….. in Ireland I saw some interesting roofs
A Word a Week Challenge – Roofs
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Tag Archives: Dublin
Trinity College and the Library
……how can a librarian go to Dublin and NOT see the library at Trinity College?
One of the first places our son, B, wanted to see was Trinity College and its famous library. I took a tour of the place the last time we were in Ireland but I was happy to visit it again.
I’ve quickly learned on this trip that B isn’t interested in waiting in line or paying to see historical sites. In this regard he is very much like his father; in fact K didn’t even come with us to the college.
When we walked through the archway that leads to the campus grounds we recognized that the place was very busy and there was a huge line-up to get into the library. We settled for the gift shop, where we could walk right in and in one corner, if you looked up you could get a pretty good feel for the size of the library.
After purchasing a couple of books we made our way back onto the grounds and viewed the numerous statues and the interesting architecture. We discovered the outdoor track that was situated in the middle of an idyllic park setting. . We made ourselves comfortable on one of the many park benches and watched the runners, young and old make their way around the track. As my son said ‘ it was surprisingly relaxing watching other people run’.
National Museum of Art and Dublin Castle
……exploring art and history in Dublin
After visiting the Museum of Natural History, we made our way to the National Gallery of Art. It was surprisingly smaller than I thought it would be but there were numerous areas that were undergoing renovations and were closed off to the public.
We were treated to a variety of paintings from a very diverse group of artists, including Rembrandt, Caravagio, Picasso, Vermeer and Jack Yeats. Yeats, in fact had a large number of pieces on display. Personally I liked his large abstract pieces done with oils the best.
Unfortunately, but not surprising, I was unable to take photos in most of the gallery rooms. The one place I was able to take pictures was in the large, spacious cafeteria on the main floor of the gallery. Our son took the photgraph of me and my husband after we rehydrated with a bottle of water and split a muffin three ways.
Not too far away from the art gallery is Dublin Castle. Neither my husband or my son were very interested in seeing the interior of the castle but they were willing to check out the building, walls and courtyard. The castle itself is over 700 years old and was built by the English to implement the will of British royalty over the Irish people. In 1922 the power was handed over to Michael Collins and the Irish. Today the castle is used for for fancy state and charitable functions.
A tour of the interior is available but even the guide book described it as a boring room by room walk through. It was also the first attraction, today, that charged a fee to enter the building. Later we discovered that most of the historical buildings, including the churches charge an admission fee.
The Museum of Natural History
….a zoological museum, opened in 1857, famous for it’s Victorian cabinets and display cases
I’ve been having some problems with the iPad, especially with the text portion of my posts so I’ve decided to keep the writing to a minimum and focus on sharing the photos that I’ve taken.
After dropping off our laundry today we met up with our son and started on 8k walking tour. Our first stop was the National Museum of Ireland Natural History. It is one of the oldest museums in Ireland, housing over 2 million species of wildlife from Ireland and the four corners of the world. Some of the species still exsist today but many are long extinct.
The Best 10 Euros I’ve Ever Spent
……having someone else do my laundry We knew when we were packing that at some point on our trip we would have to do some laundry. Little did we know how expensive the hotel laundry service would be. We’ve been away for almost a week and tomorrow we’re taking the train to Westport. It was time to do some washing but laundromats are not as common as they are in Canada. We knew that the hotel laundry was not an option. A single pair of under pants would have cost us € 4 to have washed. In the city centre, we saw a cleaners that advertised doing your wash for €10 for a 5kg bag with same day service. It looked like our best option so I separated our dark and light coloured clothes and stuffed them into one of our carry on bags. We had arranged to meet Brendan at 11:00 at Stephen’s Green today so we left a little bit earlier so that we could drop off our laundry at the cleaners. Everything fell into place like a well orchestrated symphony. The distance we had to walk with the bag of laundry was very short, arranging for the wash was painless, the shop owner was very friendly and we could pick it up at the end of the day when we were ready to go back to our hotel. We had a great day with our son and I figured out that we saved ourselves over €120 by not letting the hotel do our laundry. No convenience or service is worth that much money.
Walking, Double Decker Buses, Grafton Street, Buskers,
……and another full Irish breakfast and more walking
Today I slept till almost 8:00. I slept for at least nine hours. Heavenly! I might have slept longer but my husband woke me because he wanted to start our morning walk. I quickly got dressed and without a cup of tea or coffee to start my day (K had been up for two hours and was well hydrated) we started our hike to Phoenix Park.
