May 25 - Beautiful Day in Dublin

Probably the best day so far.  Everybody is loving it - but also warning that don't expect it too often.  However, enjoy the day and off we go.

We tripped through Trinity College on the way to today's museum.  A lilac in full bloom.
















The Rugby Pitch with the quintessential ivy covered college building in the background.

We went into the National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology, and its free.  This museum is where all the major archaeological finds and treasures are stored.  It covers before the Bronze Age until the Middle Ages.  I could have spent all day and taken a million pictures, but I'll only include a few from the Bronze Age.

This is a wooden wheel





Pottery and metal spear points.  The square object in front is the mold for the spear point.  It is exquisite in its workmanship.



Gold necklaces.  Again, beautifully done.







This museum is on the Lonely Planet's list of must sees if you have any time to sight see in Dublin.

After the museum and lunch, we went to the nearby St. Stephen's Green, park in the middle of town.  Full of people at lunchtime.  




Two views of the main pond.  I managed to avoid having lots of people in the pix, but they were all about.



















There are various signboards throughout the Green that describe details of the 1916 Uprising.  Here's an example.  Note there are two languages - English and Irish (related to Gaelic, I believe).   Ireland is definitely bilingual, although we don't run into people who speak only Irish.

The Superintendent's Cottage in the Green.

Switching gears - Throughout the city at busy pedestrian crossings are these reminders of which direction way the traffic is coming from.  
In a city where many of the people are not used to left side driving and the huge number of confusing One Way streets, these are a lifesaver!

Switching gears again, and with some time before dinner, I went for a bike ride to Phoenix Park.  This is a huge urban park (707 hectacres compared to Stanley's 405), consisting of trees, many playing fields (ruby, football, cricket AND polo!) with a zoo as well.  I didn't see many ponds.  An unusual feature is that the residences for the American Ambassador and the Irish President are on the grounds.  

 Here's as close as I could get to the President's residence.  Note the smallish moat in front (presently dry).













As I rode past the gate a car exited, so I turned up the road.  A pleasant guard came out and confirmed that I wasn't invited any further (I guess the paperwork didn't arrive in time).
Upon finding out I was Canadian, not American, he apologized and the conversation went something like this:

-Where abouts in Canada are you from?
-The far west coast, Vancouver Island
-Whereabouts on the Island?
-About midway up, Nanoose Bay, near Nanaimo
-Oh - I was in Qualicum Beach a few weeks ago!

Geez!  Turns out he took time out from his police duties in Ireland and spent 3 years in BC, working part of the time as a Security Guard at UBC!

Small world, eh?

Nobody has commented on the rotating door from yesterday (except Sue).  Apparently,  you might not be able to add a comment.  I'm not sure what's wrong, and I can't fix it.  Interestingly, Blogspot re-routes the blog to a ".ie" address for me, which might be part of the problem.

 So, I'll just keep staring at the door, trying to decide which way to go.

There are at least 5 other riders here, although we haven't met any of them.  Four of their bikes are still in boxes in the basement beside ours, and the other fellow's bike is in his room.  Expect lots more over the weekend.

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."

May 23 - Ride to Howth

Good afternoon, I guess - we just finished a great Italian meal, so I'm a bit late getting at this today.
Our adventure today was a cycle ride to Howth & back, about 40 km total.  Here's a map to orient yourselves.
Our hotel is on the left side and Howth is at the top of the peninsula.
It is slightly hair raising getting out of town, but there is a cycle trail most of the way, so this is a relatively easy ride.  And flat, only one hill in the middle of the peninsula.


On the way there, we saw this very intricately carved tree (now a big stump).  Don't know anything about it (this chicken didn't cross the road).



On the south side of the route is a very shallow bay - the tide was out for miles.  It looked muddy, not like Parksville or QB beaches.











We made it to Howth, stopped for a Latte, and then pedaled out to the end of the end of the waterfront road.

Here's the shops & restaurants along the way.  Definitely a fishing village.




A closeup of the little island north of the wharf area.












The breakwater / promenade on the other side of the harbour.














