Two days and two complete opposites.
We left the house around 10:00 on Sept 30th headed to the Nashville airport. We had a flight out of Nashville at 14:25 to Charlotte and then an 18:50 flight from Charlotte to Dublin, arriving in Dublin at 07:20 on Oct. 1st. We were blessed to not have any problems with air transportation. Charlotte airport was a mess. There were many people in the terminal with stories of delays and issues with connecting flights. Not us. Straight to Dublin we went.
In Dublin we were met by an Irishman named John McIntyre who drove us to our hotel for the next 2 days, Cassidys Hotel in Dublin centre. Traffic was atrocious so it took about an hour to get to our airport, so about 09:00 local time. Since we couldn't check-in that early the hotel checked our bags so we switched from glasses to contacts, changed to waterproof shoes and rain gear, and headed out.
Did I mention the rain? Yes, it was raining when we landed, raining when we walked around, and generally was miserable all day with rain and very windy conditions. Come to find out a hurricane is headed to Ireland, a very rare occurrence. Even the locals were complaining.
Kim and I prayed for our trip before leaving home and I specifically said that I wasn't praying for good weather, just to have joy in every situation and for God to give us the ability to trust Him more. Yes, He does have a sense of humor.
So we made the best of it. Did some souvenir shopping indoors, got our Big Bus Hop On, Hop Off passes (going forward will refer to the bus as the HOHO), walked a bit of O'Connell Street, and did what we could.
From the photography side, there was little to do. I used my phone to take a few photos, primarily related to the library, but the constant wind and rain made things very difficult.
One of the few tourist attractions that we visited was Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth 1, Trinity College is the
oldest surviving college in Ireland. The Book of Kells is widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure. From the exhibit's brochure:
"The Book of Kells, one of the great treasure of medieval Europe, is an illuminated manuscript written in Latin, and containing the four gospels of the New Testament together with various introductory texts and tables. It was created by Early Christian monks around 800AD. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy, employing decoration that is not only extraordinarily rich and colourful but also, in places, deeply enigmatic."
The Book of Kells is located in the library at Trinity College and the tour includes a very nice museum on the book and other, similar books as well as access to the library's famed Long Hall. I was a skeptic going into the library but to be honest it was a terrific place. Don't miss this if in Dublin.
For lunch we stopped at a local pub called The Stags Head. Pubs are the main eating establishments, not only in downtown Dublin but throughout the country. I had a local dish called bangers and mash. Essentially it's a couple of large sausages on top of mash potatoes with brown gravy. I liked it. Very good. No picture of the food. Sorry I always forget until I've taken at least one bite.
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We were really tired from jet lag after lunch so we got on the Big Bus and rode it around town to learn a bit and see more of the city (pre-planning for the next day), got off near our hotel, and went back to rest a bit before heading out for an early supper. Honestly we were mostly focused on sleeping at that point.
It actually stopped raining about the time we went to supper. Ended up being a decent evening but we were too tired to really enjoy it. We grabbed some food at a nearby restaurant called Murray's before crashing for the night. I took just a few photos as we went back to the hotel. I'll put a few at the bottom but they aren't much. All photos are from my phone today, and probably for most of the trip just for convenience.
Hoping for better weather on Wednesday.
On our priority list for the day was Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Guinness Storehouse.
After a buffet breakfast at our hotel we headed out onto O'Connell Street headed south to the River Liffey and the well known bridges. I took several shots of the Daniel O'Connell monument as well as a local establishment called O'Connells for my good friend and brother-in-Christ, Glen O'Connell, stuck on the west side of the Big Pond.
Weather was a bit cold but otherwise great. Traffic, both motorized and foot, was really heavy along this area but got a little lighter after the morning rush.
We did the requisite walk and photos on the Ha'penny Bridge before heading through the Temple Bar District towards Dublin Castle.
Dublin Castle is a little tricky to find, being somewhat hidden behind City Hall. We opted to not take the tour through the castle due to limited time but walked around the outside of it. The best view of the "traditional" castle is from the south in a green space called the Dubh Linn Garden. As you might guess from the sound of it, the city itself is named from this space which originally was a Viking harbour and trading base on a black pool or dubh linn.
