Well, they could have named it the 'Only So-So Cigar Emporium'. This place was on Grafton Street in Dublin.
This one is for all my comic-book loving friend out there.
The bell tower and central square of Trinity College. It is supposed to be bad luck for a Trinity student (present or future) to walk through the Tower.
There were four main courses at Trinity at the beginning. This statue atop the bell tower represents the religious studies. I recall that two of the others are law and medicine.
One of a pair of Oregon (yes, Oregon) Oak Trees that were planted as an experiment. Obviously, Oregon Oaks love the Irish climate. I am standing 30-50 feet from the base of the tree to give you a sense of exactly how big this tree is. The two trees sit behind the bell tower in the main square.
One of a (literally) thousand churches. This is Christ Church Cathedral (which is not actively Catholic, but Chruch of Ireland). Unfortunately, after a while, the churches in Dublin all start to look alike.
Another view from the tour bus of Christ Church Cathedral.
The name amused me. I have no idea what 'off-licence' means.
This is the lintel of the doorway to Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced jail). In order to pass, one is made lower than 5 serpents, intending to humble the prisoner and let them know they are nothing, literally lower than a snake. This prison gained notoriety as the holding and execution place of the 16 engineers of the failed 1916 revolt that eventually led to the formation of the Republic of Ireland (not to be confused with Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom).
It is interesting to note that had the British government handled the 1916 rebellion differently (ie not stretching out the executions over a 10 day period and allowing several touching personal stories to occur and be reported), the final battle for Irish independence may not have happened. Initially, public opinion was not aligned with the 1916 rebellion, however, it turned through the publication of the stories of the men and their wives. For example, there was a couple allowed to marry one night and the next morning, the gentleman met his end.
A cell originally meant to hold one person. At the end of Kilmainham's use, one could find as many as 7 or 8 in such a space. Often times the number would vary as individuals waiting transport to Austrailia were housed here until a ship was ready for them. Children as young as 5 were housed here with adults.
Tools used in the making of Guiness. Taken at the Guiness Storehouse.
Good beer starts with good water.
While difficult to explain, this is essentially the view of a beer coaster at the base of a glass of Guiness. The glass is roughly the size of a 4 or 5 story building, and as you start the tour of the Storehouse, you are standing at the base of the 'glass'.
The next few are pictures of methods of transporting Guiness around the world. I took them for a friend who loves trains.
At the end of the Storehouse tour is the Gravity Bar, a 360 degree view of Dublin. The tower with the copper top used to be a windmill.
A view out toward the largest enclosed park (Phoenix Park) in Europe. It is just to the right of the spire in the center of the frame. Further on in the distance is Dublin Zoo, which is, I believe the second oldest zoo in Europe. No, I didn't go.
Guiness land. Which has a 9000 (yep, I typed it right) year lease. Guiness has about 8750 years left on it.
That big spike in the center of the screen is O'Connel Street, also known as the City Center. Most Dubliners are pretty cynical about many of their landmarks, giving them epitaphs that are not always repeatable. :-)
You can see what I mean about the number of churches in Dublin. In the foreground are no less than 4 that can be easily made out. The copper-topped building is part of Trinity College.
This amused me. I can't explain why.
A really fuzzy picture of Jameson and his wife.
One of the 3 bars at the Jamison Distillery.
A better picture of the bar.
So the cat in the upper center of the frame used to keep mice out of the granary when the distillery in Dublin was operational. He was apparently such a good cat that they stuffed him. Swear. The tour guide told us.
A view up river in Waterford. I would not recommend walking from the train station to the bus station, personally, but that's just me. I suppose I mightn't have minded the ~2 mile walk between the two stations if I hadn't spent the previous three days walking the length of Dublin. If you want to have a home base (like Dublin) and do day trips from there, I highly recommend the Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail) sponsored tours. Totally worth the money.
A down river view from the bridge that connects the train station to the rest of Waterford.
A view from the train to the rock wall next to us.
Waterford as the train pulled away. That bridge is where I was standing to take the up and down river pictures.
SHEEP!!!!!
Trains for Gabriel.
An old wall. I found the top of the wall interesting.
The next day (Wednesday, May 21, 2008). We decided that self-guided tours left much to be desired, so we took the Iarnrod Eireann half day trip down to County Wicklow.
On the way to the handweaving mill at Avoca in Co. Wicklow.
Apparently one of the most expensive places to live in Ireland. These town homes are reported to go for upwards of 25 Million Euro. Yep. For a townhome.
