The Viking settlement of about 841 was known as Dyflin, from the Irish Duiblinn (or "Black Pool", referring to a dark tidal pool where the River Poddle entered the Liffey on the site of the Castle Gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle),
ANNND WE ARE OFF!
June 24, 2016
British Airways got us to London in good order. We had to change flights at Heathrow to connect to Dublin and the queue from international flights was horrendous. We found that due to the air workers strike in France and the storm in London on the previous day, flights were very backed up so our flight was reshuffled on Aer Lingus into Dublin departing about 2:15p.m. We dined at a pub in the terminal. We were so impressed with the kindness and courtesy of all travelers and airport staff. Annette's leg brace actually expedited us through lines and we were given special treatment (broken knee ten days before the trip). Also because of the leg brace, Annette was treated to a full security pat down. This means that the young lady working the security line knows from personal experience what Annette's bra size is. Who knows where our luggage might be! We were excited to see our favorites (Boots Pharmacy and Harrod's) in Heathrow!
Ahhhhhh Dublin!
June 25, 2016
First Full Day in Dublin: Hop on Hop Off, Guiness, Ha'Penny Bridge,
St. Stephen's Green, first meet-up with our new RS tour buddies!
We awoke to an overcast, drizzly, and a bit on the chilly side kind of day. After breakfast in our hotel we headed out to the Dublin Bus Hop on Hop off. Whilst on the bus, we saw some cool historical sites on the way to our Guinness tour. We stayed longer there than we planned because it is a most interesting place. BTW the Guinness Shop is groovy....we spent an hour just browsing. We headed back to St. Stephen's Green which is a beautiful park. It was well utilized on a Sunday afternoon. We saw the River Liffey and crossed it on the Ha'Penny bridge. We returned at 5PM to Buswells to meet our Rick Steves tour leaders and traveling buddies. They were a most interesting group, (we found to be typical Rick Steves folks- fun- not grumps!) with a number being educators or retired educators. The oldest person on the tour was celebrating his 80th birthday and the youngest, with her mom, was on the tour as a graduation present. All appeared to be fun, outgoing, and had a love of adventure. During this first meet-up we engaged in a clever long standing RS tradition: that of randomly pairing up with a buddy. We had NO clue how important we buddies would become to each other.... besides making sure that Paschal, Alan, and Cynthia could be sure no one was left behind. An interesting political note: our dinner group at Farm to Table restaurant included a couple who related getting into a Brexit discussion in a pub with some retired professors. It seems the Irish professors were much more concerned about Trump getting elected than Britain voting to exit the EU! Annette confessed to the group that we are liberals, "outing" us from the outset. We bid Oiche mhaith (good night) to our new friends having been briefed that the next day would be a typical RS tour day.... busy, fun, active and filled with adventure! We could hear seagulls close by as we prepared to turn in! Note: Vice President Biden was in Dublin this same day as well. Sorry Joe! You were not on RIck Steves tour- we had a far better day! Wrapped up June 25, 2016
Historic DublinWe got an early start and met our guides Pascal and Cynthia after breakfast. The tour members were very social, and we enjoyed our short walk to meet the charming Tommy Graham, a local history professor (and an informal entertainer), who gave us a wonderful walking tour of historic Dublin. We learned that using a local expert to guide the group is a vintage Rick Steves tour advantage. The day started out in the low 50s but gradually warmed to the mid 60s by the time the tour was finished. Along the way, Tommy took us to several churches and monuments significant to Dublin. He was an excellent historian, as well as quite the storyteller, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with him. We ended the tour around noon at Trinity College, where we viewed pages from the Book of Kells, and toured the impressive Long Room, a 200 ft. long chamber from the old library of 1732, housing a collection of over 200,000 books, as well as the oldest surviving Irish harp (the national icon) dating from the fifteenth century. Bob Mills ( Anne's late spouse) trivia - we learned vellum is made from calf hide.
Taking Pascal's advice, we dined with two others from our tour at O'Neill's Pub, just across Grafton Street from the statue of Molly Malone, otherwise known as "the tart with the cart". After a leisurely lunch, we used our second day of our Hop On Hop Off bus pass to visit some of the sites we had not yet seen. It was a great day for riding on the top deck. We visited the docklands area and passed the famine ship on the River Liffey. We also learned how to pronounce "uisce beatha" (say "ishkabaha"), the Irish word for "whiskey", which translates to "water of life". Finally, we did a little shopping, and decided to call it an early day. We carried on the Scottish tradition began in 2014 when traveling with friends by going to Marks & Spencer. There we purchased sandwiches, cheese, grapes, and wine (of course) to take back to the hotel. We have averaged well over 11,000 steps per day so far, so it was good to relax in the room, read, drink, laugh, and relive our day. |
Let Rick Steves tell you about St. Stephen's Green and the gorgeous Georgian Houses -just launch this YouTube video by the most famous travel guide!
Annette's buddy...you guessed it!
Bob- found his place! **Interesting sidebar: the RS tour of Dublin includes the majority of the most "instagrammed" sites according to www.visitdublin.com/ website
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Just roll over the picture to view the captions in the gallery below!
Famine Ship
Dublin glitz
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