On
our way from Cork to Dublin - via Limerick, we stumbled on the Barack
Obama Plaza - a motorway service centre named after the current US
President. I made sure to buys a fridge magnet to remember this
momentous visit by. They had a Barack Obama information centre where
you could lean more about him - I'd only gone in for fuel, but I had to
get the rest of the family in one I realised how bizarre this place was.
Obama actually had relatives (about five generations removed) in the
area. One of the 'comments' painted on the wall of said 'we hope to find
out what happened to the missing apostrophe in my surname...'. During
my stay in Ireland, I've learnt to take things with a grain of salt, so I
suspect that Obama didn't actually say that, but it sounds good anyway.
Our First night in Dublin
By
the time we arrived in Dublin, it was about 2pm; unfortunately too
early to check in at the hotel, so we lounged around the hotel for a
bit, got settled in our room before heading to Temple Bar on the Luis - a
tram system in Dublin. The Hop-on Hop-off bus guides all thought this
was a bit of a joke - LUAS being Irish for Fast and the Trams are hardly
fast...
One of the bridges across the Liffey River.
The Temple bar area of Dublin
The Temple Bar itself
7th - 10th of January, 2017
The Irish White House - home to the President
Gaelic Footballers warming up in the great park
Max & Jemima with a Leprechaun
Guinness Factory
The Guinness Power station - should power fail in Dublin, at least the Guinness factory will continue to brew the black stuff.
The
Wellington Monument - second tallest Obelisk in the world behind the
Washington Monument was built to commemorate the Arthur Wellesley, the
Duke of Wellington in 1861
Dublin Castle - which has been everything from a fort to a hospital to offices to a school over it's life.
A tribute to Oscar Wilde
The Book of Kells
For those that didn't know (like me!) the Book of Kells
is a hand produced manuscript of the Old Testament produced by monks at
the monastery at Kells in the ninth century. It's housed at Trinity
College in Dublin. We were a bit disappointed with what we saw of the
Book itself. The displays before the room where the book can be viewed
was interesting and well done, but only two pages of manuscript were
actually displayed - these pages were approximately A4 in size, so quite
small. Photography is banned in the Book of Kells exhibition, so I have
no photos of that, but upstairs in the library, available light
photography is allowed and the following photos are of that.
You
might be thinking that looks like the library at Hogwarts (Harry
Potter) and you'd be right. Some of the library scenes are shot at
Trinity College library.
Max thought it hilarious that Trinity College should have a bust of Bacon!
Busts of famous Authors, Playwrights, Scientists and Philosophers.
Pop art at Trinity College
Some of the amazing sculptures around Dublin city
Churches - lots of churches (650 of them in fact)
Memorial to the Potato Famine
On
the banks of the Liffey is a memorial to the many thousands who died or
emigrated as a result of the Potato famine - seriously haunting
statues.
Jemima trying her hand at creative photography.
What
looked like real fish embedded in the pavement uplights near the potato
famine memorial - I'm not sure why, but that there were there.
The Guinness Storehouse
Jemima was fascinated by the cooper's work and how they built their barrels to be water-tight without any nails, glues or bolts.
Having a break at the Guinness Storhouse
Max with one of the Guinness Tiny Trains
Some of the Guinness Marketing props
One a bit closer to home...
The cycling Fish
The whistling Oyster - make sure you have the sound turned up for this one
The Gravity Bar
At the end of the Guinness Storehouse tour, you get to the Gravity Bar - where your ticket entitles you to a Guinness :)
Satisfaction in a glass
The Gravity Bar has a really great view of Dublin
Max
and I were the only ones to go up to the Gravity Bar - Jemima was
feeling a bit peaked and was resting back down on level two.