From Dublin Castle it was a short walk to Christ Church Cathedral. Associated with the Church of Ireland, the site has had a church building here since 1030. It is a very ornate building and hard to imagine the amount of hard, physical labor taken to build all of the large support columns, not to mention all of the tile work and other details. We had a great time looking through the cathedral with all of its details and nooks.
From Christ Church Cathedral we walked south to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral is undergoing some
renovation on the exterior so decent photos were hard to find. A big tour group also arrived just in front of us so we elected to not do the interior tour. We talked to a couple at supper that didn't seem overly impressed with the inside so I think it was a good call.
The HOHO has a stop right at St. Patrick's so while waiting for the bus we each had a snack and some mixed nuts.
The bus took us over to the Guinness Storehouse. According to thepropaganda literature, the Guinness Storehouse is the #1 tourist attraction not only in Ireland but in Europe - pretty crazy. They produce 3 million pints of beer each day at the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. I have to say it was quite interesting. Arthur Guinness has made a huge impact on Dublin and the whole world. And his wife had 21 children. Amazing.
From here we took another ride on the HOHO back to our hotel for a short break before heading out to catch a shuttle for our supper/show at The Merry Ploughboys.
With a 6:25 shuttle departure we thought we'd have plenty of time if we left at 6 and walked to the location for Collins Day Tours.
Nope. Nada. Didn't work. Abject failure alert.
We got to what I thought was the proper location, very near Trinity College, and couldn't find them. I stepped into a local tourism office and asked where to find Collins Day Tours and I got a blank look. Then they looked it up and said they were 2 doors down around the corner. So I went there. Nothing.
I don't remember how but we finally discovered that we should be looking for a bus pick-up spot on Nassau St. for Collins Day Tours, not the actual office. It was close. We hoofed it over there and I started stopping at buses and asking drivers where to find them. I'm a bit ahead of Kim by now trying to hustle. It's about 6:29 or so now. Kim catches up to me and says that she say a small mini-bus leave from a sign that says Collins Day Tours.
Yes, we missed our ride.
Long story short, we took a taxi out to the restaurant, caught up with our group, and rode back on the original shuttle. All's well that ends well.
And the night was fabulous. I can't say enough good things about the Merry Ploughboys. Food was very good but the entertainment was exceptional. Kim and I both were enthralled by Tom who played the Irish whistle/flute as well as an Irish instrument called the Uileann pipes. I will try to embed a couple of short videos. I also briefly spoke to the musician who played the instrument called the Irish bouzouki. Similar to a 12-string (6 notes, 2 strings per note) acoustic guitar, it's an 8-stringed instrument (4 notes, 2 strings per note) tuned to either DADG or sometimes DADA.
We also got to see some traditional Irish dancing. The footwork was fast and furious if I can steal that phrase. Well done.
After the show our shuttle driver was kind and dropped us at our hotel, a long but good day in Dublin.
Here are a few extra photos and a video, all from my Google Pixel 3XL. Enjoy.
Day 1
Day 1 in Dublin was technically our second day of travel. |
| We are horrible at selfies! |
In Dublin we were met by an Irishman named John McIntyre who drove us to our hotel for the next 2 days, Cassidys Hotel in Dublin centre. Traffic was atrocious so it took about an hour to get to our airport, so about 09:00 local time. Since we couldn't check-in that early the hotel checked our bags so we switched from glasses to contacts, changed to waterproof shoes and rain gear, and headed out.
Did I mention the rain? Yes, it was raining when we landed, raining when we walked around, and generally was miserable all day with rain and very windy conditions. Come to find out a hurricane is headed to Ireland, a very rare occurrence. Even the locals were complaining.
Kim and I prayed for our trip before leaving home and I specifically said that I wasn't praying for good weather, just to have joy in every situation and for God to give us the ability to trust Him more. Yes, He does have a sense of humor.
