Some things do not change
Tami has never been to Dublin before, but Mike traveled there with Kevin 40 years ago, pretty much exactly. He believes it was the fall of 1978. Dublin has changed a bit.
Wednesday evening we once again donned our trusty packs and caught the bus downtown for the light rail ride to SeaTac. We arrived extra early after excellent connections only to find our flight delayed, but they thought they could shorten the delay. Nope. We left late, but on a nine hour flight it doesn’t really matter and soon enough we were in our zooming metal tube heading east to Ireland. But first we had to stop in London and change planes, which meant we also had to go through passport control and security again as well. The plane to Dublin was also late, and then we got to go through passport control again! Yay! At last, though, we were in Dublin and the official start of the adventure.
We took a double decker bus from the airport and sat in the front row, giving us a thrilling view of all the cars, bicycles, and pedestrians that it seemed we were seconds from running over. No mishaps occurred, though, and soon we were meeting up with Julie and Lisa at our home for the next few days, Ha’Penny House. It’s a funky apartment building with meandering hallways and the apartment has “character” as well. It overlooks the Liffey River and is across from the Temple Bar district. This is a very popular nightlife area with lots of pubs and restaurants, and it also borders on much of area we want to explore.
On the Liffey
We were all approaching complete exhaustion, but we did make our way to O’Connells Restaurant and had a fine dinner of cold smoked salmon accompanied by Guinness and Bulmer’s (a major taste memory from Mike’s first trip here). A fine way to end the day.
The next morning, after the sleep of the dead (having gotten maybe an hour of sleep between Wednesday morning and Thursday evening), we headed out the door to begin our Dublin explorations on foot today. Julie and Lisa wisely opted to take the bus that would take them around the city to get the lay of the land. We felt we needed to stretch our legs after our hours spent on airplanes the 2 days before.
We did, however, need to make one important stop to start the day. We’ve discovered that Dublin has a multitude of doughnut shops. The doughnuts themselves are all based on the same raised doughnut, but the huge variety comes in the frosting and toppings on the doughnut. Tami selected the Dub, which was like a Bismarck at home, and Mike had the chocolate and orange doughnut. We were both quite happy with our choices and were fortified for the day’s adventures.
The next stop was the General Post Office, which was the main stronghold of the Irish volunteers in the 1916 Rising. It was also where Mike was able to place a call to Tami when he had stranded himself in Ireland on his trip with Kevin in 1978. Prior to cell phones, email, and the internet, it was much more difficult to communicate long distance and make arrangements for emergency travel. Mike’s trek ended happily and the Post Office is still functioning with all its original woodwork and brass service windows.
Mike remembers the Post Office well
We wandered back across the river and found Trinity College where it happened to be “Freshers” week. There were booths set up for various clubs and organizations available for freshmen to join. Nobody seemed to be interested in beckoning us over as we mingled with all the freshmen, but that’s okay, we already belong to enough of our own clubs.
We also visited St. Stephen’s Green, another significant site during the Easter Rising. Today it is a beautiful, peaceful park. It is also near the National Museum of Ireland, our next stop. Tami had the museum on the top of her list since they have several Bog People and also a new exhibit on the Vikings in Ireland. The gold treasures from the Bronze Age were fascinating and prompted the question, where did all that gold come from? Apparently they don’t really know, but the artifacts showing the influence of Norse design on some Celtic art pieces were gorgeous. They did have a film program running about the various artifacts, but the dark room and comfy chairs led to dozing off and we decided we needed to keep moving.
We saw a picture of this recently, we believe in the National Geographic
Intricate design work
Moving meant walking, so we explored more of Dublin’s streets on foot. Inevitably that also meant our feet started complaining, so we connected with Julie and Lisa and went for a dinner in a “genuine, old traditional” pub that was unfortunately disappointing. Perhaps it was too old and traditional?
Dublin Castle
Saw this guy at the castle
New and old architecture
We returned to the apartment and attempted to run a load in the combined washer/dryer that seems to be ubiquitous in the British Isles these days. We’ve battled these beasts in the past and the beast won tonight, but we will do battle again!
