I have a Euromillions ticket for tonight's 90 million euro prize. The money is Tax-free in Ireland!
I didnt win anything as it turned out, but if you aren't in, you cant win, as the saying goes. Someone did win 100 million in the same lottery a few days later.
Waz woke me around 9am. He said he had been awake for a long time but, bless him, he wanted me to sleep through. It was a disturbed night. Just before midnight some folks moved into the room next door at our heads. Much banging of doors, loud TV, knocking against the wall...noise in general woke us up. At some point I whacked my book against the wall and yelled for them to SHUT UP!...well, with an expletive thrown in for good measure. I ended up taking a sleeping tablet..again...to get some shut-eye in the heat. I doubt that the neighbors heard me, because the noise continued.
We had purchased our breakfast yoghurt the night before, again, this time wrapping it differently in the towel. I guess I will try anything twice, lol. It was so warm in the room that we again ate room temp. yoghurt with our berries and banana. We had also bought some granola to have with it, adding some more substance to the morning repast.
Fortunately there is a kettle in the room so that we can make our own coffee and tea.
Had to go down to the gas station again to fill up our LEAP bus card with another 20 euros. It is 2.50 eu each, each way, and this eats up the money pretty fast when taking two return trips per day.
Today we caught the bus into the center of Dublin, getting off on O'Connell St, near the river. First we had to cross the canal. There are still locks on the Grand Canal, like this one.
Our journey was entertaining as we sat at the very back of the bus next to 'Ruby'. She is a native Irish lass (well into her 70's, and perhaps even early 80's) from the north, has three sisters and 2 brothers living in the USA with their families whom she visits a couple of times per year. They live in upstate New York in the Catskills, she said. She was in Dublin to bury one of her brothers. She was beautifully kitted out on this slightly cool and windy morning; Layers of buttoned up blouse (all in shades of pale blue and grey), woolen cardigan under a long jacket suit, topped off with a very smart felted wool hat. When I admired her hat she said "Oh, I've had this thing for ages!" :)
She gave us her life story and kept exhorting us to 'take care' and 'ask for help when you need it!', which we have done and did again. We all said goodbye and off she trotted at a clip, crossing the main road to one of the department stores.
To be honest, her conversation began to sound a bit like a worn-out record and we wondered at her being on her own in the city, but she appeared to know what she was doing and where she was going. She said her husband had died in 1981...same year my father died, and that she had nursed him in his illness for 6 years beforehand. She must have been very young, as my own mother was 52 when Dad died at age 59, in '81. Somehow the math wasnt adding up, but never mind:) She kept crossing herself throughout our conversation. She was cheerful and obviously has a quick mind...with some blips on the screen now and again. We enjoyed the conversation.
We didnt really have a plan today, other than taking in the central city and seeing what there was to see in the way of landmarks. Trinity College and Christ Church Cathedral were on the cards.
We seemed to walk forever. On the way we found a latte of course and thought to stop for lunch around noon.
Walking past the Woollen Mills restaurant, we peeked at what people were eating and finally found the menu board. What wonderful items there were. This cemented our decision for lunch. We asked some folks who had finished their meal if it was good food? They said this was the second day of their eating at this restaurant! Good referral?
Irish lamb was on the menu and it was Waz's choice, along with the Hasselback potatoes. I ordered the fish cakes, which the woman outside said were excellent. It came with broccoli stalks.
Rule #1. Always serve hot food on hot plates! Ours were cold, and the food cooled quickly on them. It wasnt really hot when we got the food as we had seen the chef put the food up under the lights, and there they had sat for at least 5 mins. The lamb was excellent and perfectly pink but the anchovy sauce was at odds with the whole dish. The potatoes needed ten more minutes in the oven, and the zucchini with it's blossom still attached, while a lovely idea, was cold.
My fish cakes were more potato than white fish and the broccoli stalks were crunchy but cold. The poached duck egg was under cooked and the hollandaise covering everything was not tasty.
Disappointing. The bill came and there was a 'service charge' of 10% added at the bottom. Eh? For what? Compulsory tip? Not on my watch. I dont like dissing the waiter when it isnt their fault the food is crap, but we didnt receive anything like what I would call service, here. I asked the hostess what the charge was for and when she said it was basically a Tip, I asked that it be removed from the bill. She complied and asked if everything was ok??? I wasnt going to go there, and paid the money and left. We wont return, and wont recommend it. Shame!
