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.

The Harry Potter Tree

Early in the morning of September 22nd we walked along the main road on the edge of Woodstock to an entrance to the Blenheim Park grounds. I marked the route we wanted to take with orange highlighter. When we entered through the gate we immediately saw the path closure signs because of the on going dredging taking place in the Queen Pool. We diverted to take the green highlighted way around the pool across the bridge and down to the ‘Harry Potter’ Tree which is on the shore of the Great Lake.

Standing on the bank of The Lake in a historic landscape below Blenheim Palace is a Cedar of Lebanon known as The Harry Potter Tree for its role in the 2007 film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Perhaps the Harry Potter Tree should more accurately be called The Severus Snape Tree, for the scene filmed here was centred around Professor Snape’s memories of a time when, as a student at Hogwarts, he was bullied by Harry Potter’s father while sitting under the tree. The scene is important, for it gives us an understanding of why Snape is so hostile towards Harry.

To counter a common misunderstanding, the Harry Potter Tree at Blenheim is not the Whomping Willow! The tree used for the Whomping Willow in the films stood on the National Trust’s Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire. And, just to confuse things further, it was not a willow at all, but a yew.

The Harry Potter Tree was probably planted during ‘Capability Brown’s’ landscape work on Blenheim Park. Over the years 1763-1774 Brown carried out extensive work at Blenheim, transforming the Palace grounds into a picturesque landscape garden on a vast scale, with sinuous waterways and viewpoints created by carefully planted clumps of trees.

The Column of Victory.

This column was built in 1727-30 by Lord Herbert, later ninth Earl of Pembroke. It is based on designs by Nicholas Hawksmoor. His designs were based on the pillar in the Piazza Navona, Rome. It was built to commemorate the Duke of Marlborough’s military successes.

We walked back to Woodstock and had some lunch at The King’s Arms before we ventured back to the Palace Grounds for our tour of the outer courts of Blenheim Palace and some of the grounds.

Later in the day while walking on the opposite shore of the Great Lake we saw the tree in the distance. Zooming in you can see others visiting the tree.

Back to the Present: This week ended with sorrow for us and our whole church family as our beloved church secretary died suddenly on Thursday evening. She was a dear friend to us here in Colville and she will leave a hole that will be hard to fill. She is with her Savior sooner than she expected but she was eagerly waiting for His return so she got an advanced calling Home. I rejoice for her but I will really miss her on this earth and I grieve, too.

Swans

We’ve never ever seen as many swans as when we are traveling in England.

Along the river Thames we enjoyed seeing quite a few.

This was a feeding frenzy. You are able to buy bags of food for the swans along the riverfront in Windsor.

Close to this swan swimming along with it’s cygnet we saw another swan who had ruffled it’s feathers.

I’m guessing it thought these Canadian Geese were getting too close.

We also saw these Swans and Cygnets on the River Wye.

I’m linking to ABC Wednesday for S is for Swans. Thank you Denise Nesbitt and the hard working ABC Team! As we are nearing the end of the alphabet yet again it’s time reveal new logo designed by Troy. You’ll have to click on over and see the fabulous new logo for Round Sixteen! Thank you Troy!

This week I’m getting my ~~swans~~ ducks in a row since we’re having our Thanksgiving feast this Saturday. Our middle son and his girlfriend are coming for the weekend so lots of plans are afoot. Hope to get around and see everyone in between my preparations. Can you believe we are in the second half of November already!!??

S is for Swans

Time for ABC Wednesday and the letter S.

Do some of you wonder why ABC Wednesday seems to start on Tuesday? There are so many countries represented that Wednesday comes earlier in those countries than the U.S.A. Does that make sense? Anyhoo Katie and I saw some beautiful swans and a little fluffy baby swan at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina that I thought would be perfect for the letter S. I’ll post our whole experience at the gardens in the future.

And this is my Swan Song for my time on the East Coast of the U.S.A. I’m headed back to the West Coast and my own bed after 25 days away!

Well Well Wells!

There is still a lot to share from the Cathedral city of Wells before we move on to Cornwall. On Tuesday morning September 17th we found a parking spot in the market area of Wells and headed to the Bishop’s Palace. I was excited to see the moat around the Palace. I’m pretty sure this was the first moat I’d seen in person. Before we head inside the gates to the Palace here is one last shot of the Cathedral, some city views, and the moat.

The Bishop’s Palace is famous all over the world for it’s swans who ring a bell alongside the gatehouse when they want food.

Swans at the Palace were first taught to ring a bell for food by the daughter of Bishop Hervey in the 1870s and the tradition continues to this day. Bread is tied in clumps to the rope attracting the swans to nibble at it and pull it off, when they do this the bell rings. Gradually less and less bread is tied onto the rope as they begin to understand that by pulling the rope and hearing the bell means food will soon follow.

Surrounded by a breathtaking moat you can cross a flagstone drawbridge, under the portcullis and experience a true hidden gem in the heart of the City of Wells.

Next time we will go inside over the drawbridge to see the Palace.

It’s hard to believe we are still in our foggy pattern here in Western Washington. Ugh. The sun broke through beautifully yesterday afternoon and revealed all the dust I’ve been neglecting in the gloom. So many life lessons about the light and what it reveals and what darkness tries to hide. My sister will be visiting my pop tonight and she will take a photo for me of him in the new recliner we bought and had delivered to his apartment. He’s 90 years old and has never had his own chair let alone a recliner. He called right after it was delivered to say he really liked it. He said when he sat down in it he just started laughing from his joy. I love my pop…

Landing on the Other Side…

It’s time for me to document our trip across the pond before my brain forgets the details. We landed at Heathrow picked up our bags, spoke to the customs agents about our intentions, and found a shuttle to the Hertz car rental office. Thankfully we listened to the agent behind the desk and went with a larger car and a Satellite Navigation system that would become our best friend. We lovingly named the SatNav, Jeeves. He told us to “bear right” and “bear left” and “at the roundabout take the third exit”. All these instructions were with a fabulous British accent.

Both Josh and Dear did a fabulous job of driving on the other side of the road and making it through the narrow roads lined with hedgerows. After a few hours on the road and before our final destination we chose a random road to turn on to try to find something to eat. We stumbled upon Stoke Bruerne in Northhamptonshire. A lovely little village on the Grand Union Canal.

Our choice for a meal wasn’t the best in this town but it sufficed and being jet lagged it would have to do. We had a nice walk about the village after our meal. It was good to stretch our legs. We were even able to help open up one of the gates of the locks along the canal.

We saw our first thatched roof cottages in this little town.

It was fun to see all the colorful Canal Boats.

We said our goodbyes to our first village in England and headed farther North for our first Bed and Breakfast stop.

Happy October to all of you. I’m happy to report my body seems to have adjusted to being on the West Coast of the U.S.A. again. Looking forward to a nice long stretch at home. What does October hold for you?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Swans