Dublin, Ireland.
Last night we returned from a 4 day trip to Dublin... I did three loads of washing, hung all the wet clothes around the central heating radiators and this morning I've come to Tom and Emma's to catch up on our emails and Blog and to wash our bed linen and dry it in their dryer... 188 doesn't come with a Clothes Dryer!!
Emma's parents are arriving from Yorkshire tomorrow lunch time and will stay at Tom and Emma's then we are expecting Tom, Emma and Abi back from India sometime on Sunday. I've only heard from them a couple of times but they did enjoy more than 24 inches (61 cms) of snow while in New York.
Early Monday morning we drove to Stansted Airport for our flight to Ireland, we were driving along the M11 in the still dark of the morning when all three lanes of traffic heading North just stopped... no crawling into one lane and no sight of what was wrong. We turned our engines off and sat for exactly 40 mins. Then with no idea why we were stopped the traffic started off again, no crawling, no moving into one lane, no sign of an accident or barricades and we still have no idea of what we were stopped for.
When David first checked our flight to Dublin with Ryan Air the fare was 99 pence ($2.28) but by the time he checked dates with me the fare had gone up to £1.21 plus taxes and charges of course but while we were in Dublin we saw adds for flights to the UK for zero... just pay the taxes and charges they said... no wonder both flights were chock a block full, not one empty seat and as the aircraft was unloading the next load of passengers where lining up to load for their flight... no seat numbers just find a seat and sit down as quickly as possible.... drinks and sandwiches cost Euros and we were offered Scratchies and Duty Free. The flight was good and less than one hour.
David and I loved Ireland, Dublin is booming but still has that look and feel of a city long forgotten by progress, we loved the Irish people... those that we could find that is, most people in the Hotel we stayed in were either Russian or Romanian. Dublin is full of young people well dressed and busy at work as well as students on their way to their colleges, the sky if full of cranes building new modern apartments some of which were near our hotel and looking spectacular, there are many many eating places, bars and clubs, the transport system is mystifying with a mix of trains, new trams and double decker buses and there is building everywhere. Anyone thinking of starting a business in Dublin need think no further than a Car Wash... we never saw a clean car, in fact all the buses and cars were filthy which is something I have never noticed in a city before.
Sitting by the Liffey with a Double Decker Bus going by...
The view of the River Liffey from the last photo.
Trinity College, The Dail (pronounced Doyle), St Stephen's Park, Birthplace of George Bernard Shaw, the Liffey, Temple Bar, O'Connell Street and much more... places and names we've known and heard forever have now come to life for us.
Birthplace of George Bernard Shaw.
In schools Irish Children must learn the Irish Language, they don't like it and hardly use it but if they don't pass Irish they don't pass the rest of their exams. All the signs are in Irish first then in English but Irish is a funny language which looks impossible to pronounce for example have you heard of that Irish comedian Daragh O'Briain, big bald bloke... well how does one pronounce his christian name?? It's pronounced Dara because the 'h' makes the 'g' silent... same as Laragh and so on! We have to admit to quite a few giggles in Ireland!
View of the Irish Sea from the train's window.
Tuesday we took the Train south along some beautiful coastline to meet a bus to take us to Avoca the little town on the Avon River that was the setting for the Television series 'Ballykissangel' our tour guide wasn't fond of the programe so our time was short in Avoca so we could spend more time at Kev's place, St Kevin was a monk born in the first century. mmmmm nuff said... I'd rather have had more time in Avoca exploring the town and the wonderful Woollen Mill there check out the sites at the end of this Blog.
Fitzgeralds Bar was especially named for the series but the owners liked it so kept it, probably brings in the tourists for them.
Isn't this cute, the Garda's car almost parked in the Garda parking spot.
You can just see the spire of church in the background.
The weeks are falling away with less than three to go before we head home... almost every day from now on is busy and we're going to make the most of every one of them.
