Depart today for a city tour through Dublin's city streets lined with brick Georgian row houses, famous for their intricate, glass-laced doorways. Dublin is well known for its beautiful parks, and today you'll see Phoenix Park (one of Europe's largest walled urban parks) and St. Stephen's Green. We also enjoyed a guided visit to Dublin Castle and a drive along bustling O'Connell Street. We met our bus driver for the two weeks, Gerry. We were chauffeured around in a very nice and comfortable Mercedes bus.  Since there were only 20 of us, we were seated in every second or third row. Gerry was an excellent driver who could navigate a full-size bus through the narrow European streets, he was awesome!!!

The day started with a driving tour of Dublin and eventually a stop and tour of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. While I would like to say it was a typical cathedral, it did have some unique aspects.  It did follow seem to follow the standard cathedral approach.  Nevertheless, it was beautiful and worth the visit.

Our next stop was a tour of Dublin castle.  I was amazed at how much fighting there was between the British and the Irish over the years, probably 400+ years.  The castle was being set up for a celebrations or anniversary that involved the British and Irish somehow.  I believe it was the Centenary, 2022 anniversary:

“The formal transfer of power, in the hand over of Dublin Castle on January 16th 1922, is singularly one of the most potent moments in the history of our State. For centuries, the Castle had symbolized British rule in Ireland and the demonstrable handing over of the Castle was a most powerful occasion for citizens and the Provisional Government of Ireland alike. Still charged with the ghosts of history, today Dublin Castle continues to play a pivotal role in political, civic, and social developments for our Nation while also offering a unique place of welcome for citizens and visitors to engage with Ireland’s rich and complex history.”  Minister Patrick O’Donovan

We had the afternoon free, so we headed back to the Atrium Lounge for a relaxing Latte’ and a cookie. It was a little more crowded this afternoon, I think we were there during the “High Tea” time of the day. I was amazed at the three-tiered plates with sandwiches and desserts that were presented with High Tea.  There sure seemed to be a lot of food for an afternoon snack.  I will admit that we talked to one of the servers and found out that a lot of people consider High Tea as a later lunch, or early dinner.

That evening we had dinner at the hotel’s Moreland’s Grill. It was very good and relaxing.  We saw a few of our fellow Tauck travelers in Moreland’s Grill, but we didn’t sit with them, as they either had friends sitting with them already, or they had already started their meal.  This turned out to be a “down-side” to this Tauck tour, we didn’t have as many opportunities to get to know our fellow travelers.

Ireland's Parliament

A view from the Parliament