bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2025-08-27 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2025-08-27 11:59 pm
Ireland and England Trip - Day 5 of 11
WEDNESDAY
I set an alarm for 7:30 and was up about 5 to use the bathroom, then returned to bed until it went off. We had breakfast in another room from the usual one since the main dining room was full. After breakfast we went downstairs to check out the basement gym and returned to the room via a small elevator directly from the basement (-1) level. The regular elevators we used had no first floor because of the high ceiling on the ground floor, but this elevator did have access to the first floor. We spent a few minutes in the room relaxing and plotting a course for the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
It was a moderately short walk (about a km) to Tara Street Station just across the river Liffey. Gary purchased tickets and we made our way to the platform just in time for the train to Bray via Dun Laoghaire to depart. Fortunately, the trains are frequent and we had less than 15 minutes' wait for the following train. We sat opposite each other beside a mother and son the whole way down. I was surprised by the extent of the tide flats in the harbor as we approached Dun Laoghaire.
When we arrived and got our bearings, we discovered that the library offers a three-story lift from the harbor and railroad level to the museum. The building is a former Church of Ireland sanctuary, built for mariners and particularly the crews of British guard ships. On arrival, a gentleman standing outside the museum ushered us in to join the tour in progress, led by a tall gentleman named Ian with a mop of white hair. Ian had been a mariner himself for years. The group of maybe ten or twelve people followed him around to the various exhibits on the lower level, including a large rotating Fresnel lens from a lighthouse where the altar had stood while the church was in operation. The rose window in the back reproduced a famous painting portraying Jesus knocking on a door. The harbor at Dun Laoghaire (originally spelled phonetically as "Dunleary", then renamed Kingstown after a visit from the British monarch, and finally restored in the 1920s with Irish independence) was established after two vessels, unable to return to Dublin harbor during a storm, sank near Blackrock just up the coast. A third vessel, the Leinster, operating the mail and ferry route to Holyhead, Wales was sunk by a German U-boat en route from Kingstown in 1918 toward the end of World War I. There was one heroic story among the tragedy: an Irish merchant ship the MV Kerlogue, returning from Portugal with a crew of 11 and a cargo of oranges, rescued 168 German sailors and took them to a POW camp at Cobh (Cove). The tour closed with a demonstration of a breeches buoy using a large teddy bear named Cliff Hanger. 🐻 After the tour we stopped by the reception desk to support the museum with our admission fees (we did receive the senior discount rate of €6) and head upstairs to the gallery, with its exhibits on traditional Irish vessels; naval officers from Ireland who went on to command roles in other navies including the US, Argentina, and Chile; the Titanic; a radio room mockup; etc.
When we were done, we descended the stairs to exit. Between the museum and the library, we spotted a passage leading to the East Pier and followed it to find a food truck called Say Fish. We took our fish and chips to a bench sheltered behind a hedgerow from the sea on the outside of the pier. There were many birds looking for stray chips or morsels of fish; mostly smaller birds of a species we didn't recognize, plus the occasional seagull. After we'd eaten, I returned the leftover packaging to the truck for recycling and compost as instructed. We then descended to the interior of the pier in search of ice cream, since it was becoming clear that neither of us was up for the long walk to the lighthouse at the end of the pier where there was an ice cream stand. Unfortunately, the closer purveyors of ice cream were closed for the day.
We rested on a bench, then plotted a course back to the train station via Queen's Road. Our friend Gareth from Dundalk, about an hour's drive north near the border with Northern Ireland, who we planned to meet for dinner, messaged me to say he wasn't feeling well and needed to go home from work and rest. He did, however, recommend a steakhouse that Daddy Matthew likes.
When we arrived at the station, we'd just missed one train, and I noticed several parties of school children in uniform had alighted from the train and were making their way to the station exit. The next train arrived in just a few minutes, and we ended up seated opposite a fairly young lady with whom we didn't much interact, beside a frail older lady dressed mostly in shocking pink. She struck up a conversation with us about our holiday and when we left at Tara Street, wished us a lovely rest of our trip. I was desperately thirsty, so I bought us drinks from a convenience store in the station.
From there, we made our way along the river Liffey to the tram station on O'Connell Street. Another older lady, also in pink but not quite so frail, asked whether the tram stopped by the General Post Office (GPO). After checking the map beside us, we assured her it was the next stop and the tram would save her three blocks' walk. We left at the stop after that, directly in front of the hotel, and returned to the room.
While I guzzled my soda, Gary made two attempts to reserve a table at the recommended steakhouse via the web, but was thwarted by the requirement of a credit card because it would not accept a US ZIP Code. Frustrated, we decided to sleep on it for about two hours and got back up at 19:30. I was sticky with sweat, so I had a shower before dressing for dinner. We chose Madigan's pub literally next door to the hotel, and had a relaxing meal of Irish stew for Gary, shepherd's pie for me, and cider for both of us. After dinner I had coffee and we both had strawberry cheesecake for dessert. We settled the bill and left just after 22:00. As we approached the hotel lobby, a scruffy dude sitting on the sidewalk begging for change turned to us and said, "You lads, don't go to Temple Bar, it's too expensive!"
We returned to the room and turned on the news. Gary nodded off while I finished the day's journaling just after midnight. I set an alarm for 7:15 and prepared for bed.