Hand Weavers at Avoca. http://www.avoca.ie/pages.php?pageid=3
St Kevin. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintk02.htm
The Dail. http://www.oireachtas.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/home.asp
Emma's parents are arriving from Yorkshire tomorrow lunch time and will stay at Tom and Emma's then we are expecting Tom, Emma and Abi back from India sometime on Sunday. I've only heard from them a couple of times but they did enjoy more than 24 inches (61 cms) of snow while in New York.
Early Monday morning we drove to Stansted Airport for our flight to Ireland, we were driving along the M11 in the still dark of the morning when all three lanes of traffic heading North just stopped... no crawling into one lane and no sight of what was wrong. We turned our engines off and sat for exactly 40 mins. Then with no idea why we were stopped the traffic started off again, no crawling, no moving into one lane, no sign of an accident or barricades and we still have no idea of what we were stopped for.
When David first checked our flight to Dublin with Ryan Air the fare was 99 pence ($2.28) but by the time he checked dates with me the fare had gone up to £1.21 plus taxes and charges of course but while we were in Dublin we saw adds for flights to the UK for zero... just pay the taxes and charges they said... no wonder both flights were chock a block full, not one empty seat and as the aircraft was unloading the next load of passengers where lining up to load for their flight... no seat numbers just find a seat and sit down as quickly as possible.... drinks and sandwiches cost Euros and we were offered Scratchies and Duty Free. The flight was good and less than one hour.
David and I loved Ireland, Dublin is booming but still has that look and feel of a city long forgotten by progress, we loved the Irish people... those that we could find that is, most people in the Hotel we stayed in were either Russian or Romanian. Dublin is full of young people well dressed and busy at work as well as students on their way to their colleges, the sky if full of cranes building new modern apartments some of which were near our hotel and looking spectacular, there are many many eating places, bars and clubs, the transport system is mystifying with a mix of trains, new trams and double decker buses and there is building everywhere. Anyone thinking of starting a business in Dublin need think no further than a Car Wash... we never saw a clean car, in fact all the buses and cars were filthy which is something I have never noticed in a city before.
Sitting by the Liffey with a Double Decker Bus going by...
The view of the River Liffey from the last photo.Trinity College, The Dail (pronounced Doyle), St Stephen's Park, Birthplace of George Bernard Shaw, the Liffey, Temple Bar, O'Connell Street and much more... places and names we've known and heard forever have now come to life for us.
Birthplace of George Bernard Shaw.In schools Irish Children must learn the Irish Language, they don't like it and hardly use it but if they don't pass Irish they don't pass the rest of their exams. All the signs are in Irish first then in English but Irish is a funny language which looks impossible to pronounce for example have you heard of that Irish comedian Daragh O'Briain, big bald bloke... well how does one pronounce his christian name?? It's pronounced Dara because the 'h' makes the 'g' silent... same as Laragh and so on! We have to admit to quite a few giggles in Ireland!
View of the Irish Sea from the train's window.Tuesday we took the Train south along some beautiful coastline to meet a bus to take us to Avoca the little town on the Avon River that was the setting for the Television series 'Ballykissangel' our tour guide wasn't fond of the programe so our time was short in Avoca so we could spend more time at Kev's place, St Kevin was a monk born in the first century. mmmmm nuff said... I'd rather have had more time in Avoca exploring the town and the wonderful Woollen Mill there check out the sites at the end of this Blog.
Fitzgeralds Bar was especially named for the series but the owners liked it so kept it, probably brings in the tourists for them.
Isn't this cute, the Garda's car almost parked in the Garda parking spot.
You can just see the spire of church in the background.
The weeks are falling away with less than three to go before we head home... almost every day from now on is busy and we're going to make the most of every one of them.
Hand Weavers at Avoca. http://www.avoca.ie/pages.php?pageid=3
St Kevin. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintk02.htm
The Dail. http://www.oireachtas.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/home.asp
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