Dublin 23 May 2015

Public transport - I'm loving it! There are trains into Dublin but at 3 times the price of the bus. The Dublin Coach - 24 hours a day, and in Kildare, on the hour every hour - 5 Euros to Dublin and 10 to the Airport. Wifi, pretty much on time and not too uncomfortable. It's about an hour to Dublin and a further half hour to the airport.

It was the day of the Referendum and it was the only topic of conversation. Everybody I spoke to was really happy that it was a Yes result. They did seem to think that they were the first country in the world that had legalised gay marriage - well, maybe they were in the northern hemisphere. Just a heads up people, same sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since the Civil Union Act was enacted on 30 November 2006. There may be all sorts of drama in SA - Eskom, Nkandla, Danny Jordaan - but there are things we can be justifiably proud of.

The bus drops you off on the outskirts of Dublin at Red Cow (love the names) and then you get the tram into town. First time in a city is always a bit of a learning curve. I wanted to get an overview of the city before deciding on where to spend time. I got off at the Museum but I should have got further into the city centre, so it was quite a long walk. It was a grey day but pleasant walking weather. I orientated myself by the river Liffey with the beautiful bridges.

Lots of interesting wall art ..

 Some very interesting shop windows ..

And shops ..

Dublin castle - too long to wait for the tour, so just an outside view ..

Some ancient wall art at the castle ..

On to Trinity College. I took a tour. Our tour guide was a Trinity graduate called David with a macabre sense of humour. He knew where all the bodies were buried, including the monks underneath the biggest Maple trees I've ever seen - which is one of the reasons they are so big, along with the underground river.

In one of the courtyards is a brass sphere. We had seen a bigger version of this artwork in the gardens of the Vatican city last year. The artist is Arnaldo Pomodoro. The outer sphere moves around the inner sphere - I really like this piece of art.

Part of the tour was entrance to the Book of Kells and to the Library, but no photographs allowed inside - I snuck one in. In fact, the Irish Museum attendants are as unpleasant as the attendants in Italy - must require a particular type of person. To cut them a bit of slack, dealing with thousands of boorish tourists everyday must be quite trying but would a smile occasionally hurt? That was pretty much the only unpleasantness I came across from anyone in Ireland, except for the occasional bus driver, who wasn't Irish. For the most part everyone I met was friendly and up for a chat.

Forging on  - Ann had given me a list of things to do and next on the list was St Stephens Green. 

Last stop of the day - Oscar Wilde's House. 

It was closed. I really would like to have gone inside but actually I was pretty relieved. It had been a long day, I'd walked and walked and I was coming down with a bug so I just headed towards the tram station and the bus home. 

Only to find that there had been an accident on the freeway and we sat in a traffic jam for 3 hours! Never so glad as to meet Belinda at Cunningham's in Kildare and have a pint.

I'd love to come back to Dublin - there is so much that I didn't see. Sometime soon ...

Admin

A few people have asked me whether there is any kind of notification advice for a new blog posting. You will see a space at the bottom of the blog which allows you to enter your email address to follow the blog.  I tried it out and discovered that you will then receive an email if there are any new posts. Also, if you are only getting on to the blog via FB, try this address http://topsy25.blogspot.co.uk/.

This is a whole new learning experience for me - thanks to Helen for responding to all and sundry queries about how to do the most basic of blogging. Any other suggestions will be welcomed with confusion, more queries to Helen and possibly some changes. So let me know ...

Kildare 22 May 2015

Then a long walk into the village.  Kildare is a market town on the main Dublin / Cork / Limerick Road approximately 50km from Dublin. The road runs through the Curragh Plains - 5000 acres of rolling grasslands which house the Curragh Racecourse and where much of the training of the horses happens. Apparently the limestone rich grass strengthens horses bones, improves breeds and produces some of the finest horses in the world. The largest army base in the country is also situated here. That all said, I didn't actually get a photo of the Plains, way too much chatting as we drove through there a couple of times a day!

The Cathedral - St Brigid's - has been around in various shapes and sizes since 1223.

On the side of the church are the restored foundations of an ancient fire temple. According to a custodian I chatted to, only women are allowed into the pit. I didn't see any notices to that effect so maybe he was just yanking my chain. Tease the tourist!

