From Dublin With Love

Once more the seasons are changing with Dublin emerging from the cold winter into a spectacular spring.  I love the spring in Ireland – beautiful clear, blue skies and a very pleasant 13 degrees.  The parks are ablaze with enormous tulips and huge bumblebees lazily buzz around.  Outdoor seating has sprung up around the many cafes and restaurants and the city has come alive with the tourists once again returning.



Michael and I continued doing a few of the touristy things while the city was quiet over the winter, one of which was the Book of Kells.  We had felt guilty that we hadn’t visited perhaps the best-known cultural attraction of Dublin however, during the summertime, the queues are enormous.  We decided to take a guided tour of Trinity College, which was led by one of the college students.  The guide was very informative and led us over the cobbled stones and around the beautiful grounds whilst relating the history of the various buildings. The Book of Kells itself is the world’s most famous mediaeval manuscript.  The book dates back to the 9th century and is a richly decorated copy of the four Gospels of the life of Jesus Christ.  The display was well set out and we were able to view the open book through a glass case.  The highlight for me though was walking through the magnificent Old Library.  The Long Room, as the library is known, was built in the 18th century and contains over 200,000 books some of which are very valuable.

Yes snow outside our door

I have mentioned before that you cannot walk around Dublin without hearing music.  One of our favourite things to do over the wintertime was to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon at a pub called O’Donoghues.  This bar is famous for traditional Irish music and on Sunday afternoons they hold a jam session for people who want to play their instruments.  The afternoon might start with a quartet of musicians and then over the following hours more musicians arrive until there could be over 10 musicians playing and singing.  Sometimes someone will get up and perform an Irish jig.  The children are always better than the adults at dancing as they are obviously undertaking dancing lessons at school.  It is a terrific way to spend an afternoon and no two sessions are the same.



We have managed to attend a couple of hurling matches and football games over the winter.  I find that hurling is just too fast for me and I have a real problem keeping up with where the ball is.  The skill level of the players is amazing.  I much prefer the football, which is more familiar to me.  It is tough sitting in the cold for the length of the match though, and I am always glad when we can briskly walk home.



Michael and I attended the Whiskey and Beer Festival and had a very enjoyable time.  I am not a beer drinker however Michael enjoyed himself sampling the different craft beers on offer.  We then finished off with a whiskey tasting, which was much more to my liking.  Michael has gone from never drinking whiskey before our trip to being the resident expert on the topic.  Nothing less would be expected from a Herring male!



St Patrick’s Day was a momentous occasion once again.  We took up our positions to watch the parade, which was full of marching bands and floats.  People brought their step-ladders from home, something which made me laugh last year but seemed a perfectly normal thing to do this time.  One young boy had an ingenious home made invention which was a piece of metal approximately 12 inches long attached to a clamp which he then affixed to street sign.  He then raised it up and stood on it so that he could see the parade over the heads of the crowd.  Michael and I then spent the afternoon at the hurling and the football and both games were very good.   After the game, I made the mistake of suggesting that we head over to Temple Bar to see the celebrations.  This was not a smart thing to do as the area was packed with drunken tourists.  Most people were well behaved although I have to say that it was the groups of young girls that were out of control.  I imagine that there were many people with sore heads the following day.  Needless to say we didn’t stay too long.



Our plans for Easter had to be revised at the last minute.  We had planned to fly into Brussels on Good Friday and then catch the train to s-Hertogenbosch to view the Hieronymus Bosch exhibition.  Unfortunately the terrorist bombing ended that idea so we opted to stay in Dublin instead.  In a way, it turned out to be fortunate for us, as we were able to be a part of the celebrations for the centenary of the Easter Uprising.  Displays were set up all over the town and on Easter Sunday an enormous parade was held in the city.  The entire defence force marched through the street and huge screens were set up at various points so that everyone could view the parade as well as the various wreath-laying ceremonies which took place all around the city.  It was all very well organised and the weather was perfect.





Dingle Bay



Michael booked a last minute trip to Dingle and he couldn’t have chosen a better weekend.  The weather was glorious and we really enjoyed driving through the countryside to the west coast of Ireland.  I have mentioned before how varied the Irish landscape is and on this drive we passed through all the various types of scenery including a spot where a large glacier used to be, leaving its unique rock formations.



On our arrival in Dingle we checked into our B & B, which was actually a converted stable.  The owner of the accommodation took one look at Michael and asked him how tall he was, and when he replied that he was six foot three, she told him that he might have a problem, as the room we had been allocated was a little small.  Well, she didn’t lie – the only place that Michael could stand up straight was directly under the skylight as the roof was very steeply pitched.  Mind you, he managed perfectly well, and the only person that managed to hit their head was me!  Actually, the owner was hilarious as she kept calling out questions to her husband who was in another room and he kept replying after a short delay – just like a sketch from Little Britain.

A hardware store that serves beer - how does any work get done

We had a tour booked for the Dingle Distillery and we had a wonderful guide who spent an hour telling us all about the history of whiskey and the story of the distillery.  Michael was a little disappointed there was no whiskey tasting as the first batch of Dingle whiskey will not be released until late 2016.  We were, however, able to taste the vodka and gin.  I have been a fan of Dingle gin since our arrival in Dublin, having first tried Dingle gin ice cream.  Yes, gin ice cream is a thing and what a wonderful thing it is.



One of Michael’s work colleagues had recommended a restaurant for us and so Michael duly made a reservation.  We arrived a little early so we decided to have a drink at a hardware store across the road from the restaurant.  Only in Ireland would you find a hardware store that is also a bar.  When we finished our drink and made our way across the road to the restaurant, we saw that there were crowds gathered in the street and there appeared to be a film crew as well.  We stopped for a moment to see what was going on and a Bentley convertible drove by.  The driver looked a bit like the red haired gentleman from Top Gear but I quickly dismissed the thought.  A second car closely followed and my jaw dropped – it was Matt LeBlanc!  I could have reached out and touched him he passed that close to me.  I could only stand there saying his name over and over like a complete idiot.  Michael was not overly impressed.  We discovered in the restaurant that Top Gear was filming a show in Dingle that weekend and that the red headed gentleman was indeed Chris Evans.  I have never watched an episode in my life however I shall make an exception when this episode airs.  Dinner was exceptional with beautiful, fresh produce and we finished the evening listening to a traditional Irish band in one of the many pubs in Dingle.



The following morning we took a leisurely stroll around the town followed by a drive around the Dingle Peninsula.  This drive stretches 48 kilometres and the coastline consists of steep sea cliffs and sandy beaches.  The scenery is spectacular made even more so by the fact that the sun was shining and there was no wind, so that the water looked like a sheet of glass.  We then took our time returning to Dublin, stopping along the way for lunch at Killarney.  We plan to do another trip to the west coast next month, as it really is a beautiful part of Ireland.

T- Shirt weather in Dingle. Pleasant 12 c

Spirit of the ANZACS



We attended the dawn service at Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin for the third year in a row.  Once again there was a good turn out for the well- organised ceremony, including the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins (or as Michael reverently calls him – The King of the Leprechauns).  There were various readings, hymns and prayers with the main address given by Professor Erik Eklund, the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College, Dublin.  There was a wreath laying ceremony, which was led by the Irish President.  He is rather good at laying wreaths, having practised extensively over the past month at the   various ceremonies held for the Easter Uprising centenary.  The Last Post was played and the one-minute silence observed.  In short, it was a very good service.