We took a slightly longer route today and headed toward the area where herds of deer are often sighted. We saw signs that deer had been in the area, such as scat and fur that had been shed; however, it was pretty late and the park was already busy with walkers, runners, cyclists, dogs and crews setting up for the afternoon concert.
I was just about to say that we were too late to see deer when all of a sudden we spotted one in the distance. By the time we got our cameras ready the deer had already disappeared into the forest. We also came across a pond with a lot of ducks, many which were unfamiliar to us. One looked like a cross between. a black chicken and a white faced duck. A little girl came by with her grandfather and fed the ducks bread. I’m not sure how healthy it is for the birds but there certainly was a massive feeding frenzy. Ducks from all over the pond ascended on the shore where we stood.
As the morning wore on I started to feel the effects of being dehydrated and the lack of caffeine. I love to walk but I was really dragging myself during the last third of the walk. Just before we got home we picked up some water and bananas from the local Spar Store. That little bit of nourishment helped me to motor on. Once home we saw that we’d gone for close to three hours and we had walked at least 8 k.
I started this post yesterday. I had so many problems with the iPad that I put it aside and went to bed. Anyway I wanted to say that 8 k didn’t seem right when we regularly walk 5 k in one hour. Well sure enough when we went over the map again I discovered that I had missed a huge section of the walk. We had actually walked 9.5 k and with the time spent at the duck pond and stopping at the Spar this made more sense.
Later in the day we took the bus into the city centre and headed toward Grafton Street. This is a pedestrian mall that is always busy. It was particularly crowded yesterday because a football game had just ended and it was Sunday and sunny and warm. A sure fire recipe for swarms of people on this popular street.
We enjoyed numerous street performances but my favourite was a group of bearded musicians who played modern Irish music. Another busker played an electric guitar made out of a Castrol oil can. After enjoying the sights and sounds of Grafton Street we made our way to Bewley’s Cafe, an icon in Dublin, for some much needed refreshments.
All told we walked a total 15k Yesterday. Today we met up with our son B and met his girlfriend. More about that tomorrow.
The Full Irish Breakfast
….still suffering from jet lag but this breakfast keeps me going for a good part of the day
On Friday, when we arrived in Dublin, we got a taxi and drove to my husband’s cousin’s home near Phoenix Park. Our plane arrived at 9:30 in the morning and unfortunately we had next to no sleep on the plane because passengers near the front decided to party all night long. It was the noisiest flight that I’ve ever experienced. It was going to be a very long day.
Fortunately, our hostess, P, made us feel right at home and quietly and almost effortlessly made us a great full Irish breakfast. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this protein heavy breakfast, let me describe it for you. It consists of the following meat: black pudding, white pudding, sausage, and ham or bacon. Of course there are eggs.
This breakfast kept us going but by 2:00 in the afternoon I had to take a nap. Kevin lasted a little longer but he crawled into bed soon after. We got a few hours of sleep and then we stayed up till 11:00.
The next morning we were up at 4:40. We just couldn’t sleep any longer, even though we were still tired. I think we were a little bonkers. While P slept, we drank 2 pots of tea and ate a couple of slices of soda bread. When we figured out that there was no alarm system we went out into the garden and did a few exercises. Still restless, we decided to go for a walk through Phoenix Park.
The walk is just what we needed. We went for about 5.7 km. When we got back to the house, P made us our second full Irish breakfast. What a life! We’re still experiencing jet lag and I’m hoping after a good night’s sleep tonight I won’t be dozing off in the middle of the afternoon or at the table during meals.
Ireland, here we come!
…..we bought our tickets yesterday
We’re really hoping that our son will be able to meet the Irish side of the family. Maybe we should have checked with the family before we booked our flight but we had to coordinate our time in Ireland with our son’s conference in Dublin. Well actually it’s his girlfriend’s conference but that’s neither here nor there. They will be arriving on the 14th of July and leaving the 21st and 22nd. Our son is staying one extra day to spend a little more time with us.
We will land in Dublin on the 12th and will be leaving on the 25th. We’re not sure where we’re staying but our son and his girlfriend have booked a room at a hotel. We don’t want to burden anyone so we’re in the process of checking out AirBnB.
We’re hoping to take in some art galleries. Maybe some of my Irish followers can suggest a gallery or two. We’re definitely going to check out the Royal Hibernian Academy, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Museum of Natural History and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
It doesn’t look like we’re going to get over to Germany on this trip. Sorry Philipp. My family will have to wait until next year before we can visit. We’re looking forward to catching up with the Irish cousins. Hopefully some of them will be in town when we’re there.
Cheers!
Mama Cormier 