Tag Archives: Dublin

Dublin Finale

Our travel journal will come to an end with this post, our last several hours in Dublin on Monday, September 25th.

 

Our tour guide was great and the tour at Jameson was well done and we all enjoyed it.

After our Jameson Tour it was a straight shot along Mary’s Lane to the Church Cafe. We had a great table for the 6 of us right up front in the balcony with the Irish music and dancing right below us.

We had a lovely view of the Stained glass window.

Saint Mary’s (former) Church of Ireland was begun c.1700 to the design of Sir William Robinson and was completed by his successor, Thomas Burgh. It was the first classical parish church in the city and was the site of Arthur Guinness’s marriage in 1761. Wolfe Tone was baptized here and the church also witnessed John Wesley’s first Irish sermon.

The triumphal east window was designed at least in part by Robinson and has a grace and vivacity unusual in a city largely bypassed by Baroque influences. The style is supported by the tracery windows and represents the only extant exterior Baroque flourish in Dublin city. The plan form adds further to the site’s unique identity, with the convex quadrants being a departure from the usual rectilinear shapes found in similar churches, contributing a distinctive design and striking presence.

Lord how I love the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord

Holiness becometh thy house O Lord forever.

I felt torn that this church didn’t survive for whatever reason but am pleased that it wasn’t torn down. The Stained glass window still echoes some of God’s truth for those with eyes to see.

We all enjoyed our dinner here and when it came to dessert, Sticky Toffee Pudding was on our minds. The Church Cafe did not have it on the menu so Andrew googled and found a restaurant in the Temple Bar area of Dublin that had it on the menu. We decided we would enjoy that to top off our last full day in Dublin so we walked across the river to the Temple Bar area.

How great it was to see this particular bar that was one of the jigsaw puzzles I completed before we traveled to Dublin.

The restaurant that was serving Sticky Toffee Pudding was packed and getting a seat for six didn’t look promising. With some gentlemanly coaxing, Andrew convinced the staff to fix up two servings for us to enjoy outside around a bench along the way with promises that we would certainly return the plates and utensils. It was a nice way to end our time before we ordered the last Uber of the day to take us back to our hotel for the night. Slainte!

This wraps up my travel journal for our time in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Dublin and England. On Tuesday the 26th of September we had our buffet breakfast in the hotel, checked out and traveled by Uber to the Dublin Airport for our 9-10 hour flight home. We went through customs in Dublin so we did not have to be delayed at all after landing in Seattle. Andrew and Katie drove straight home from the airport in Seattle and we drove back to Josh and Laura’s for the night with a stop for dinner at their local Mexican Restaurant. We settled in for the night to try to sleep before our next day departure by car over the mountains to our home.  When we woke up earlier than expected due to Jet Lag we loaded up and drove home. Thankful for God’s providence in reaching our driveway safe and sound or half sound. Jet Lag is real!

Thank you for coming along on our journey.

Back to Dublin ~Day 11

Day eleven of our trip to Ireland and England was Monday September 25th. We walked across the road to the John Lennon Airport from our hotel early for our 9:20 AM flight back to Dublin. We didn’t realize how important adding the extras on our reservation were for this flight. We purchased priority boarding and it was money well spent as they divided everyone up into the ‘goats’ and ‘sheep’ at the gate. Our seats were guaranteed while others had to wait and see if there would be room for them. YIKES. Thankful again for the providence of the Lord we encountered all through our trip.

Another taxi ride from the Dublin airport to our last hotel on this trip, The Ashling. Andrew and Katie were already at this hotel and we were excited to meet up with them for our last day in Dublin. True to form the day was packed full with adventures.

After checking into the hotel and dropping our bags Josh ordered another Uber to take us across the river to our lunch destination, The Stag’s Head.

Our hunger satisfied we checked our GPS and walked to Trinity College.

No tours were available for us so we booked entry into the Book of Kells and strolled around the campus waiting for our entry time. The campus was packed solid with students and parents.

It was finally time for our tour and we lined up in the queue.

Welcome to the Old Library and the Book of Kells – a “must see” on the itinerary of all visitors to Dublin. Located in the heart of Dublin City, a walk through the cobbled stones of Trinity College Dublin will bring visitors back to the 18th century, when the magnificent Old Library building was constructed. Inside is housed the Book of Kells – a 9th-century gospel manuscript famous throughout the world.

