Day #10 - Trinity College, Grafton St and Dublin Castle

Our second day in Dublin, we fueled up with a filling breakfast at The Spencer before having Ryan write in his journal. Instead of having him write in the room, like usual, I had him go to the lobby, as it had an inspiring aura that I hoped might stimulate him to write more. 

It has taken some coaching to get him to write more than, "Today I had bacon for breakfast. Then we walked to a church and I bought something. After that, I had ice cream." :-( 

It's crazy- he can creatively and enthusiastically write pages upon pages for a school assignment, but for his travel journal?  You'd have a very HARD time trying to figure out where he even is from reading it!

For the record, the ambiance helped inspire him...a little.
What helped more was threats from his mother.
(Highly recommended as a parenting strategy, and approved by Asian mothers worldwide.)

Little Shakespeare preferred the warmth of the fireplace over a desk. (Likely because it distracted him.)

This was my cozy view from where I chose to write...as a view of where food is being prepared is also very inspiring to me. ;-)

We crossed over Samuel Beckett that AM...

I took this picture so you could see how close we were to the bridge (our hotel is the one with the red brick facade). Right next to our hotel, the left side as you look at this picture, was a pedestrian mall with restaurants and cafes...which was so convenient. Although one night we ordered sandwiches for dinner from a shop, and it was the one shop in both countries that required cash payment only, thereby wiping out our currency stash, as we paid for nearly everything with Applepay on this trip. (Thanks to COVID, we have less cash handling, and more credit card payments than ever before.) In fact, the only things we ever paid for with cash was tips to servers/room attendants/drivers etc.

Our first destination was Trinity College. We learned that Trinity : Ireland what University of St. Andrews : Scotland. It's a top tier university, and comparable to the Harvard/Princeton of the US. The campus is so centrally located in the city, and quite beautiful.

On impulse, for whatever reason, Rich impulsively wanted to go into this building...

And I'm so glad we did, as it was like walking into a Natural History museum!

 I believe it was a Geology Building...and I was immediately jealous of the students there! Half my college buildings were concrete structures that looked like Stalinist Russia, circa 1952- bland, gray and ugly.

Once we exited Trinity through those doors, we found ourselves deposited almost right into the outdoor shopping district/Grafton Street area.

We went to a half dozen shoe stores in search of more comfortable/lightweight boots that would better support my aching feet (my plantar fasciitis took a few steps backward there), but were unsuccessful in finding anything. However, we did find this t-shirt for Ryan...which he wasn't as excited about as I was.

Shopping was up our alley that day, as we were also in search of bookstores selling crafting magazines. My mom had sent us a picture of her favorite UK crafting magazine (a real bargain at about $18 US!) and after going to about 3 shops, luckily found one at Tower Records, of all places! Who knew that chain survived in the UK?

But we also stumbled upon this indoor mall, which had a bit of a New Orleans riverboat casino exterior, but...

...a festively decorate interior that looked like a conservatory! Or a train station. ;-) I'm not really sure. But it had a fun and festive vibe, and mediocre shopping (we did find another Flying Tiger!).

Once we finished walking the length of the shopping on Grafton St., we felt obliged to watch a busker, as it's part of the Grafton experience. This gent was more funny that he was gifted, and put on a 30min. show. Rich made me tip him 10 euro, which was double what I had planned, as he has a soft spot for entertainers and told me not to be cheap. :-( Plus, he did make Ryan crack a smile a few times, and that is honestly worth double what we gave him, as it's nearly impossible to do these days. :-)

Our next destination required us to nearly have to sprint to get there in time for our 2pm self guided tour - the Royal Apartments at Dublin Castle. The Castle was built in the early 13th century, by the British, and handed over to Ireland when they gained independence in 1922.

 

The Royal Staircase is part of route of any Presidential inauguration

The Neoclassical corridor did not lead to much, and I was very disappointed with each room down this hall (nearly every room was empty, except for a few glass cases of modern object d'art)...thankfully, things got much better.

I learned those four rooms we toured were the original living quarters of the viceroy and his family...but are now used as galleries.

The State Drawing room was my favorite room. It was used by the wives of the Viceroys, who were called Vicereines, as their formal room for receiving guests. To this day, it is used to entertain visiting dignitaries, such as a number of US Presidents, the Queen of England, etc.

And this was the throne room, where I neglected to take a picture of the actual throne (which was rather simple). This room was used by visiting British monarchy.

This room was the Portrait Gallery, and has a portrait of every Irish viceroy since the 1800s on it's walls. It is still used for State receptions to this day.

The Wedgwood room got it's name from the colors of Wedgwood, and was once a billiard room that is now used for guests to cool off in when the reception rooms are too full.

St. Patrick's Hall was probably tied for my favorite room. It was once a gathering spot for Knights, and is still used as the highest ceremonial hall in the country, as Irish Presidents are inaugurated in that room.

This was the view of the courtyard of the castle from one of the rooms.

The chapel was closed to visitors during COVID...but it is stunning and I was bummed to miss it.

A garden near the castle

We walked back to the shopping district to get souvenirs for friends/family (think lots of Irish fudge, handmade chocolates), and also had dinner there. But also, we really wanted to tour St. Stephen's Green, which was one of the parks we'd wanted to run in. The sun set daily around 4:30, so we got there at dusk and didn't have much time to walk around, but Ryan did get to feed some ducks/swans a packet of crisps I had in my purse that were way too healthy for me and I was happy to share.