A Touring Day in Dublin

June 4:  Another Day in Dublin

Having had my sleep pattern so rudely disrupted, my rest was fitful.  I finally got up at about 6:00 and prepared for the day. Our hostess planned for a full Irish breakfast to be served at 7:30 and, I must say, we were not disappointed. 

Breakfast consisted of fresh pressed orange juice, and a bowl of fresh fruit with coffee or tea.  She then offered eggs, cooked any way, bacon (which turned out to be sliced ham to us), black and white pudding, (I am not sure of the difference except for the color and the size of the serving [black being a very small patty and the white being quite a bit larger], potato cakes (fried mashed potatoes that had flour and cream added), and other traditional breakfast items including fresh, hot scones.  Those listed above were the ones that ended up on my plate.  It was a fine breakfast. 

Joining us for breakfast was Chuck, a couple from Australia, and their  daughter who is living in Canada, and a young lady from Denmark.  The mix of the group made for lively interesting conversation. 



St. Patricks Cathedral



After the fine meal, Chuck, Janine, and I got on the bus and headed back for  town and the first stop on the Green Bus Dublin tour. This driver was really witty and great fun.  He had interesting additional stories to tell and so we continued to ride around the entire tour again rather than hopping off at one of the points of interest.  At the end of the route, we wandered around the main shopping district of Dublin looking in the various shop windows and hunting for a place to grab a bite to eat.  It was a stately old bar/hotel.  I had beef and Guinness pie and a draft of Guinness and Janine had fish chowder.  We had enjoyed the beef and ale pie at the home of our tour guide.  This one wasn’t quite as good. 

An Roinn Oideachais Agus Scileanna
Department of Education and Special School

From the restaurant, we passed a beautiful campus which appears to be the main headquarters for the school system of Dublin.  They had a sculpture inside of their entrance gate and fence and beautiful buildings around a huge courtyard.  



Inside St. Patricks Cathedral



Back on the bus, we rode to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  It is an extremely old church, the first structure being built in 1192. St. Patrick is said to have baptized people into Christianity in 450AD on the sight.  It is a truly beautiful structure and the tour guide brought to light an interesting history that passed through the trials and tribulations of the times of Dublin.  One of the most famous Deans of the church was Jonathon Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels.

Jonathon Swith's Tomb

From there we traveled to the Guinness Store House/museum and spent a good part of the afternoon touring the facility.  (It makes sence to go from a cathedral directly to a brewery which is across the street from an old mental health hospital the main patients that are served there are alcholics!) The Guinness family and company have been extremely influential in the history of Dublin.  It is the largest brewing company in the world and they spared no expense selling their story.  The self guided tour

Guinness Main Gate

traveled through 5 floors ending in a beautiful round bar that sits atop of the building.  Its glass walls allow one to see a completely unobstructed panorama of the city including the surrounding mountains and the bay of the Irish sea.  They provide each touring person with a complimentary glass of draft Guinness that is expertly poured by skilled waitresses.  There is an art to the pouring.  First the glass is filled to ¾ full and then allowed to sit for 2 minutes.  This allows the fine bubbles to rise to the top of the dark

View from the top of the Guinness Brewry

thick beer.  Next the young ladies carefully filled the glass to the top, artfully drawing a shamrock in the foam with the stream of beer.  Although we did not ever seen any of the barkeeps that poured my drafts at other locations do the art work, they did always allow the beer to rest before filling it to the top. 



Entrrance to the Kilmainham Gaol

Our next stop was to be the Kilmainham Gaol that was significant in the history of the struggles of Ireland.  Built in 1776, it is there where the leaders of the 1916 uprising were put to death by firing squad.  We got there at 6:00p and were let off of the bus only to find that it closes at 6:00.  We stood there watching the bus drive away.  We were picked up about 20 minutes later by the next tour bus.

We had been trying to find a pub where there was traditional Irish music.  We decided to try the

The Brazen Head Pub

Brazen Head pub which is reported to be the oldest pub in Ireland, having been established in 1193.  I decided to try Bangers and Mash which is really a sausage made with finely ground pork (not unlike our Bratwursts) and mashed potatoes.  Of course, one must wash it down with at least a half pint of Guinness.

After dinner, we caught a bus back to the B&B and hit the hay at around 10:30.  We have an early rail trip planned for tomorrow