Trip Plans Changed

Last year John and I, along with our son, Mike planned a trip to Ireland.  Through our travel club we bought airline tickets to Dublin, Ireland, as well as a guided tour which included Dublin, Galway, Ennis, Kilorglin, Kerry Mountains, County Cork- well, I will go no further mentioning those places. We missed them all except Dublin.  The second day of our tour (Friday the 13th of March) we boarded the bus only to be asked by our tour guide to get off and meet in the hotel lobby which we had just left.  We then waited two hours, only to be told that the tour was cancelled and that they would work with us to purchase airline tickets home.

The day before, on the twelfth of March, we did tour Dublin with our tour group.  All was not lost, and, while attempting to purchase our airline tickets Friday, we spent another day and a half in that city- seeing more sights in Dublin as well as a couple of towns on the outskirts of that city.   So I have do have something to share regarding our trip.  Being on self quarantine for 14 days gives me no excuse to not get back into writing, especially since I do have a fair amount to share.

We did a lots of walking around Dublin, except for the one day when we were on the tour bus.  Our hotel was right on the river Liffey, and there were a couple of pedestrian bridges which we crossed to enter the city.  By the way, the river separates north and south Dublin.  The bridge pictured above is the Samuel Beckett Bridge.  It looks like a harp on its side (the harp is the official emblem for Ireland), and was constructed in 2009 for 60 million euros.  It has a swivel opening of 90 degrees which allows ships to pass through.

Pictured above is the Ha Penny toll bridge built in 1816.  At the time it cost half a penny to cross it, later the cost went up and it is now Penny Ha Penny Bridge.  No toll charge today.  That picture was taken on a fairly dark day.  There was only one day that was sunny with no rain while we were in Dublin.  And if you are wondering, that is a beggar sitting there, a fairly common sight on the bridge.  More on Dublin in my next posting.