A Quick Visit to Dublin October 3, 2006
We had a 10:55 AM flight to Dublin from Glasgow this morning so we were up early and had our US$23 breakfast before walking to the terminal across the street and checking in. The weather was great as it was the perfect fall day; clear and cool. We flew Aer Lingus for the first time and were pleased with the flight and the service. We landed in Dublin about 11:50 and the weather here was the same.
We have a rental car from Budget. The car, a Toyota Corolla, has been through the mill with scrapes on three of the fenders, scratches on the doors and a cover missing from one of the side mirrors. The sad thing is this was the best looking car in this group. We decided to be ready for some rough driving. We had read the roads in Ireland are not maintained well so we thought this maybe was the reason for the condition of the cars. As we were leaving the airport and going through a round-a-bout the rear roll up door of the truck in front of us suddenly opened and as he turned large plastic pallets started falling out of the back. Thanks to my lightening reflexes I swerved, braked and managed to miss them all. Five miles or so down the road the car in front of us suddenly lurched as he ran over a large rolled up carpet. The traffic was heavy and there was no room to swerve. Thanks to my steely arm muscles I was able to maintain control as we too ski ramped over the bundle. Maybe it’s not all road conditions that cause car damage here. We will be careful.
We had booked tonight over the internet at a hotel named IMI (Irish Management Institute) Residence which is located in the suburb of Sandyford. After some searching, with one eye out for road clutter, we found a sprawling complex with the IMI sign at the gate. It turns out that this is a multi-purpose facility affiliated with Trinity College that is academic as well as sponsoring seminars and conventions and operating a public hotel. It took a couple of tries as we first tried to register at the Registrar’s office who redirected us to the hotel registration. Alls well that ends well as the room is fairly new, clean and well laid out.
We took the LUAS, the light rail, which is just a few blocks from the IMI, into the city centre to look around. Holly wanted to go to Trinity College to see The “Book of Kells”. This is a copy of the four gospels that was scribed and lavishly illustrated in the early 9th century AD. The pages are vellum (calf skin) which is part of the reason it is so well preserved. The book has survived numerous fires, a Viking raid that left 68 monks dead as well as raids by other factions during numerous wars over the centuries. It is amazing thing to see.
Also at Trinity is the library called the “The Long Room” which was built in 1732 and is 65 meters long contains 200,000 of the oldest volumes and a collection of busts begun in 1743 as well as the oldest surviving Irish Harp.
After Trinity we walked along the River Liffy and explored the old parts of Dublin for the rest of the afternoon. A quick LUAS ride brought us back to Sandyford and the IRI. So we’re all tucked in for the evening and watching CSI.
Tomorrow we start our Ireland tour and may or may not have internet access for days at a time, so please check back periodically for updates.
We have a rental car from Budget. The car, a Toyota Corolla, has been through the mill with scrapes on three of the fenders, scratches on the doors and a cover missing from one of the side mirrors. The sad thing is this was the best looking car in this group. We decided to be ready for some rough driving. We had read the roads in Ireland are not maintained well so we thought this maybe was the reason for the condition of the cars. As we were leaving the airport and going through a round-a-bout the rear roll up door of the truck in front of us suddenly opened and as he turned large plastic pallets started falling out of the back. Thanks to my lightening reflexes I swerved, braked and managed to miss them all. Five miles or so down the road the car in front of us suddenly lurched as he ran over a large rolled up carpet. The traffic was heavy and there was no room to swerve. Thanks to my steely arm muscles I was able to maintain control as we too ski ramped over the bundle. Maybe it’s not all road conditions that cause car damage here. We will be careful.
We had booked tonight over the internet at a hotel named IMI (Irish Management Institute) Residence which is located in the suburb of Sandyford. After some searching, with one eye out for road clutter, we found a sprawling complex with the IMI sign at the gate. It turns out that this is a multi-purpose facility affiliated with Trinity College that is academic as well as sponsoring seminars and conventions and operating a public hotel. It took a couple of tries as we first tried to register at the Registrar’s office who redirected us to the hotel registration. Alls well that ends well as the room is fairly new, clean and well laid out.
We took the LUAS, the light rail, which is just a few blocks from the IMI, into the city centre to look around. Holly wanted to go to Trinity College to see The “Book of Kells”. This is a copy of the four gospels that was scribed and lavishly illustrated in the early 9th century AD. The pages are vellum (calf skin) which is part of the reason it is so well preserved. The book has survived numerous fires, a Viking raid that left 68 monks dead as well as raids by other factions during numerous wars over the centuries. It is amazing thing to see.
Also at Trinity is the library called the “The Long Room” which was built in 1732 and is 65 meters long contains 200,000 of the oldest volumes and a collection of busts begun in 1743 as well as the oldest surviving Irish Harp.
After Trinity we walked along the River Liffy and explored the old parts of Dublin for the rest of the afternoon. A quick LUAS ride brought us back to Sandyford and the IRI. So we’re all tucked in for the evening and watching CSI.
Tomorrow we start our Ireland tour and may or may not have internet access for days at a time, so please check back periodically for updates.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 2:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home