Two nights in Dublin town.
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2009
1
17
20
Trip End
Sep 19, 2009
Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
We arrived at the Burlington Hotel around 4:00 PM. We were able to check in right away. Jim found an empty bell hop cart and we took our own bags to our room. Stepping off the lift (elevator) on the second floor we squinted into the dimly lit hall way. The hall carpets looked in need of a good shampooing. Once in our room we found it was actually worse than the hall. It smelled like smoke, the carpet looked dirty and paint was peeling from the ceiling in the bathroom. As you might expect, we were very unhappy. Jim wanted to get our money back and go out and find another place. I suggested we call the desk and see if we could get a better room. Jim dialed the desk and politely voiced our complaint. The desk clerk could not have been nicer. She immediately switched our room and came up to give us a new key. She ordered a bell-man help us move to the 5th floor. The new room was much fresher and we were now willing to spend the two nights.
After settling into our room we went out in search of the Dublin double decker on-off bus. The kind gentleman at the front desk told us to walk about 3 blocks to St. Stephen's Square to find the nearest bus stop.
The bus cost about 10 Euro each (this is a guess). Jim remembers I had a coupon that halved the original cost but neither of us is sure at this point. The first stop for us was Dublin Castle. We both loved this historical site. It's huge, old and now in the hands of the government of the Republic of Ireland. As most ancient building in Ireland are the Dublin Castle was built by the Normans. It is still an amazing and beautiful place. The Republic of Ireland uses the castle for administrative offices and state events. We were able to see about 8 of the rooms. They were not set up as they were used in times of old but as they are used today. My favorite room was a ball room that has amazing paintings on the ceiling. I also loved learning about the coats of armor that all of the Presidents of Ireland design. They are placed in the grand hallway once a President is out of office. At the end of the tour we were taken down into the basement to see the base of a tower that was erected in 1200 and was excavated about 10 years ago. It was a wonder to see, especially since a part of the mote was there as well.
The next place we stopped was St. Patrick's Cathedral. Jim and I were in awe in this place. Again we felt we were walking through time. Even though St. Patrick's is in regular use as a church it is also set up as a museum. There is a charge to get in but it is well worth the price of 4.5 Euro. Some of the flags that denoted army brigands were so old they were nearly black and in taters. We spent about 3 hours wandering around. This is also when my feet started to give out. I sat whenever I could find a bench, pew or chair near something I was interested in examining. When we left the church we walked a short distance to the bus stop and I said to Jim, "I need to rest my feet." He said, "Let's go the the Guinness Storehouse and just do lunch in their restaurant." Good idea. A little rest on the bus then lunch, I could handle that....
We got off at the Guinness Storehouse in good spirits and headed in. That's when we found out you needed to pay admission to get to the restaurant on the 5th floor. I wanted to leave and eat elsewhere but Jim really wanted to eat there. We started talking to a security guard, Kevin, Brian, Patrick.... something like that... Well, he was such a nice guy. He understood our plight. He could see the pain from my feet in my face. He said, "I like you two. Why don't you try to pinch in?" Well, I wasn't keen on pinching in but Jim was delighted with the idea. So after a short discussion we decided to take, Kevin, Brian or Patrick's advice and walk up to the entry line and just brazenly walk in. Jim was concerned for me and said, "lets take the elevator". We stood in front of the elevator doors, I looked back at Kevin, Brian or Patrick and he was gesturing wildly for us to take the escalator. We laughed and headed around to the moving stairs. The restaurant was not as great as we expected but the food was good, the view was as nice as could be on a cloudy day and we were sitting. After lunch we used the elevator to the 1st floor gift shop where Jim went nuts buying everything Guinness. I do think it was his favorite shopping adventure.
After that we were both so tired we decided to take the bus back towards the hotel. Of course it was the end of the day for the bus adventure and we were dropped at the end of the line and had to walk a good distance to the hotel. We were so excited to find St. Stephen's Square because we knew how to find the hotel from there. However we decided to walk through the park. I guess we lost our sense of direction because we came out at the wrong corner without realizing it and walked a long distance before we realized we were lost. Jim finally directed me to a hotel where we could get a drink and have a rest. He snuck out to the lobby and ordered a cab to return to the hotel. I was so happy to hear that. My feet hurt so much I was considering a piggy back ride otherwise.