Pretty countryside.
Probably the least green spot in all of Ireland.
More sheep.
More pretty country side. Yes, it really is that green.
Apparently, there is a castle tower back there.
The spindle loom at the weaving mill in Avoca. Avoca was the setting for the BBC show 'Ballykissangel'. There are hundreds of spools of thread on the racks, and each spool's thread is aligned properly.
Thread that is not being used is tied up. Otherwise it goes through the straightener.
Weaving shuttles.
Weaving loom with a blanket in process.
A weaver hard at work. It is difficult to describe the coordination, but he must keep his feet on the correct pedals while pulling the shuttle in the correct direction. It was a lot of fun to watch.
A stream at the weaving mill in Avoca
Pretty flowers.
From the bus on the way from Avoca to Glendalough (Glenlock).
A mountain at Glendalough.
On the path to the lake at Glendalough.
Glendalough is a 16th century monastic ruin. This wall is part of the ruin.
The lake at Glendalough.
The mountains surrounding the lake.
There is a waterfall around the bend. There used to be a boat tour of the lake that would take you to it, but it was closed down due to insurance premiums.
Not sure if anyone lives in the house.
The second arch of the doorway to the ruin.
A cross is inscribed on the right hand side, just inside the second arch.
A view from one of the windows. I had to stand on my tip toes and stretch as far as I could to get this, but it was worth it.
I would assume that this was the Chapel portion of the monastary. There are no placards to tell you, but that's my guess.
A view of the window in the previous pictures. You can see by the relative height of the person standing there what I meant about having to stretch.
The lintel over the door way. It's amazing to me that this place was built by hand.
The only intact structure remaining.
A view of the valley.
A doorway in the building from the previous picture. I had to take my backpack off and turn slightly sideways to get through. The monastary was invaded several times by Vikings, so this could be the reason for the super skinny doors. Or, maybe, they were just reeeaaaaly skinny people.
To give you and idea, I had the camera at waist level. This tower is pretty big.
The double archway from the inside.
On Thursday (May 22nd) we took a trip to County Cork to see Blarney Castle among other things.
You can see the seam of the building. It was built in two parts. The window protruding from the side was the king's bedroom.
A kennel (right) and guard house.
The walls are 15 feet thick in places.
The watchman's tower. Now completely hollow.
A view inside the young girls' room. The priests' room was directly above this.
The kitchen in Blarney is near the top of the building. The sign explains that there are several reasons for this: if the cook burnt the pies, the whole building was not in danger, it is nearest the banquet room, it provides quick delivery of the boiling oil for the dumping on to raiding armies. Seriously.
A blurry close up of the explanation sign. You can see point three verifies the boiling oil thing.
A view out one of the holes (not a window, a hole) in the wall of the castle.
Part of the original wall.
A view from above the kitchen to where the kitchen photos were taken.
A view through one of the ports at the top of the castle. Presumably used for shooting attackers and pouring boiling oil.
The current Blarney House. Blarney Castle is privately owned. The family who owns it has done so and lived in this house for about 200 years.
A view through the Chapel and into the banquet hall, with the family room being the bottm floor.
A view from the family room up through the banquet hall and into the Chapel.
A random room in the castle. The sign says 'Blarney Stone'. No, I didn't kiss it. That's just gross.
A view out into what is now a courtyard in the ruin. You can see the watchman's tower in the background.
Lusitania grave site in Cobh (pronounced Cove). There are three mass graves in this cemetary, with this monument in addition.
The marker for one of the three mass graves for victims of the Lusitania.
A view from in front of the cathedral in Cobh out to the harbor where ships such as the Lusitania and Titanic sailed from. Not to mention a majority of the boats that carried immigrants from Ireland to the States in the 19th century.
The cathedral spire.
The front door to the cathedral.
To this day, it amazes me that this was all done by hand.
St Stephen's Green in Dublin. A public park that was donated to the city by Arthur Guiness.
A view from one of the bridges in St. Stephen's Green. This was not far from the hotel. Grafton Street begins just outside the park, leading to the Temple Bar area and Trinity College. There is also a large shopping center just outside the park.
I saw this on a Dublin City bus and thought it interesting.
This is the guardhouse outside the castle we stayed in our last few nights.
Clontarff Castle was originally part of the city defenses. It was then turned into a cabaret in the 1950's or 60's. Now it is a hotel and conference center.