On the way back, I dropped into a fish store to see what they offered.  Here's the two display coolers.

Comments:  I didn't see any cod with heads on, but it looked good.  
Prices seemed to be about the same as ours.

Salmon:  18.99 E / kg, about $2.80 / 100 gms.  All farmed.  Explained to the lady about why we aren't fans of farmed salmon.

Ray wings - I can take 'em or leave 'em.  Seafood mix - is this what fell on the floor?

Sea Bass - from Turkey

Lots of fish that we don't typically see - they seem to be closer to 'harvesting' their last species than we are.

Prawns in the next cabinet - looked like prawns but definitely not spots or stripes.

The big impression as soon as I walked into the shop - the smell!  They must have not cleaned up some spillage from a while go.. Pretty "niffy" in there.  Our shops and the ones we saw in South america did  not smell this strong.


The last waterfront shot - a nice view of the lighthouse.  I suspect its been replaced by a scrawny light on a post just a bit further out.

The local yacht harbour is in the background.

Speaking of yacht harbour, this is one of the more upscale suburbs of Dublin.






Here's a house.  Of course, there are a mix of older and newer styles.




Here's a link to one of the local real estate agents, in case you have a few hundred thousand Euros you don't need.  (If you don't need them. save a few for me in case I need bail money!)

http://www.sherryfitz.ie/residential/for-sale/houses/dublin-co/howth

Probably less expensive than Vancouver, but roughly on par with Nanoose.

Last photo today, on the way back.  Still upscale, but less so.  I loved the row houses with all the chimney pots - very Mary Poppins.

As I mentioned we had a great Italian meal.  Why Italian in Dublin?  After Fish & Chips, Irish Stew, Bangers & Mash and Steak & Guinness Stew (all good, especially with beer) you are pretty much out of the traditional dishes.  And I did have mushy peas with my Bangers last night.

TTFN - not sure what's happening tomorow.

Oh - I almost forgot:  The first in my collection of gas price photos.  Multiply Euros by 1.56 to get Canadian Pesos.  Ouch!  










  

May 22 - Part 2 - Dublin Castle & Kilmainham Gaol

We popped into Dublin Castle for a quick peak.  The views are the tower and Chapel Royal, inside the chapel & the organ.  Instead of being built of stone, the chapel structure is wood, plaster, and a thin veneer of stone.  Apparently, the first, heavier structure sunk into the soft riverbed ground underneath.

This is the courtyard and state apartments beyond.  Used for state functions now - it was the seat of the British government 1921.








We jumped on the Jump On - Jump Off bus and headed west to the Kilmainham Gaol.  Now a museum, it was originally built in 1796, with an addition in the 1800's.  

Here's one of the original cell blocks and a cell door.  No heat, stone floor, maybe some damp straw - pretty brutal.











The new, modern cell block built in accordance with modern jailing principles:  single, separate & supervise.  Wooden cell floors (much warmer), carpets outside the cells so guards could monitor prisoners without their knowing and lots of sunlight to aid rehabilitation.
During the Potato Famine, when begging and stealing food got you thrown in here, the crowding became so bad, there were up to 5 prisoners per cell. The jail held males, females, & children (youngest was 5 years old).

One of the darkest periods for the gaol was after the 1916 uprising, when 14 of the uprising ringleaders were executed.  One, Joseph Plunkett, was married to Grace Gifford in the jail the night before his execution.  Grace stayed in prison after the execution and painted the walls of her cell, seen through the door's peephole.

This picture is of the Stone Breaking Yard, where the executions took place.  One man, James Connolly, was so sick from gangrene he couldn't stand, and was tied to a chair to be shot.  

If you were lucky enough to be released from Kilmainham, you got to exit through this door.

Kilmainham was closed in 1924, after the Irish Civil War and was left to deteriorate.  In 1960, it was decided to fix it up and turn it into a museum, using volunteer labour.  It has appeared in various movies and this video by U2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UMwpjxOV_M









To end things on a happier note, we had dinner in the oldest pub in Dublin, the Brazen Head, established in 1198.