And now, to the great excitement of the day - the Round Tower. The original tower was built in the 6th century, fell into ruin and was rebuilt in the 12th century - an unimaginable time scale for us from the New World. It is 108 feet high (the 2nd highest in Ireland and the highest that can be climbed), constructed from sandstone and granite and doesn't have any foundations - the same guy who told be about the fire pit also told me about the foundations, but only after I had climbed the tower, which is fortunate, because I probably wouldn't have if I'd known. I was the only visitor and was a little dubious once I saw the ladders, but I thought of the ladders on Skeleton Gorge and kept climbing! At least there were walls, though they closed in around me the higher I climbed.

And what a view .. 

That, and the climb up had made my knees weak. Probably the hardest part was to get back on to the ladders to go down. There must be people who froze on those steps - how on earth would they get them down? I made it, though I did need to lie down for a while afterwards.

St Brigid's Well 22 May 2015

It was a busy day!

The well is just down the road from the Stud. In the next post you will see the Church which is named for her. St Brigid and her nuns arrived in Kildare in 480AD and started a monastery.

The well is quite a way from the Church but is apparently used for the Saint's day on 1 February.  It's a lovely peaceful spot which appears to be fairly well used if the offerings are anything to go by.

The Japanese Gardens 22 May 2015

Same day, and same estate but completely separate from the Stud. The garden was created by Tassa Eida between 1906 and 1910. There is a symbolic path which leads from birth, through life and towards eternity. Its a mature, very beautiful garden. Once again, with the exception of a couple of tourists, I pretty much had the garden to myself.

Perhaps because it is so old, it's almost crowded with plants and shrubs and trees. It must require the constant work to keep it looking in good order.

And onwards towards the tearoom and tea and scones which I had to share with a very attentive duck.

Irish National STud 22 May 2015

First day in Ireland. I'm staying with a friend in Kildare - home of Irish bloodstock industry. I had a very busy day today so there will be a couple of postings - just to keep them separate.

I started at the Irish National Stud - an absolutely wonderful, immaculately kept stud farm started by Colonel William Hall Walker in 1900. He apparently believed that the foal's futures could be predicted by their astrological signs. Not sure how well that went but it's still going strong 115 years later. The farm was handed over to the Irish Government 1944 so it's really a national treasure.

There's a museum, though I just glanced in, it was much too nice a day to spend inside. 

 Inside the sphere...

There were a couple of busloads of tourists there but they were off in their own groups and I felt I pretty much had the 800 acres to myself most of the time. The sun shone! Apparently for the first time in a while, and I spent a lovely couple of hours meandering down lanes and looking at horses. Very peaceful.

The last picture are the retired horses - they obviously needed the rest - these had all been really big winners in their time. And how are those babies?

There is also St Fiachra's Garden with a stone monk's cell and a statue of him overlooking the lake.

Then on to the Japanese Garden which are also part of the farm. But that's the next post.

Stansted Airport 21 May 2015

Finished at last! And off to Ireland.  I caught a taxi to Saxmundham and then trains from there to Ipswich, London Liverpool and Stansted Airport. What a pleasure it is to hop on and off trains that have so far always been on time and extremely comfortable.

Stansted must be one of the busiest airports I've ever been in - it really is a cattle run. For the first time ever my whole procedure was paper free. I downloaded the airline app on to my i-pad and then just held it under the scanner whenever required - no queues besides the longest queue I've ever seen to go through security. There is a financial incentive to do it this way as they charge you to book in, in person. Mind you, they charge separately for everything - luggage, seat booking, priority loading, refreshments, newspapers, lottery tickets - it's a flying supermarket.

I got there two hours early for my flight and just plonked down on the floor and watched people go by. Quite interest viewing.

Then on to the plane which was jam packed. The airline stewards spent most of the flight walking up and down the aisles selling their wares. The plane was full of businessmen. My fellow passenger did the sign of the cross repeatedly on take off and then drank 2 bottles of wine. He actually was very pleasant company. I thought I'd skip the wine though, not having had any for 3 weeks (!) beforehand, I probably would have fallen down the stairs.