However, this story starts just 10 mins before noon. We asked to be seated and were told that we would have to wait until noon for lunch service. We thought this was strange in an all day breakfast restaurant. Ok, we said, we will return.
Opposite the restaurant is the H'apenny Bridge. Why so named? Well, it used to cost a h'apenny..or half penny in tolls to cross. Those on this side of the bridge felt safe in their middle class lives, as those on that side of the bridge were the working class and could ill-afford the toll to cross to the more affluent side...as we were told.
So, of course there is no toll now, and we crossed the bridge, standing on the top of the span to view the river, up and down. We could also view the crowds from this vantage point, but didnt linger as the wind was cold.
The view down river just as we walked up the granite steps onto the bridge. Some hardy locals were still in t-shirts and other short sleeved shirts, but tourists were uniformly covered up. That wind was cccold!
This building is stunning...or at least the figures around it and the colors are.
The restaurant made a basic mistake when they asked us to wait. There were plenty of good looking menus across the river, and we could have gone into any of those restaurants where service was uninterrupted. We crossed back over the bridge for our meal at the Woollen Mills.
Having finished the meal and feeling that we needed to get over this negative experience that was plenty expensive we followed the signs to Dublin Castle, stopping on the way there to visit the City Hall, which is something else. With a fabulous domed entry, white marble statues of the city heroes, if you like, a stunning marble and mosaic floor... we spent a good time investigating, reading the histories of the statues and marveling at the history of Ireland at the same time.
City Hall is an imposing building in a classical sense. Both inside and out.
These friezes are 4ft high by 8ft wide. They are stunning. Depicting scenes from Irish History, they are around the bottom of the dome, above.
Almost next door is Dublin Castle. I dont know what we were expecting, but the word Castle does carry a certain image with it. This is a collection of buildings that have been joined to create the 'castle'.
While there might be many items of interest inside, as you can see from the photos at the top of this board, we didnt feel we wanted to spend the time inside.
We didnt want to take the time looking inside as we had other places to go and things to see.
Christ Church Cathedral loomed around the next corner. Oh dear...lines of tourists! Cant walk around the outside of the buildings because they have been blocked off. Bummer! Walk up the street, admire what we can see from the outside, go under the bridge over the road leading to more of the complex, and down the other side. We were admiring one aspect of the cathedral when we heard Aussie accents. A mother and adult son were visiting from Dubbo, NSW. We stood there in the sun having a right old chat, as you do with neighbors from downunder, and learned some of why they were in Ireland. A family wedding in the north was imminent, with 40 family members arriving from Aussie for the big event. Fabulous! The son is a surviving twin. I admired the rose gold necklaces mom was wearing, and she said that some of the ashes of the deceased son, who died of cancer at age 29, were contained therein. Wherever they go, she scatters a few ashes, knowing that the other son is with them. He loved to travel, and this is one way they have of working their way through their grief of 4 years earlier. Well done!
Back down to the river after parting with smiles and handshakes, and bon voyages.
There were boards stopping the non-paying public from getting close to the cathedral. Not pleasing, but they also have to maintain the property, and I guess Tourist dollars/euros help.
We found a coffee shop and most importantly a toilet!
A large latte with velvety soft Irish frothed milk hit the right spot, as did the bakewell tart. Goodness me! I haven't had one of those for eons.
We sat looking out at this open space. Alongside us was the tram line, with trams passing regularly.
Next up, the National Museum of Ireland, Decorative Arts and History housed in former Baracks, to see some of Irelands military history as well as some of the decorative arts. Bloody, is all we can say of the history. Fascinating looking at the uniforms...all wool of course, the various campaigns in various countries around the world that the professional soldiers fought in as well as the renegades who would fight wherever they were paid to fight. Mercenaries!
Plenty to see and plenty to contemplate. I always feel a bit emotional looking at these historic artifacts. War is never pretty and I am always thinking of the young men and some women who left their families thinking they were fighting a glorious war for their country. We know how that goes.
We made our way back via the tram (or Luas) to O'Connell Street and our bus home. We sat up top in the very front of the double decker. It is a scary place to sit, frankly. Trees along the way scratched along the roof and windows, and the stop start traffic at rush hour was frankly frightening. Glad I wasn't driving!
We passed the front entry of Trinity College on the way home.
Some of the things we saw from our perch up front of the top deck.
It was nice to be back in the hotel.
We went downstairs for dinner tonight, and then back to the room for a cuppa and a murder mystery on TV.
Done for another day.
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