Tag: Temple Bar

Brú na Bóinne

After uploading my blog post yesterday, we decided to go out for dinner and some music. We walked down over the Ha’penny Bridge:

And through Merchant’s Arch:

And into Temple Bar, where we had a nice meal with some nice live music at The Old Storehouse. We arrived at just the right time, because we got what seemed to be the last table in the place, very near the music, and by the time we left, there was a line-up down the stairs and out the door.

Today, our last full day in Ireland, was our Newgrange tour. We’d really been looking forward to this, and it turned out even better than I had hoped.

First stop was the Hill of Tara. I know I’ve posted a fair number of pictures of the hill on previous trips, but here’s some more.

I’ve been to Tara a few times, but this is the only time we were allowed close enough to the Mound of Hostages to get a look inside, even if we couldn’t go in.

After that, it was down to the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre for our Newgrange visit. Again, I’ve posted a lot of pictures of Newgrange before, but I was there, so I took some more. I did get an actual clear, peopleless shot of the entry and the entry stone for the first time.

So, the best thing about the tour?

WE GOT TO SEE KNOWTH AS WELL AS NEWGRANGE!

Knowth is another passage tomb nearby that I’ve wanted to see since I first heard about it. It’s bigger than Newgrange, and has had less reconstruction done on it. It is also a cluster of mounds, with a large central mound and nineteen satellite mounds. And it’s got a LOT more decorated kerb stones.

So, I was super-excited and took a lot of pictures. Here’s some of them.

So. That was an awesome tour for our final day.

Tomorrow, we fly home. I’m not looking forward to the long travel day, but I am looking forward to being home. This has been a great trip, but I’m tired, and I miss my own bed.

Slán leat, Ireland!

Dublin Farewell

This was my last full day in Dublin. I was kind of lazy, and just spent the day wandering around Grafton Street and Temple Bar. Apparently, the bank holiday that I thought was last weekend is, in fact, this weekend, so my comments about how busy it was on Monday seem kind of quaint after going out today.

Nothing really special to report, except that I stopped in for some ice cream at Murphy’s Ice Cream. I’d been walking past their shops in each of the cities I’ve stayed in this trip, and finally broke down to give it a try. The young man offering samples convinced me to try Dingle Sea Salt ice cream and Caramelised Brown Bread ice cream, which were both pretty tasty, so I got a cup with a scoop of each, and I gotta tell ya, they were awesome together.

I also completed the last little bit of shopping I wanted to do, and came back to the flat by a roundabout route. This evening, I’m going to get most of my packing done, so I’m ready to head out the door moderately early tomorrow morning. I don’t want to have to rush at the airport.

Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, with a long1 layover in Toronto, and I’m not looking forward to that bit. I’m going to miss Ireland – I’ve had an awesome vacation here, again – but I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night.

Slán leat, Dublin.

  1. 6-7 hours. [↩]