I set an alarm for 7:30 and was up about 5 to use the bathroom, then returned to bed until it went off. We had breakfast in another room from the usual one since the main dining room was full. After breakfast we went downstairs to check out the basement gym and returned to the room via a small elevator directly from the basement (-1) level. The regular elevators we used had no first floor because of the high ceiling on the ground floor, but this elevator did have access to the first floor. We spent a few minutes in the room relaxing and plotting a course for the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
It was a moderately short walk (about a km) to Tara Street Station just across the river Liffey. Gary purchased tickets and we made our way to the platform just in time for the train to Bray via Dun Laoghaire to depart. Fortunately, the trains are frequent and we had less than 15 minutes' wait for the following train. We sat opposite each other beside a mother and son the whole way down. I was surprised by the extent of the tide flats in the harbor as we approached Dun Laoghaire.
When we arrived and got our bearings, we discovered that the library offers a three-story lift from the harbor and railroad level to the museum. The building is a former Church of Ireland sanctuary, built for mariners and particularly the crews of British guard ships. On arrival, a gentleman standing outside the museum ushered us in to join the tour in progress, led by a tall gentleman named Ian with a mop of white hair. Ian had been a mariner himself for years. The group of maybe ten or twelve people followed him around to the various exhibits on the lower level, including a large rotating Fresnel lens from a lighthouse where the altar had stood while the church was in operation. The rose window in the back reproduced a famous painting portraying Jesus knocking on a door. The harbor at Dun Laoghaire (originally spelled phonetically as "Dunleary", then renamed Kingstown after a visit from the British monarch, and finally restored in the 1920s with Irish independence) was established after two vessels, unable to return to Dublin harbor during a storm, sank near Blackrock just up the coast. A third vessel, the Leinster, operating the mail and ferry route to Holyhead, Wales was sunk by a German U-boat en route from Kingstown in 1918 toward the end of World War I. There was one heroic story among the tragedy: an Irish merchant ship the MV Kerlogue, returning from Portugal with a crew of 11 and a cargo of oranges, rescued 168 German sailors and took them to a POW camp at Cobh (Cove). The tour closed with a demonstration of a breeches buoy using a large teddy bear named Cliff Hanger. 🐻 After the tour we stopped by the reception desk to support the museum with our admission fees (we did receive the senior discount rate of €6) and head upstairs to the gallery, with its exhibits on traditional Irish vessels; naval officers from Ireland who went on to command roles in other navies including the US, Argentina, and Chile; the Titanic; a radio room mockup; etc.
When we were done, we descended the stairs to exit. Between the museum and the library, we spotted a passage leading to the East Pier and followed it to find a food truck called Say Fish. We took our fish and chips to a bench sheltered behind a hedgerow from the sea on the outside of the pier. There were many birds looking for stray chips or morsels of fish; mostly smaller birds of a species we didn't recognize, plus the occasional seagull. After we'd eaten, I returned the leftover packaging to the truck for recycling and compost as instructed. We then descended to the interior of the pier in search of ice cream, since it was becoming clear that neither of us was up for the long walk to the lighthouse at the end of the pier where there was an ice cream stand. Unfortunately, the closer purveyors of ice cream were closed for the day.
We rested on a bench, then plotted a course back to the train station via Queen's Road. Our friend Gareth from Dundalk, about an hour's drive north near the border with Northern Ireland, who we planned to meet for dinner, messaged me to say he wasn't feeling well and needed to go home from work and rest. He did, however, recommend a steakhouse that Daddy Matthew likes.
When we arrived at the station, we'd just missed one train, and I noticed several parties of school children in uniform had alighted from the train and were making their way to the station exit. The next train arrived in just a few minutes, and we ended up seated opposite a fairly young lady with whom we didn't much interact, beside a frail older lady dressed mostly in shocking pink. She struck up a conversation with us about our holiday and when we left at Tara Street, wished us a lovely rest of our trip. I was desperately thirsty, so I bought us drinks from a convenience store in the station.
From there, we made our way along the river Liffey to the tram station on O'Connell Street. Another older lady, also in pink but not quite so frail, asked whether the tram stopped by the General Post Office (GPO). After checking the map beside us, we assured her it was the next stop and the tram would save her three blocks' walk. We left at the stop after that, directly in front of the hotel, and returned to the room.
While I guzzled my soda, Gary made two attempts to reserve a table at the recommended steakhouse via the web, but was thwarted by the requirement of a credit card because it would not accept a US ZIP Code. Frustrated, we decided to sleep on it for about two hours and got back up at 19:30. I was sticky with sweat, so I had a shower before dressing for dinner. We chose Madigan's pub literally next door to the hotel, and had a relaxing meal of Irish stew for Gary, shepherd's pie for me, and cider for both of us. After dinner I had coffee and we both had strawberry cheesecake for dessert. We settled the bill and left just after 22:00. As we approached the hotel lobby, a scruffy dude sitting on the sidewalk begging for change turned to us and said, "You lads, don't go to Temple Bar, it's too expensive!"
We returned to the room and turned on the news. Gary nodded off while I finished the day's journaling just after midnight. I set an alarm for 7:15 and prepared for bed.