June 23, 2019

Well, readers, I found out how fast things will post when I didn’t add the pictures yet!  Apologies for the Liverpool notification, I quickly deleted it and then added the photos.

I am catching up on three days of fun in the UK and Ireland. They have been very full days and I didn’t post each day.

On our last trip to Dublin, we did a fun pub day with 6 friends and a paid driver/guide, of course.  We did Guinness, Jameson and three of the Temple Bars.  Lots of fun.

Today we opted to take the hop on hop off bus to see more of the city, have lunch at a pub and do a bit of shopping. The forecast was for rain, but we only saw a sprinkle on our way back to the ship so again we lucked out on the weather.

Dublin is the capital city of Ireland and is a thriving city.  It has been redeveloped over the last few decades.  There are lots of cranes and new buildings but in the old city center there are lots of churches, monuments and pubs.

More than a third of the population of 4 1/2 million lives within the Greater Dublin area. They boast of 650 churches and 800 pubs, so in typical Irish fashion, our guide told us they have their priorities straight!

We docked on the River Liffey which divides the city into the Northside and the Southside. 

There is a bridge that looks like a harp – we could see it from the ship.

We also spotted the stadium.

We took the shuttle bus to the National Gallery area and boarded the hop on hop off bus there. 

Two spectacular churches are nearby – St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral which are Protestant since the Reformation.

The Custom House is a huge and beautiful building.

Guinness is so much a part of Dublin – it is a must see for visitors. These cylinders each hold 750,000 pints and they export to 120 countries.

Their symbol, the harp, is interesting.  Ireland wanted it as their symbol, but Guinness already had it, so the country pictured it the opposite way and now each has a harp facing the opposite direction!

This is a memorial statue of Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright.

Trinity College is Ireland’s oldest college. It is located on a prime 40 acre tract of land in the center of Dublin.  The world famous Book of Kells is located here.

The beautiful Phoenix Park is a place we never visited before and it is huge.  For perspective, it is 2 1/2 times the size of Central Park in NY, and also the entire country of Monaco would fit inside the park.  There are polo and cricket fields, and we saw many people walking and running there.  The lamps are gaslights. There are also many deer here, but we didn’t spot any.

The US ambassador’s residence is in the park as is the home of the Irish President.  The residence looks quite a lot like the US White House.

The park also houses the Dublin Zoo.

Here are some other sights in the city.  The statue of Molly Malone is an icon as are many of the beautiful pubs with their flowers.

This hotel is owned by the band U2.

Until today we didn’t realize that the Euro coins are different from each country that uses the Euro.  Here in Ireland the harp is on their coins.

Now it is on to our last city on this side of the “pond”, Cork.  Then we will have the 4 day Atlantic Crossing to Canada.