Our trip to Ireland almost seemed doomed from the start. While waiting for our flight from Jacksonville to Chicago, they post a weather delay of 45 minutes, blaming the weather in Chicago. Almost immediately that 45 minutes went to an hour and a half. Thankfully, the weather delay also affected the plane we would be flying to Ireland on, which was to fly to Chicago from Newark. Fate being what it is, we were able to catch our flight out of Chicago, but not without some nail biting.
This was the weather over Chicago as we were landing...
Mom and Greg in the tunnel between terminals at Chicago O'Hare International...
The flight to Dublin was uneventful, if not really, really long. The bigger downside is that I couldn't sleep and it was a red-eye. We finally arrived in Dublin, albeit a little late, and were off to our hotel.
A friendly reminder...
We got settled into our rooms at the Crowne Plaza Dublin and then went down to one of the two restaurants at the hotel. We were able to fend off some ever-increasing hunger pangs with some noshing food and some coffee.
Now, it's important for Americans traveling to Ireland to understand one thing about coffee in Ireland.
IT SUCKS.
I drink my coffee black; I have for almost 40 years. Well, that's ill-advised in Ireland. While I didn't try their cappuccino or espresso, I did have the misfortune of ordering the "Americano", which is their version of what they think we drink here in the States. For the first time in almost 40 years, I put sugar (and a lot of it) in my coffee.
This is what black coffee looks like in Ireland. "Americano" coffee? No bueno...
So, after a quick bite and some "coffee", we grabbed a taxi and proceeded into downtown Dublin. It was already a bit late in the afternoon, but we figured we'd use this opportunity to kind of find the "lay of the land".
The Tourist Office on O'Connell Street in Dublin. We didn't use it, but it was nice to know it was there...
Awesome architecture was everywhere...
Sometimes it seemed as though Dublin has as many buses as New York City has cabs...
The O'Connell Bridge, at the foot of O'Connell Street, not far from Temple Bar...
We ended up at a place called Fitzgerald's for dinner a few hours later. Of course, we would have to start the meal with a Guinness.
The first of what would be many pints of Guinness...
We made our way back to our hotel and decided to call it a night (and an early one). We were all pretty tired as none of us really got anything that resembled "quality sleep" on the 757 we'd spent eight hours on the night before.
Now, before I go on about our first full day in Dublin, let me back-step a bit.
When I was planning this trip I wrestled with whether or not we should rent a car. Given that Ireland's drivers are all right-side drive, and given that most of the rental cars are manual, we opted out.
Best decision I've ever made.
While I'm confident that I could've grasped the operation of the vehicle, a more immediate danger would've manifested in the form of traffic. It's pretty nuts as it is, and I can only imagine that it would be exacerbated by a wayward American driving on the wrong side of the road. Besides, the taxi drivers in Dublin are awesome! With the exception of one driver who was Chinese, every driver damn near gave us a history lesson about Dublin and Ireland as we rode along. We even learned that there's a world of difference between being "British" and being "English" (who knew?)
So, our first full day in Dublin included our first day on the "hop on/hop off" bus that makes its way around Dublin (and, presumably, every other tourist city on the planet). If you're unfamiliar with the concept, you pay one fee (for us it was € 30 a piece) and you can ride around town as much as you want for however long your ticket is good (ours was good for 48 hours). You can, as the name implies, hop on and off all over town, as often as you want.
My brother Greg enjoying the double-decker experience...
What this type of tour allows you is the ability to see things that you probably wouldn't be able to see on your own without knowing where you were going, but the guides are only too happy to tell you all about the sites seen along the way.
This is the greatest truck ever made...
The Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin...
The River Liffey...
The Dublin Convention Center. It's said that the angle of the glass portion of the building is at the exact same angle that you would be holding a pint of Guinness when taking your first sip. I have to say, I think it was pretty damn close...
Our first stop for the day was Dublin Castle. Now, you might expect a castle to be located out in the countryside somewhere or along a coastline and, certainly, those castles do exist. Dublin Castle, though, is located in the heart of downtown Dublin. Originally founded in the year 1204, only the Record Tower, which dates back to the year 1228, remains from the original 13th century building.
The Record Tower. The Chapel Royal sits to the right and the rest of the castle is to the left...
Another view of the Record Tower. This is one of my favorite photos from the trip...
The actual castle doesn't really look like a castle. It seems more like what I would expect a palace to look like, steeped in ceremony and pomp and circumstance. Many of the rooms within the castle are strictly for ceremony and, in fact, every new President of Ireland assumes office within its walls.
One of the castle gates...
The State drawing room...
An actual throne...
St. Patrick's Hall. Every new President of Ireland assumes office here...
The Gothic Room. Not quite sure why it's called that...
Looking out into the castle courtyard...
The Portrait Gallery...
The State Corridor...
The entrance gates to the courtyard of Dublin Castle...
The castle gardens. The "lines" you see are actually meant to depict snakes, which were driven from Ireland by St. Patrick. In fact, it's believed by some that "snakes" was actually a metaphor for the druids, who Patrick is said to have driven from Ireland when he established Christianity in Ireland in the 5th century...
Once we were done at Dublin Castle, we decided to grab some dinner at Murray's Bar, a well-known eatery along O'Connell Street in downtown Dublin. The food was excellent and the Guinness flowed like chocolate milk but, before long, it was time to go back to the hotel and prepare for the next day of our hop on/hop off extravaganza...
Great description of everything, thank you for sharing!
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