A VERY long/short Dublin day! – Day 2

Day 2 – Wednesday, September 19
Chicago/Dublin
The clocks moved forward 6 hours, the lights were turned on … it was time to wake up (for some of us).  We had a little breakfast on the plane and arrived in Dublin at 7:45 AM (30 minutes early).  First we went through immigrations; they took a good look at each of us and let us through.  We got our luggage and walked through the “Green Channel” to Ireland.

Dublin Airport

Tired travelers

It's easy to love Dublin. Where else can you legitimately learn about local history and culture by visiting multiple pubs? (Side note: you can't say you hate Guinness until you've had it in Dublin. It's different. And it's fantastic.) This is the Ha-Penny Bridge

We met our driver/guide Michael outside of customs.  We walked to the parking structure where he was allowed to park. Our luggage was loaded on the comfortable Mercedes Benz coach and we were on our way.
The day started with a sightseeing tour of Dublin.

Dublin is the capital and most populous city of Ireland. The English name for the city is derived from the Irish name Dubhlinn, meaning "black pool". Wikipedia

 Population: 1,045,769 (2011)

Area: 44.4 sq miles (115 km²)

Weather: 37°F (3°C), Wind N at 4 mph (6 km/h), 93% Humidity

We picked up our local guide—Kathleen and one couple at the hotel.  Then we made our first stop at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells in the Old Library.  The manuscript, written in the 8th century by Irish Monks, contains the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Known as one of Ireland's national treasures, the Book of Kells is a sacred and important historical text dating from around 800 A.D., making it one of the oldest books in the world.The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks that depicts the 4 gospels of the New Testament as well as other texts. Written in Latin, the book has been translated and found to have a few mistakes. But these are overlooked as the manuscript was made to serve a more decorative and ceremonial purpose than one of utility. In fact, it is its illuminations (illustrations) that make the Book of Kells so remarkable. Vibrant colors and intricate patterns enhance the traditional Christian iconography and Celtic knots adorn images of humans and mythical creatures that are featured in the text. No other manuscript of its kind boasts such fine craftsmanship and attention to detail.

 illustrations fitting into pages 4" x 5" size books, extremely intricate.

Trinity College Dublin Old Library

This library was incredible filled with books from floor to ceiling. I think this was called the LONG room

Trinity College is one of Ireland's oldest University, founded in1592.
Trinity College Dublin (TCD) is recognized internationally as Ireland’s premier university and as one of the world's leading research-intensive universities. Founded in 1592 on the general pattern of the ancient colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, it is the oldest university in Ireland and one of the older universities of Western Europe.

public area

All of the grounds are set in this stone

 The next stop was a tour of the Old Jameson Distillery.  It was a walk through the story of John Jameson and Son and how three simple ingredients- water, barley and yeast are used to make Irish whiskey.  The tour of the distillery ended with a taste testing; 6 volunteers (Jim was one of them) compared 3 whiskeys.  The conclusion was Jameson was clearly the best and one of the samples tasted like turpentine! Jim received a certificate for being a volunteer.

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The next stop was a tour of the Old Jameson Distillery.  It was a walk through the story of John Jameson and Son and how three simple ingredients- water, barley and yeast are used to make Irish whiskey.  The tour of the distillery ended with a taste testing; 6 volunteers (Jim was one of them) compared 3 whiskeys.  The conclusion was Jameson was clearly the best and one of the samples tasted like turpentine! Jim received a certificate for being a volunteer.

Our last stop was the lush Phoenix Park. The largest park in Dublin (3 NewYork Central Parks put together.0 We toured the park by bus as it was so large but very green. We stopped for coffee and lunch strolled among the gardens of vegetables flowers and herbs used and grown by the restaurant.We enjoyed a wonderful spinach quiche with potatos covered in a greenish sause and chopped carrots--Very tasty!We were all so tired and couldn't wait to get settled in.

Fresh Garden with herbs, vegetable...etc

Outside eating

Kitchen area

WHO is that guy?

That is one big bicycle!

We finally head back to our Hotel, The Burlington for one night. Our remaining travelers finally arrived.  There are now 28 in our group. Our room was very nice. Luggage was delivered  to our room. We met for dinner at 6pm  and sat as a group. We had a menu to pick from and was served in a main dining room. We had two selections of salad, main and dessert. A special Irish Coffee wa

s served in honor of a quests birthday from our group. We tried to sit with different people each time.

After dinner get some sleep because  breakfast is at 8am, our luggage has to be outside our rooms for pick-up. and we leave at 9am for Belfast.
(photo)

NOTE: Learned that in Dublin addresses are systematically numbered with an even or odd number. Lowest numbers is closest to the river higher are further away, odd is north, even is south or something like that All roads lead to the Liffey river and away. (see map above_