May 24 - More Architecture, Engineering & a Contest

Today was a combination of chores (laundry), planning (trying to book a tour Friday) and wandering about.
The laundry was successful, booking the tour was not & wandering about got us damp as it rained lightly.

First stop in wandering about was Dublinia, depicting Dublin's history from the Vikings to the middle ages.  Interesting enough, but no photos except for this one.

I added this one for you Ian - note that it's a two holer.  The display was complete with realistic sound effects.  💩







We climbed the tower (built in 1667) for a look around.  Here's yet another view of Christchurch Cathedral.  












This is a detail of the stonework inside the tower.

















In the Cathedral now.













One of the many stained glass windows.

Onward now - we walked by the GPO (General Post Office).   A beautiful mid 1800's building (which I forgot to include a photo of the exterior).  Here's a view of the interior.









Exiting the building, we see these pock marks on the outside (some repaired, some not).  Some of them are bullet holes from the 1916 Rebellion - the rebels used the GPO as one of their headquarters.










This photo of a photo shows the next building, the Custom House (lower centre), sitting beside the river.  Many of the roads, laid out in a seemingly hodge-podge fashion, actually follow the paths and city walls that are hundred of years old.

















Here's the front view of the Customs House.  This was badly burnt in the 1921 War of Independence.  The dome was rebuilt with a different stone than the main structure.  There seems to be a pattern of things being built and destroyed in some sort of conflict later.

For comparison, here's a building directly across the river, showing the influence the 1800's architecture still has.

Moving along - a rather ornate streetlamp pole.  Everything is adorned with signs for tomorrow's referendum.  
















 Onto the engineering portion.  I love how this drawbridge used to operate (explained in the next photo).  The drawbridge was over a side channel of the river called the Royal Canal.  It is no longer used and the canal is permanently blocked






Here's how the drawbridge worked:  the  dark pinion in the middle of the photo would rotate and move the whole bridge back along the street.  As it moved it rotated the bridge deck up.  Keep your toes out of the way!











Last engineering photo:  this is the first lock in the Royal Canal, now abandoned.








Back to architecture.  This is the CHQ EPIC Building which houses among other things the Irish Emigration Museum, telling about how the Irish emigrated during hard times.  It sure looks like a classical railway station to me.








Inside the building was a small museum, a number of businesses and something called "dogpatch labs."  Of course, I had to take a look.  Turned out dogpatch labs is a 'startup hub' for technical innovation.  Note that a Starbucks is strategically located next door.  There are 4 Starbucks within 2 blocks of our hotel - they must hand out the franchises like they do with Tim Horton's in  Canada.

The contest!
I was confronted with with this rotating door.  The Irish, like the Brits, drive  on the wrong side of the road, and many walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk.  So, do I go to the right or to the left through the door?

Give me your guesses in the comments for this page.  Tomorrow I'll tell you whether you squashed me or got me through the door.

To comment: 
 Click on the 'Comments' or 'No comments' (if you are the first) at the bottom and go from there.  
(May 24):  You might also have to prove you aren't a robot.  Put your name in the comment if you selected 'anonymous.' Follow the instructions and  the game they make you play.  
When finished, click on "Publish."