Our Bus Tour of Dublin

On our aborted tour of Ireland we did have a half day on a tour bus.  At noon we were dropped off to get lunch on our own, shop or see more historic sites and return to the bus.

Pictured above is a side entrance of Trinity College.  Founded in 1592 it is the oldest university in Western Europe.  Famous alumni include author Jonathan Swift, writer and dramatist Oscar Wilde, physicist Nobel Prize winner Ernest Walton, and Nobel Laureate in Literature Samuel Beckett- to name a few.

This picture is of the front of the college.  The statue on the left is that of Edmund Burke 18^th century Irish statesman.  Figure on the right is that of philosopher and political thinker of Georgian Age (author and poet), Burke’s friend Oliver Goldsmith.  We were able to tour the campus that one afternoon and then the gates closed.  Word had it that 3 post graduate students had the virus, students were sent home.

Finola, our guide, suggested the Bank restaurant for lunch, and we were glad that we followed her suggestion- excellent food and a bit of a museum.  The building began as a bank in 1891.  In the picture above you may notice its Victorian trimming as well as marble posts.The historical bank has a replica of the Book of Kells as well as a wall of busts of the men executed for their part in the 1916 Easter uprising.  That was very sobering to read their biographies- all fairly young men in their 40s and respected people of their communities- scholars, barristers, politicians and and a poet. 

In regards to that uprising, our bus tour took us to the Garden of Remembrance.  It is a memorial to men who lost their lives “in the cause of Irish freedom”.  This had to do with the up-risings of 1798,1813-1818,1867,1916 and 1919-1921.  The statue has the figures of four children arising out of swans.  That was in reference to an old Irish legend of children who were turned into swans and later  liberated. Queen Elizabeth laid a wreath at this memorial in 2011.

And I am again ending this on a lighter note.  We completed our afternoon at the Guinness Storehouse.  We toured it on our own and saw the story which happened 250 years ago when the brewery started producing its famous dark beer.  The building is designed in the shape of a giant pint of Guinness.   Speaking of that drink, we received a free glass of it at the highest level of the building, the Gravity Bar.  While sipping our beers we could look out wide large windows and see  the city of Dublin and beyond to the countryside, ocean and mountains.  What a great view!   We also watched as the skies become dark, clouds roll in and rain come down. By the time we were ready to walk back to our hotel it was sunny again;  except for one day that was our weather pattern while we were in Ireland.