The Book of Kells “Turning Darkness into Light” exhibition has displays of large screens showing copies of the pages from the Book of Kells. The actual volume of the Book of Kells is housed in the Treasury inside a glass case opened to a page that is turned every so often. No photographs permitted.

When we were on the Isle of Iona back in 2006 we were able to read about and see a copy of a page of the book of Kells which is most likely the location where the Book of Kells was created. Here’s a link with some good information.

These next four photos are needlepoint kneelers from St. Mary Magdalene church in Woodstock that we visited in 2022.

From the Book of Kells exhibit you proceed upstairs to the magnificent Long Room which usually houses 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books in its oak bookcases.

We were disappointed that all but 10% of the books were removed for cleaning and restoration from this magnificent library during our time in Dublin.

The Trinity College Harp (also known as ‘The Brian Boru Harp‘), dating from around 1400 AD, is an extraordinary instrument. Anywhere you look in Ireland, you cannot avoid the Trinity College Harp. It is used as the official emblem of Ireland.

 

From our time here we did some walking and shopping before we ordered another Uber to take us to Jameson Distillery where we had reserved a tour. The rest of day eleven will have to wait for another day.

Back to the Present: Our company over the last several days left on Monday morning. These last few days of November and into the beginning of December are very busy days for us. We have several events this week that require planning and thinking and organizing.  We are starting our Christmas decorating slowly. I’ll have to wait for the majority of that decorating until next week. Choosing joy in the midst of busy! Hope all is well in your corner.

Dublin ~ Day One

This will be the start of a several post travelogue of our time in Dublin, Northern Ireland and England. There will be many photos to accompany the many posts. You have had your fair warning, dear readers.

The six of us parked and shuttled to the Seattle Tacoma Airport for our check-in and wait for our flight on Aer Lingus to Dublin on Thursday evening September 14th. The security line was especially long but we were at our gate with time to spare.

After arriving in Dublin on Friday September 15th, these two split off from us and headed to the train station that would take them to Galway for the start of their Wild West and North Ireland 6 day tour.

The other four of us waited in the taxi queue for our ride into Dublin to our hotel for 3 nights. Edward, our taxi driver, shared a lot of things with us and suggested we try The Celt for a meal before we turned in for the night.

The main section of the Pub was full and hopping but there was room in the back room for us.

Slainte! Our first Guinness in the land of Guinness.

We all enjoyed our meal choices, too.

From the The Celt we made our way to O’Connell street and walked down to the bridge to view the river. We snapped a few photos of our first views in Dublin.

 Sir John Gray (1815-75),  honours his efforts to bring a water supply to Dublin in 1868. 

O’Connell Monument

Freestanding commemorative bronze monument, commissioned by Dublin Corporation, conceived 1866 by John Henry Foley and completed 1883 by Thomas Brock. Located at southern entrance to O’Connell Street comprising numerous bronze figures on large granite plinth surmounted by bronze figure of Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847). Tall bronze cloaked figure of O’Connell standing on tall cylindrical pedestal, encircled below by bronze frieze of people of Ireland in high-relief, having nearly thirty figures symbolizing church, professions, arts, trades and peasantry. Central figure of Erin trampling upon chains, points upwards and holds 1829 Act of Catholic Emancipation in her left hand. Larger limestone-clad drum sits on square granite base, at angles of which are seated four winged victories, grandly scaled bronze figures representing Patriotism, Courage, Eloquence and Fidelity. Evidence of bullet holes on arms and breasts of two victories, legacy of unrest in 1916-22.

The River Liffey with the Ha’penny bridge beyond, a landmark 1800’s pedestrian bridge.

The O’Connell Bridge, historic stone and granite road bridge.

Before we turned back to our hotel we made a final stop at Brannigan’s. Another pub that was full to the brim with room for us upstairs! It was a Friday and raining when we arrived to Dublin so I’m assuming more folk were seeking shelter in a cozy pub.

Back to our hotel for hopefully some good sleep before our 7:20am start to our all day tour on Saturday.

While we were all away we enjoyed updates from our Colville kids and Grands. Miss Addy lost another tooth so is in the right position to be singing “All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth!”

Postcards Day 3

 

Our third day in Ireland was Sunday September 17th. We enjoyed breakfast at the Lemon Jelly before we attended church at Grosvenor Rd. Baptist Church, Sunday Roast at The Old Spot, St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Evensong and Guinness Storehouse Experience for the finale. Sunday it rained off and on, mostly on, so it was good we had so many indoor activities planned. Slainte!