On Monday, our first full day in Dublin, we slept in a bit. Then we got ready and headed out to the
Botanical Gardens.
En route, we walked along the
quai along the River
Liffey. That modern-looking building in the background of this picture was across from the street on which our hotel was located, so we saw it several times a day. It reminded us of a soda can tipped over a bit.
Brian got a little too close to the edge for my liking:
I saw what I thought was some kind of modern sculpture along the dock; upon closer inspection, we realized that it was some kind of useful object for the ships in the river:
We saw the
Jeanie Johnston replica of a ship that took people suffering from the potato famine to America. According to our guidebook, these were often called "coffin ships" due to the fact that many passengers never made it to their destination. Not so for the people on the Jeanie Johnston; over 2,500 people in 16
journeys made it safely with no fatalities!
The ship was not available for tours, so this was as close as we got to it:
Continuing our walk along the river, we crossed the
Millennium Bridge, not knowing its name and remarking at how it resembled the
Millennium Bridge in London.
On the other side of the bridge was a mall. We stopped there and had breakfast at a cafe inside:
We crossed this little stream and stopped to watch the waterfowl:
We stopped at an ATM as we had almost exhausted the supply of euros we had left over from previous trips.
Finally, after a walk much longer than we anticipated, we arrived at the Botanical Gardens:
Planning our visit:
I'm sure they are even more spectacular during the summer, but we still enjoyed our visit.
Until our last day in Ireland, the only rain we experienced was in the Palm House:
We had lunch at the cafe in the Gardens:
The breads (almost hidden by the soup bowls) were especially delicious!
Sadly, the Waterlily House was closed for some obviously much-needed renovations!
Exiting the Gardens, we stumbled upon a
cemetery, so we walked around some.
Then, we decided to take a bus back to the City Center instead of walking. Unfortunately, we waited on the wrong side of the street for quite some time, missing buses that would have taken us to our destination. It probably would have been quicker to walk!
When we made it back into town, a pub stop was definitely in order! The place we went made their own beer, so Brian had a house beer while I had a cider.
Fortified, we headed back out for some more sightseeing. We stopped at
Whitefriar Street Church to see the St. Valentine relics. We didn't take pictures.
Then, we went to the
Marsh Library, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Dublin.
Outside the gate to the library:
Pictures weren't allowed inside, sadly, but we had a great visit! It's the first public library in Ireland and is over 300 years old, still in its original location! We had very pleasant conversations with two of the guards.
Exiting the area:
As we'd seen in London, the streets remind pedestrians which way to look for oncoming traffic:
St. Patrick's Cathedral was visible in the distance, so that was our next destination.
The inside:
We arrived close to closing time, so didn't spend a lot of time inside the cathedral. We walked around town some more, looking for a place for dinner.
We ended up eating at
Govinda's Vegetarian Restaurant; the food was quite delicious!
After dinner, we returned to our hotel, tired.
Here's our plane, getting loaded:
The actual travel was uneventful. The plane did not have TV screens in the back of the seats in front of us, so we listened to music and read instead. And tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to sleep.
Here I am, on the bus, waiting to go!
We were dropped off a few blocks from our hotel, so we walked there, hoping they might have a room available even though it wasn't yet check-in time.
No such luck, so we left our bags and headed out to explore Dublin a bit. We decided to go with a hotel rather than an apartment this time for several reasons; among them, we found a great deal on this hotel, Maldron Cardiff Lane, that had a nice fitness area, including a swimming pool and hot tub.
We happened upon Trinity College, so we went in and walked around a bit.
These pictures were taken only minutes apart; isn't the difference in the sky striking?
Tired from our trip and a bit out of sorts since we hadn't yet been able to shower, Brian took a short rest while we contemplated what to do next:
A funny sight:
We decided to go to the restaurant on campus for visitors, but it was not yet open.
Ravenous by this point, we walked around until we found an open cafe:
We just had coffee and scones, expecting to eat lunch later. Sadly, we didn't remember to stop for lunch, so this ended up being it:
Reenergized, we continued our wandering. We stumbled on St. Stephen's Mall and walked around. We almost never go to malls in America, but we seem to find our way to those overseas; go figure!
Descending the stairs:
Our guidebook mentioned a park nearby, so we headed outside. We walked around, soaking in the sun and watching the wildlife.
We found another nearby park, a bit more secluded, for some relaxation.
...while listening to the sound of this waterfall:
Unlike London, trashcans were everywhere!
By this time, we had reached check-in time for our hotel, so we returned. This pub was located on the corner of the street our hotel was on and the quai (we never went in here, though):
An outside view of our hotel:
And an inside view of the room:
We went downstairs and into the hot tub, steam room, and sauna, which were nice after a day of travel! Despite the fact that we had chosen the hotel partly for its fitness facilities and had brought clothes to work out in, this would prove our only visit here. We just couldn't find the time!
A somewhat blurry, but still beautiful, shot of the area near the River Liffey, en route back to our hotel.
Back at the hotel, we fell asleep, exhausted.
Brian got a little too close to the edge for my liking:
I saw what I thought was some kind of modern sculpture along the dock; upon closer inspection, we realized that it was some kind of useful object for the ships in the river:
We saw the Jeanie Johnston replica of a ship that took people suffering from the potato famine to America. According to our guidebook, these were often called "coffin ships" due to the fact that many passengers never made it to their destination. Not so for the people on the Jeanie Johnston; over 2,500 people in 16 journeys made it safely with no fatalities!
Continuing our walk along the river, we crossed the Millennium Bridge, not knowing its name and remarking at how it resembled the Millennium Bridge in London.
On the other side of the bridge was a mall. We stopped there and had breakfast at a cafe inside:
We crossed this little stream and stopped to watch the waterfowl:
We stopped at an ATM as we had almost exhausted the supply of euros we had left over from previous trips.
Finally, after a walk much longer than we anticipated, we arrived at the Botanical Gardens:
Planning our visit:
I'm sure they are even more spectacular during the summer, but we still enjoyed our visit.
Until our last day in Ireland, the only rain we experienced was in the Palm House:
We had lunch at the cafe in the Gardens:
The breads (almost hidden by the soup bowls) were especially delicious!
Exiting the Gardens, we stumbled upon a cemetery, so we walked around some.
Then, we decided to take a bus back to the City Center instead of walking. Unfortunately, we waited on the wrong side of the street for quite some time, missing buses that would have taken us to our destination. It probably would have been quicker to walk!
When we made it back into town, a pub stop was definitely in order! The place we went made their own beer, so Brian had a house beer while I had a cider.
Fortified, we headed back out for some more sightseeing. We stopped at Whitefriar Street Church to see the St. Valentine relics. We didn't take pictures.
Pictures weren't allowed inside, sadly, but we had a great visit! It's the first public library in Ireland and is over 300 years old, still in its original location! We had very pleasant conversations with two of the guards.
As we'd seen in London, the streets remind pedestrians which way to look for oncoming traffic:
St. Patrick's Cathedral was visible in the distance, so that was our next destination.
The inside:
We arrived close to closing time, so didn't spend a lot of time inside the cathedral. We walked around town some more, looking for a place for dinner. 
After dinner, we returned to our hotel, tired.
