Finally, the port I was most excited for! DUBLIN, IRELAND! I have always wanted to see Ireland, not just because I heard it has gorgeous landscapes, but because of my Irish ancestry. I signed up to assist the Easy Dublin Highlights and Phoenix Park Tour. I didn’t realize though that “easy” meant “wheelchairs” since most of my guests were in wheelchairs. And this was a bit of a disappointment because the tour was mostly in the bus, passing places of interest and only stopping two times. But being on a bus, I was certainly able to see more of the city than if I had simply walked around. And since everyone had to take a shuttle to get there, my transportation was free. :)
My guest was a very friendly old man. It was so cute when he said things like “me” in place of “my” and “wee” for “little”! Right away, when I introduced myself, his eyes light up from my Irish name. He told me Shannon was a Celtic Goddess and the largest river in Ireland! How awesome is that! So now, when people ask me if I’m named after the famous actress I can say, “Nope, I’m named after my river in Ireland.”
The city of Dublin is over 1,000 years old. Vikings settled here and built the first town to have streets. It was a major trading center. I noticed the drivers driving on the right, which is WRONG! ;) As we headed out of the docks, the guide explained that Ireland has a healthy economy, by exporting more than importing. But the Government spends way too much. He pointed out on building and told the legend of how St. Patrick and how he drove all the snakes out of Ireland. “We keep 166 snakes in there,” he said. “It’s our reptilarium.” It was the Senate house. LOL.
We headed along the Northwall, opposite the Grand Central Dock. The first part of the city was the new Dublin, with developments like apartments and a convention center. Then we would see the old city. He informed us that they keep their buildings short because they want light from the sky. We passed a bridge that in the olden days, you had to pay half a penny to cross. We saw the Rugby stadium, a polo park, and the Guiness Brewery. The Guiness family was very rich and owned much of the property, a lot of which was donated to Dublin. We didn’t get out at Phoenix Park, the largest enclosed park in a city of Europe, which I thought would have been one of the stops. We continued on and saw the Dublin Zoo, the birthplace of Clarence, MGM’s famous lion.
The guide asked if there were any French people on the tour. Since there was none, he went on to explain that he always told the French to not look at the statue we were about to see. It was a monument of Wellington, general at Waterloo. “I try to save them from embarrassment, but they always look!” We moved along Dublin and drove a round about to see where diplomats resided. The two we saw were home to the American ambassador, neighbor to the Presidents house because we were the first to establish diplomatic relations with the Irish. Our guide said they do have to pay rent like everyone else, ONE DIME! For that gorgeous house, SO NOT FAIR!!!!
Maybe I should be an ambassador and move to Ireland!
GUESS WHAT! Ireland has a FEMALE PRESIDENT! Geez, somebody has it right!!!! We saw a parade of fancy cars ad police escorts leaving from the President’s place. Estates of royalty or politicians in Europe have flags on top of the building. If more than two are flying, the owner is currently there. Since only one flag was flying that day, I don’t think the president herself was there, or maybe they took the flag down because that was her leaving! :o Our guide said for Americans the house is a “copy” of the White House, to be diplomatic. It was the same Irish architect, but theirs was built before ours.
The weather was beautiful; he said despite the rumors, Ireland rarely has bad winters. I guess that depends on who is speaking; the Brazilians may beg to differ. Our first stop was
St. Patrick’s cathedral, one of the two Protest Episcopalian churches. St. Patrick’s is the largest church in Ireland and has the largest choir. The interior of the cathedral was gorgeous with its decorative Bishop’s chair and the knights of Ireland. The podium was a large golden eagle because in the bible, the word of the lord will be carried on the back on a large bird of prey. The eagle is also used for its likeness to God, it flies at great height and sees in amazing detail.
I learned that stain glass windows are strategically designed and placed in cathedrals. The northern window is always the brightest to catch the sun. The south has the darker colors. This church’s southern window had illustrations of the New Testament, the Old Testament and the Promises. Throughout the church, there were various dedications. There was a grave and burial devotion for Jonathan Swift and his wife. Swift was the Dean of St. Patrick’s while he wrote his famous novel, Gulliver’s Travels. There were monuments for other important people and discoveries, including a statue of Carolan, a famous Irish musician.
I finally learned how to read European license plates because the guide said that the Lord/ Mayor gets the first new car of the year so his plate now read 10 D1, D for Dublin. He also told us there are wheelchair taxis available here, that’s a brilliant idea. I’ve never heard of that before! Our second stop was at Trinity College. Queen Elizabeth the 1st of England made the university. We walked through the square, viewing all the aging buildings. All of them are neo classical design except on that was Elizabethan style. We passed the Berkley library. The creator of Berkley College in the US attended Trinity.
There are a total of eight million books throughout the libraries on Trinity campus. The main attraction here is the Book of Kells. Our guide said young people come from the US to bring the Irish “the new religion of Christianity”. When they try to enlighten him, he asks, “Have you seen our Book of Kells? It’s a bible that is 1,200 years old.” So, the Irish always reply to the converters, “WE KNOW!” Unfortunately, the public can see the book any day but Mondays, and of course we are there on a Monday. Still, the campus was worth the trip. Our guide joked how Americans say the best college in the world is Harvard, but their professors come from Trinity of Dublin!
On our trip back to the ship, he showed us the statue of Lyre. The legend says that the Queen, who was also their stepmother, transformed children into swans. They traveled over the seas for 800 years. When they were transformed back, they were only children for a short time because they aged quickly. Back in the port, I did some gift shopping. I’m very happy I got to see the important spots of Dublin, it was a very pretty and well kept city.
No comments:
Post a Comment