A few of the galleries were closed today, so I wasn’t able to visit them but I was easily able to fill the day anyway. I went for a walk through the grounds of Trinity College, looking at the magnificent buildings and the Campanile that towers over the plaza area.
I found it interesting that the street signs and information signs around Dublin are written in both English and Irish language. They were fun to try and read. I walked to the heart of Dublin, along O’Connell Street and up the hill to Garden of Remembrance. I stumbled across the James Joyce statue, and then decided to walk along the river where the impressive Custom House overlooks. There was a Lord Nelson ship docked along the river where people were practicing rigging the sails high up on the yard arms. On the opposite side of the river there was an old Viking ship on display. I walked over the Sean O’Casey Bridge then along the river to where the famine statues are. I walked behind the custom house and back along the other side of the river in the direction I had come from. I kept walking until I came across the round, columned building of the Four Courts. I then crossed the river again and visited the relics of St Audeons Church. Parts of the walls are still standing with no roof remaining and a few tombs within; a renovated section of the church is still intact. You can see where the church has been changed over the years with the arched patterns of stone displaying where old doorways and windows used to be. The gardens around the old church were filled with pretty coloured flowers as well as a large selection of herbs, which made it quite fragrant. Next to the old St Audeons Church is the new one – it has a monstrous sized columns across the front facade. After St Audeons I visited the Dvblinia Viking Museum. The building containing Dvblinia is joined to Christ Church Cathedral by an enclosed arched walkway that goes over the roadway. The museum was quite interesting with some fascinating facts on the life and times of the Vikings. They had interactive displays of a market setting, and they also had wax statues of people and animals depicting farming scenes. At the end of the museum tour I climbed the tower to get a bird’s eye view over Dublin. After the tower, I walked through the bridge that joins the two building together to get to Christ Church Cathedral. As it was Sunday, there was a service happening inside, so I only poked my head through the doors and didn’t venture in any further.
I then strolled down some streets I haven’t been down before and found some more cute pubs and cafes. One cafe was called the ‘Queen of Tarts’, I am guessing that it was named after the ‘Tart with the Cart’. I found a nice souvenir shop and bought a few gifts, postcards and a lovely necklace for myself – the pendant is round and gold with colours on in it a celtic pattern. I went for a walk around the Dublin Castle, where I had just missed a display they had on the green inside the castle grounds. Along the street there were two guys dressed up as Leprechauns – very fitting, and there were many buskers playing music. The atmosphere was fantastic. I also walked past the door of the smallest pub in Ireland, and possibly the world – they joke that it is so small that you may run into yourself on your way out!
St Stephen’s Green was full of people out enjoying the sunny weather and the music that was being played from one of the gazebos. I eventually made it back to O’Donoghue’s late in the afternoon and discovered that there was a group of people singing and playing music in the courtyard area. I popped myself on the stairs and enjoyed the music for the afternoon. Later that night I went back to the Knightsbridge Bar at the Arlington Hotel for the dinner and show deal – 3 course meal and show. I sat next to some really nice ladies – the two on my left were young teachers working in the UK from New Zealand, and then the group of five on my right were teachers from Gibraltar. They were friendly and chatty and were amazed that I was travelling on my own. The entertainment was fantastic, this time it was two ladies and two guys with a large variety of instruments and great singing talents – they also sang some songs in the Irish language. The Irish Dancers were fantastic again too.
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