Trip to Ireland
September – October 2006
Sunday 24 September
We were off to a late start as yesterday was
pretty
tiring. We first bought a Sunday paper
at convenience store. We asked the eastern
European clerk which of the Sunday papers were Irish and he tried to
steer us
to the News of the World!
We then went across the Liffey and had a latte at
Lemon
Jelly and read the paper.
O'Connell
Street was busy with a lot of pedestrians. From there we walked in front of the Custom
House and took a look at the Docklands development.
There is a lot of construction under way and
the railway will be put in shortly.
Lunch was cod/smoked cod and chips. One of the girls in the
restaurant
greeted two guys who had a large Labrador. The dog was treated to a piece of fish (with
batter) and a drink outside while they went inside.
The washroom was illuminated by a single
candle. It wasn't so bad once your eyes
had become accustomed to the dark.
We walked across the river and past Pearce station
with its
decorative cast iron bridge, columns and entranceway, past the row of
artists
selling their work and took a look at Merrion Square
Park which is well
kept. Several of the cast iron lamp
posts were works of art in themselves.
The Georgian houses are on three sides of the square. Apart from their elegant doors and the
occasional
ironwork balcony they are quite stark.
A short walk brought us to the north side of St.
Stevens
Green to Dawson and the Dawson Lounge
reputed to
be the smallest pub in Dublin. It is down a flight of stairs and very
cosy. When we arrived for a Guinness and
a Bulmers Cider we were the only ones there but it began to fill up
shortly
thereafter.
We went back to the hotel through a covered
market, now used
for artists and a flea market followed by a short foray to pick up a
book on
Luas.
