(I'm the one next to the old guy)

Monday, July 29, 2019

Dublin day two

Sunday July 29

Clearly still not on UK time yet. I woke up before 0500 local, to find Sarah tapping away on her phone. Apparently she’s been checking her emails and iMessaging to friends and family for the past hour or two. I know, right? To quote some Disney princess, Let it go.

Breakfast at 0700. Very nice. Black pudding is on offer here too, and still not touching it. Sarah has done her PhD, and won’t be touching it either. First rule of eating foreign delicacies: Don’t google the ingredients. 
Just about to hop on the bus for a guided tour.

So the readers Digest tour of Dublin city is pretty good. Sarah’s favourite Georgian style housing is EVERYWHERE!! Row after row, street after street. She loves it.

We learned that Dublin was settled by the Vikings, quite a few years ago. Apparently they motored up the river Liffey, until they reached the Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub. I imagine they stayed for the Guinness.

It seems that blood donations in Dublin were very popular till about 10 years ago. That’s when they stopped giving a free pint of Guinness for every pint donated. I doubt the two events were related.

The Guinness family have continued to be major benefactors to the poor of Dublin, funding what is effectively state housing, along with many ancillary services.
They are also great employers. They introduced paid leave, pensions, and other progressive ideas.

Those of us wanted a different kind of culture, took an excursion to a place called Glendalough. It’s probably one of the oldest historical site in Ireland. I may say that a lot before the week is over.

It sits at one of the highest points in the land, next to a couple of lakes. Some bloke called Kevin decided that it’s the perfect spot to gaze into the horizon and chat with his creator. Unfortunately, Kev had been a remarkably popular chap, and an ever growing group of followers decided it was just the spot for them too. Quite a large community of up to 2000 people lived there at any one time. It stayed there for a few centuries, as a monastery. Eventually everyone moved to Dublin to get better Sky reception.

It is now a derelict site, with a few ruins, including the worlds first attempt at space flight. They built a perfect rocket out of stones, but couldn’t get it off the ground. Even the invading Vikings tried to help by lighting a fire at the bottom. The rocket didn’t budge, but the monks inside inside certainly took off in a hurry.











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