Sunday in Dublin 03/20/2022

Posted on  by Jerry

Not a cloud in the sky. Temperatures mid 40’s to low 50’s. Jacket weather. We had a very good Irish breakfast. Fried eggs, fried potato cakes, bacon and (I think) blood sausage. I had to try it. Linda had a waffle with ham. We had a couple of more hours to ride on the Hop On-Hop Off before our ticket expired. So we took advantage of it. We went around Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, and the Phoenix Gardens. I don’t know if you were aware of this, but the Duke of Wellington, the man who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, was from Dublin. They built a monument to the Duke in Phoenix Garden Speaking of Phoenix Park, it is the largest enclosed park in Europe. It has a big wall all the way around it. 700 Hectares or 1730 acres. It is very big. Beautiful park. It is also an inhabited park. The President of Ireland and the U.S. ambassador live within the park along with about 40 other families. This park has been around awhile. It was established in 1662.

I mentioned the Duke of Wellington, a favorite son of Ireland. In addition to being General of the Armies, he was also the Prime Minister of England. After Waterloo, in 1815 he was awarded an estate in Hamshire and a fortune of 400,000.00 Francs. Price of gas was not a problem for the Duke. He became Prime Minister in 1828 at the request of King George IV. There is much I could say about the Duke, but Auburn softball will be starting soon. So I need to wrap this up.

Linda and I walked along the waterfront, took a few pictures, and had a good dinner at Rockets Hamburger restaurant. We had the Rocket Combo, hamburger, fries and a Coke. Just like home. They also had Nathan’s Hot Dogs on the menu.

On a serious note, the potato famine had a tremendous impact not only in Ireland, but also the countries the migrants went to. Along the waterway are some statues that depicted the migrants. How awful it must have been.

Jerry over the River Liffey
Potato Famine Migrants
Canadian Plaque about the migrants
Migrant Ship
Duke of Wellington
A kindler ,gentler Guinness (Harp Lager)
Famine Shoes
P

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Walk Through History 03/10/2022

Image
You could not ask for better weather than we had today. Not a cloud in the sky, temperature in the mid 50's. We met Harry and Amanda for breakfast in the hotel and afterwards began our tour of Dublin. We walked to Connelley Train Station and printed our tickets to Belfast for Monday. Then we walked to the Dublin Spire to meet our tour guide. Our guide was Sam McGovern. Sam is a native of Ireland and is a professional actor. He has appeared in several movies and does a lot of commercials in Ireland. One of his movies can be seen on NetFlix. The name of his NetFlix movie is "Michael Inside". Just google Sam McGovern, actor and you will see a list of Sam's movies. As I said, the weather was great and 3 and 1/2 hours and 15,000 steps later, we finished our tour. We had made a new friend and he shared a great deal of the history of Dublin and Ireland with us. I felt this was one of best tours we have had in our travels. If your travels bring you to Dublin, and yo...
Read more
Image
  Extended Touring 03/22/2022 Posted on  March 23, 2022  by  Jerry We are tourists and we do tourist stuff. I am interested in the story behind the story. Europe has churches all over the place that were built in medieval times. Ireland has its share. Today we will visit two of those. Christ Church and Saint Patrick’s Church. Christ Church, located in the heart of medieval Dublin, was founded in 1028 by Sitric Silkenbeard, King of the Dublin Norsemen. Sitric’s father was a Viking and his mother was Irish. Christ Church is the eldest medieval church in Dublin, the second being Saint Patrick. This church has served its membership for over 1,000 years. Like anything else, its fortunes rose and fell through the years. After 800 years, there was a certain amount of restoration and renovations that needed to be done. A Dublin whiskey distiller, Henry Roe, became a benefactor for the church. Between 1871 and 1878 a tremendous fortune was spent on this work. There is a fable...
Read more

Embarkation Day 03/08/2022

 Have you ever been to Ireland?  Have you ever wanted to go to Ireland?  Now is your opportunity to experience Ireland, vicariously, through the eyes of Harry and Amanda, Linda and myself.  We are leaving Prattville and Wetumpka on the first leg of our journey to Ireland.  Atlanta to Boston then Boston to Dublin.  We will arrive about 0930 tomorrow. (around 0330 CST). A friend asked me once how I would describe my life. I felt it was a life of adventure.  I came of age as a very young Army helicopter pilot, flying Hueys in Vietnam. I spent the next 40 years flying helicopters and fixed wing aircraft for the Alabama, U.S. Army ,and the Southern Company. My real adventure started when I met and married Linda Hicks in 1974.  This trip marks our 48th wedding anniversary.  The adventure continues. Through the last decade we have traveled all over Europe with Harry and Amanda, and this trip will be another chapter in our adventure book. So join us ...
Read more