Since we never left the hotel the first evening we decided to get an early start the next day. But when I woke up I still felt as if it was night. This view out of my window explains it all.
And it didn’t get better during the day. It was actually amazing to see that the sky stayed all day in different shades of grey.
We left our hotel around 8:30 AM and walked in the direction of Temple Bar. On the way I noticed these prominent wifi signs announcing to the world that Dublin surely must be the wifi capital.
In search of something to eat we took our first steps in the city. We ended up having breakfast at Bewley’s Oriental Cafe. Inside it looked like a grand old place and the right spot to eat real Irish food. All of us therefore ordered a traditional Irish breakfast.
The breakfast turned out to be not as great as expected, it also didn’t look so good (although not at that moment, but looking back now with experience). Over the next couple of days we had way better fares. Also the Bewley’s Oriental Cafe seemed to be quite a touristic place, most of the other customers looked like tourists and everybody was ordering the traditional breakfast.
Upon leaving we walked along Grafton Street looking at shops and their wares
and then finally made our way back to the City Hall to begin the Free Walking Tour.
We met Brian our tour guide, a very passionate Dubliner and understandably proud of his city.
This picture is actually from the end of the tour at Trinity College, but he was still smiling then which I found very endearing.
The tour itself started at Dublin Castle and slowly we made our way through the historic part of the city.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral which has a mummified cat and rat aka “Tom and Jerry” in its catacombs.
The “Temple Bar” in the Temple Bar district.
Street Art
Dublin at 1:30pm.
Trinity College
I don’t know if this really gets transported but the weather was miserable on this first day! I felt like a drowned cat at the end of the tour and it was not the fault of Brian the guide! He really did his best to keep upbeat and not let the weather dampen his spirits. But by then my feet were more than damp and my spirits needed a little pick me up. Which they got at our next stop. But more from this later.
Yours, Pollybert
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The dean at that time opposed the presence of women at the University and he said: ‘only over my dead body will women be accepted as students.’ Three weeks later he died and the rest is history … so always be careful with swearing :-)
That’s true, Brian told that story in front of the dean’s statue
Did Brian explain how the first female students got admitted at Trinity College? ;-)
The rain might have drowned out his answer ;)