So we made the best of it. Did some souvenir shopping indoors, got our Big Bus Hop On, Hop Off passes (going forward will refer to the bus as the HOHO), walked a bit of O'Connell Street, and did what we could.
From the photography side, there was little to do. I used my phone to take a few photos, primarily related to the library, but the constant wind and rain made things very difficult.
One of the few tourist attractions that we visited was Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth 1, Trinity College is the
 |
| Enlarged page on display |
"The Book of Kells, one of the great treasure of medieval Europe, is an illuminated manuscript written in Latin, and containing the four gospels of the New Testament together with various introductory texts and tables. It was created by Early Christian monks around 800AD. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy, employing decoration that is not only extraordinarily rich and colourful but also, in places, deeply enigmatic."
The Book of Kells is located in the library at Trinity College and the tour includes a very nice museum on the book and other, similar books as well as access to the library's famed Long Hall. I was a skeptic going into the library but to be honest it was a terrific place. Don't miss this if in Dublin.
 |
| Long Hall (approx. 67 m) |
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| Outside Stags Head (Kim in pink coat) |
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| Stags Head inside |
It actually stopped raining about the time we went to supper. Ended up being a decent evening but we were too tired to really enjoy it. We grabbed some food at a nearby restaurant called Murray's before crashing for the night. I took just a few photos as we went back to the hotel. I'll put a few at the bottom but they aren't much. All photos are from my phone today, and probably for most of the trip just for convenience. Hoping for better weather on Wednesday.
 |
| The Spire on O'Connell Street |
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| View near Stags Head Pub |
Day 2
We were excited for the second day knowing that we would both feel better while also having a brief reprieve from the bad weather. One day of the good stuff, anyway. Take what you can get, when you can get it.On our priority list for the day was Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Guinness Storehouse.
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| O'Connell Monument |
 |
Weather was a bit cold but otherwise great. Traffic, both motorized and foot, was really heavy along this area but got a little lighter after the morning rush.
 |
| Ha'penny Bridge |
Dublin Castle is a little tricky to find, being somewhat hidden behind City Hall. We opted to not take the tour through the castle due to limited time but walked around the outside of it. The best view of the "traditional" castle is from the south in a green space called the Dubh Linn Garden. As you might guess from the sound of it, the city itself is named from this space which originally was a Viking harbour and trading base on a black pool or dubh linn. |
| Christ Church Cathedral |
From Christ Church Cathedral we walked south to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral is undergoing some
 |
| Inside Christ Church Cathedral |
The HOHO has a stop right at St. Patrick's so while waiting for the bus we each had a snack and some mixed nuts.
The bus took us over to the Guinness Storehouse. According to the
From here we took another ride on the HOHO back to our hotel for a short break before heading out to catch a shuttle for our supper/show at The Merry Ploughboys.
With a 6:25 shuttle departure we thought we'd have plenty of time if we left at 6 and walked to the location for Collins Day Tours.
Nope. Nada. Didn't work. Abject failure alert.
We got to what I thought was the proper location, very near Trinity College, and couldn't find them. I stepped into a local tourism office and asked where to find Collins Day Tours and I got a blank look. Then they looked it up and said they were 2 doors down around the corner. So I went there. Nothing.I don't remember how but we finally discovered that we should be looking for a bus pick-up spot on Nassau St. for Collins Day Tours, not the actual office. It was close. We hoofed it over there and I started stopping at buses and asking drivers where to find them. I'm a bit ahead of Kim by now trying to hustle. It's about 6:29 or so now. Kim catches up to me and says that she say a small mini-bus leave from a sign that says Collins Day Tours.
Yes, we missed our ride.
Long story short, we took a taxi out to the restaurant, caught up with our group, and rode back on the original shuttle. All's well that ends well.
We also got to see some traditional Irish dancing. The footwork was fast and furious if I can steal that phrase. Well done.
After the show our shuttle driver was kind and dropped us at our hotel, a long but good day in Dublin.
Here are a few extra photos and a video, all from my Google Pixel 3XL. Enjoy.
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