to the Georgian Section. This was a part of town built during the reign of the four Georges with rows of brick apartment buildings and squares in the middle that used to be for residents only, but now are open to the general public.

From the Georgian Section, we drove back to Trinity College, past the statue of Molly Malone, Dublin Castle, Christ Church, and then St. Patrick's Cathedral, an area we had walked around the last time we were in Dublin.

Bob:

Returning to the North side of the Liffey we drove into Pheonix Park, a park three times as large as New York's Central Park that also has its own zoo as well as the residence of the President of Ireland and the American ambassador. America got pride of place in that park, so to speak, for its embassy as we were the first country to recognize the Republic of Ireland after the revolution in 1922. That independence was a long time coming, as they say, and I'm proud my country was on the forefront of democratic rule in that case.

Monika:

After that we drove through areas new for us. Our bus drove past the jail, where most of the people from the 1916 uprising had been taken and then executed. Ireland's and Dublin's history was full of uprisings until finally in 1922 the Irish Republic was established. Before that Dublin was essentially an English city with Irish not allowed in the city.

Next came the Guinness complex, a very large area that the original Guinness had rented for 900 years at 45 Euros a year. A really good deal. The company had modernized and now employed only 400 people instead of 4000 but it is still the largest brewery in Ireland. Next time Bob and I are going to take the brewery tour, but this time we just drove past it.

Bob:

Continuing past the old barracks complex of the British Army at the time of the occupation, which is now a military museum, we trundled along the North bank of the Liffey River for a while, which gave us a great view of many of the very pretty bridges over the river.

One graceful pedestrian bridge, in particular, was white and had intricate wrought iron work along the sides and top. That was called the "Ha'penny Bridge" because when built originally in Victorian times the toll for a pedestrian to cross the bridge had been half a penny.

Monika:

From the Guinness factory, we drove through the largest park in any major city, Phoenix ParK. It had started, of course, as hunting grounds and still had a herd of about 300 deer. The residence of the American Ambassador and the Irish Prime Minister were both in the park.

Back along the north bank of the Liffey we came back to O'Connell Street and made a last turn through Parnell Square to bring us back to our start point. For Bob and me it was a really nice tour, since we saw some of the neighborhoods of Dublin we had not seen before.

Bob:

Turning North one block before O'Connell Street, our bus drove about a mile to the top of the avenue and then curled around the Peace Garden before returning down to our starting point.

After making one entire circuit just to get the lay of the land, so to speak, we continued on around the loop back to Trinity College where Lois wanted to see the Book of Kells. Trinity College had put an entire set of pertinent historical information on the floor in front of the low-light display room, and working my way slowly through all that took me over an hour. In particular, I was surprised to find other illustrated manuscripts from roughly the same 800 A.D. time frame. Some were small and portable for carrying around to different churches. Who knew?

The Book of Kells itself was, as advertised, spectacularly illuminated with fancy drawings and written in the large, fancy majuscule script (in Latin, of course!). The pages were large with big margins and a lot of white space left between each line, which was initially puzzling to me given the high cost of the vellum they used for the pages. Partly as a result, the Book of Kells itself was huge and unwieldy, so it appeared to me to have been more of a fancy church decoration than a serious Bible to be used for worship services. However, that also helped explain why it was in such good condition after 1200 years or so.

Monika:

We now took the HOHO bus to Trinity College where we got off to take a look at the Book of Kells. This is the oldest manuscript of the four gospels beautifully illustrated by the monks who had toiled over it for years. Before seeing a couple of pages of the actual manuscript, we walked through a rather well done museum that explained about the vellum, the inks used, and a lot more. Well worth spending some time here. What I had not expected was that next to the Book of Kells where two examples of surviving small handwritten gospels, that itinerant missionaries could carry in the knapsacks. Looking at the rather small script, they seemed to be even more interesting than the large Book of Kells.

The last part of the visit was a walk through the old library with stacks of old manuscript and busts of famous people. They also had an exhibition of old medical records and finally an old Irish harp. All very interesting. From the library we went of course through the gift shop, where both Lois and we managed to leave some money; we bought a couple of refrigerator magnets and Lois a very nice scarf.


 

Bob:

Having satisfied Lois's curiosity about the Book of Kells, we set off in search of lunch. The Grafton Street mall area began just around the corner from Trinity College, so we ambled down it looking for a place to eat. Ultimately we turned in at Marks and Spencer, a department store with a restaurant on the top floor, and had a very good lunch there. For desert I finally had sticky toffee pudding, which Lois had recommended. It turned out to be somewhat like plum pudding, but with ice cream on the side. Quite delicious.

Monika:

Coming out of Trinity College we decided that it was lunch time. We walked along Grafton Street, the pedestrian street, hoping to find a coffee shop. We finally settled for a restaurant on top of a department store. They had a 12.50 Euro luncheon special, that included a main course, dessert and even a glass of wine. By now it was getting past 3 p.m. and the HOHO buses stop at 5 p.m. So we decided we could see one more sight and decided on St. Patrick's Cathedral.


 

Bob:

St. Patrick's Cathedral had been built just outside the city wall of Dublin, apparently to compete with Christchurch Cathedral. Since the Irish were not allowed inside Dublin at that time, they could at least have worshipped at St. Patrick's. The vaulted roof of the nave and side chapels had that extremely graceful arch of the true Gothic style.

Monika:

Taking the next bus to St. Patrick's, we toured the church. The interior was very beautiful with gorgeous stained glass windows.


 

Bob:

The rest of the church was equally impressive. Even the floor had a nice pattern of inlaid tiles. I found the stained glass windows at St. Patrick's to be absolutely first-class. The large, complex rear window was an astonishing set of scenes from the life of St. Patrick and his conversion of the ancient Celts to Christianity. But it was getting late at that point, so we hopped back on the HOHO bus to return to finish the loop to O'Connell Street.

Monika:


 


 

Bob:

We had assumed that the pickup point for the number 41 bus back to Swords would be across the street from the drop off point, but after walking along every blooming bus stop on O'Connell Street we found out that was simply not the case. Instead, the pickup point was two blocks off to the side on Abbey Street.

It was raining again by that point but when the bus finally arrived we obtained seats right up in front of the top deck, where we had a panoramic view out ahead of us. The rain was pattering against the windows, but we were warm and cozy inside and had a nice ride back to Swords, where we finished up some leftovers for dinner and turned in for the evening.

Monika:

By now we were truly tired and just sat down, inside, in the next bus to take us back to O'Connell street. Of course, I had thought that the bus back to Swords would be across from where we got off and so we walked north on O'Connell street. When we did not see a sign for bus 41, I finally asked and was told that bus 41 leaves from lower Abbey street, which is just a block north of the Liffey. So back we went, and then down lower Abbey street, until we finally found the right stop.

Our bus came very soon, and since it was an enclosed double-decker bus, we went upstairs to get a really good look while driving back. We sat right by the front window and it was sometimes a tad disconcerting to see how close the bus came to other cars and signs. But the bus driver knew what he was doing. For most of the trip there was a lane designated for buses and bicycles (and we noted Taxis were also allowed). We were surprised how considerate our driver was of bicyclists, never crowding them. Riding a bicycle in Dublin might be more pleasant than you would at first think.


 

Copyright 2011 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Index
Prolog Map of Transatlantic Cruise Map of Drive in Ireland Epilog

March 2011
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6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
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27 28 29 30 31
April 2011
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10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
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May 2011
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8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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