Dublin
July 20, 2019
Today we enjoyed Dublin and crammed as much as we could into our last day in Ireland. We had a 10am bike tour scheduled that took us to the statue of Molly Malone, a fictional character from an Irish tune. She sells cockles and mussels and apparently her body too. Her overflowing boobs are rubbed shiny from those wanting some extra luck. The other stops on the tour included Dublin Castle, which stands on the site of the first compound where the Vikings fought the Irish over the millennia at the confluence of the Liffey and the Poddle Rivers. The Poddle River now runs underground and a tour of the Dublin Castle will take you to see it. I will get a tour of this place next time I’m in Dublin. So much history!! Then we went to St Patrick’s Cathedral and the statue of Benjamin Guinness, who gave $220,000 pound sterling in 1860 (which would be about $40,000,000 today) for the restoration of the church. St Patrick baptized a lot of Irishmen on this site and it’s seen a lot of history. Marsh’s Library is an interesting place next door to St Patrick’s cathedral and has been a library for 300 years. Jonathan Swift and Bram (Abraham) Stoker are famous authors who used the library. Patrons could not remove books but would be locked in cages with their books. We couldn’t take photos inside, but it was just like stepping back 300 years. Stoker was influenced by the victims of cholera who would appear dead but sometimes come back to life. Cholera was so contagious they would bury them quickly if they thought they were dead. They started burying sufferers with bells so if they woke up they could ring the bell. The expressions “saved by the bell” and “dead ringer” are terms based on those times. On our tour, we also heard about the distillery owners “war” with the Guinness family. Arthur Guinness was given a 9000 year lease on the land on which their brewery sits. We went by the European headquarters of both Google and Facebook. We saw the diving bell used to get control of the River Liffey so that they could reclaim much of the swamp land. That diving bell was then used in NYC and other places. We saw the Clarence hotel, which Bono bought. He and Edge went there for a drink in 1979 and they wouldn’t serve them because they were rock and roll types. He told them when he got famous, he was going to buy the place so he could be served 24-7. He did. There were several other stops at the public parks that used to be privately owned and are now public, including st. Stephens green where a battle between the Irish and Britain was waged. Every day for one hour, there was a truce so that the park overseer could go feed the ducks that lived there. The tour guide said that spoke volumes about the Irish fighting the Brits.
After our bike tour we had a drink at a nearby Peter’s Pub and met a nice couple from Vancouver spending a month in the UK. Then we went to tour Marsh’s Library and St Patrick’s Cathedral. We then decided to go to the Guinness brewery and paid 50 Euro to go inside. The two most expensive beers we’ve ever paid for. Not worth it! We will go enjoy our last evening on Fleet Street and head back to the States in the morning!
Today we enjoyed Dublin and crammed as much as we could into our last day in Ireland. We had a 10am bike tour scheduled that took us to the statue of Molly Malone, a fictional character from an Irish tune. She sells cockles and mussels and apparently her body too. Her overflowing boobs are rubbed shiny from those wanting some extra luck. The other stops on the tour included Dublin Castle, which stands on the site of the first compound where the Vikings fought the Irish over the millennia at the confluence of the Liffey and the Poddle Rivers. The Poddle River now runs underground and a tour of the Dublin Castle will take you to see it. I will get a tour of this place next time I’m in Dublin. So much history!! Then we went to St Patrick’s Cathedral and the statue of Benjamin Guinness, who gave $220,000 pound sterling in 1860 (which would be about $40,000,000 today) for the restoration of the church. St Patrick baptized a lot of Irishmen on this site and it’s seen a lot of history. Marsh’s Library is an interesting place next door to St Patrick’s cathedral and has been a library for 300 years. Jonathan Swift and Bram (Abraham) Stoker are famous authors who used the library. Patrons could not remove books but would be locked in cages with their books. We couldn’t take photos inside, but it was just like stepping back 300 years. Stoker was influenced by the victims of cholera who would appear dead but sometimes come back to life. Cholera was so contagious they would bury them quickly if they thought they were dead. They started burying sufferers with bells so if they woke up they could ring the bell. The expressions “saved by the bell” and “dead ringer” are terms based on those times. On our tour, we also heard about the distillery owners “war” with the Guinness family. Arthur Guinness was given a 9000 year lease on the land on which their brewery sits. We went by the European headquarters of both Google and Facebook. We saw the diving bell used to get control of the River Liffey so that they could reclaim much of the swamp land. That diving bell was then used in NYC and other places. We saw the Clarence hotel, which Bono bought. He and Edge went there for a drink in 1979 and they wouldn’t serve them because they were rock and roll types. He told them when he got famous, he was going to buy the place so he could be served 24-7. He did. There were several other stops at the public parks that used to be privately owned and are now public, including st. Stephens green where a battle between the Irish and Britain was waged. Every day for one hour, there was a truce so that the park overseer could go feed the ducks that lived there. The tour guide said that spoke volumes about the Irish fighting the Brits.
After our bike tour we had a drink at a nearby Peter’s Pub and met a nice couple from Vancouver spending a month in the UK. Then we went to tour Marsh’s Library and St Patrick’s Cathedral. We then decided to go to the Guinness brewery and paid 50 Euro to go inside. The two most expensive beers we’ve ever paid for. Not worth it! We will go enjoy our last evening on Fleet Street and head back to the States in the morning!
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| The Clarence Hotel, owned by Bono |
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| PI - the best Pizza! |
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Starting our bike tour
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| Delicious pizza |
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Start of our bike tour
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| Facebook's European Headquarters (the middle building on the right). The city of Dublin made them put their logo on the building. They wanted to remain anonymous. On the left is a theater and to the left of that (out of the picture) is the European headquarters of Google. They are buying up all of the real estate in this section. |
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| Our stop for coffee during the bike tour. |
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| The diving bell was first used when Dublin wanted to reclaim the swamplands on either side of the River Liffey. They used this to build the retaining walls on either side. Now the reclaimed land is the most expensive in the city. |
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| Very flattering picture of me in front of Dublin Castle. British Kings and Queens would visit here. Elizabeth II came in 2011. The Chapel is only for them, but you can see it if you book a tour. |
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| In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone as she wheeled her wheelbarrow through the streets broad and narrow, crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh. |
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| Their take on a wet floor warning sign. I love it! |
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral. They are about to start a 2.5 year roof replacement. |
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| Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral. |
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| The original harp used as Dublin's symbol. Guinness used the harp as their symbol first, so Dublin had to do a mirror image. |
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| Our lively tour guide John telling us about Marsh's Library. We visited later in the day. |
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