Fresh Fruit Salad For Breakfast
And Monster Burgers for Lunch
The Tomb of St. Valentine
A Pensive Troy, Wishing We Didn't Have To Go Back So Soon...
"Here Is The Bread, And Here Is The Wine"
Night Time View of The Windows of the Dining HallWhen we got up this morning at 8:30 a.m., on our own, we pretty much concluded that we would simply not be able to get out of the city to see what Dubliners call "the real Ireland". The truth of the matter is that there is really way too much to see and do in Dublin. So we have resolved that we will visit Dublin properly, and make plans to return again some time soon. It is amazing how I have fallen in love with this country!
We went downstairs for our complementary breakfast. This morning, I had the pancakes, and Troy, the French toast. I also enjoyed fresh fruit salad and chamomile tea, which is really helping with my congestion.
We were able to leave the hotel by about 10:30 a.m. We were sort of taking our time because we had already planned to take things in stride today. We decided that today we would visit the National Gallery. But before we made our way there, we wandered the Dublin streets a bit, determined to see the few remaining sites we had wanted to see on our trip. Along the way, we stopped at the chemist's where they had the Ulysses reading last night, which I completely forgot about. It turns out that yesterday's reading was from Molly Bloom's soliloquy. I was even more disappointed that we missed it. On Monday, they start reading Ulysses again, one hour a day for 50 days, until Christmas. Unfortunately, we will have already left Ireland by the time they start the reading. We also passed near J. & C. Nicholls Ltd, the undertakers that are mentioned in Ulysses, so I took a picture. We got to the National Gallery around noon and made our way inside. A full third of the gallery is currently closed because it is being renovated. We still got to see many impressive works of art. The old Italian masters were well represented in the gallery: Titian, Filippino Lippi, Fra Angelico and Tintoretto. The highlight of the museum is Caravaggio's Taking of Christ, a very imposing piece of art that Troy said was his favourite, and I think I share his opinion. But in addition to the Italian artists, there were great works from the Dutch masters (Rembrandt and Vanmeer). There were also impressive works by Picasso, Manet, Goya and El Greco. Another highlight for us was the Irish painters' wing. As neither one of us was familiar with Irish art, we really appreciated the wing dedicated to Jack Yeats, brother of famous Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Troy in particular really loved many of Yeats's bolder impressionistic pieces from his later career. All in all, a wonderful visit, which we somehow managed to complete around 2:30 p.m. In the gift shop, Troy showed me what he had found: a finger puppet of Virginia Woolf, much like the one I had bought of James Joyce. As Woolf is another of my favourite writers, I got the finger puppet, and Troy bought himself both the Shakespeare and the Oscar Wilde finger puppets.
By 3:00 p.m., I was starving. So, we left the gift shop and wandered down the narrow cobblestoned alleys in search of something to eat. We came upon the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the little restaurant Troy had told me about. He had really enjoyed a meal here the week before I arrived to join him, so we went in and had a good meal. I ordered the garlic mayo burger, with the onion rings as an appetizer. Troy shared my rings and had the burger with blue cheese sauce. Very tasty meal, and a rare venture outside my usual traditional Irish menu.
After lunch, we decided that since it was already 4:15 p.m., we should try to get to the church on Whitefriars Street before it closes. We had tried to see it earlier this week, but our plans had been thwarted by a funeral. This time, there was no such problem. We were able to enter the church and explore the various chapels built therein. There was a chapel to Our Lady of Dublin, a chapel to Our Lady of Fatima, a chapel to Pope Pius X, a chapel to Theresa of Lisieux, a chapel to Saint Jude Patron Saint of Lost Causes. But the highlight of the church, and the reason for our visit, was the tomb of Saint Valentine. The tomb contained the holy relics as well as a cup containing the blood of the martyred saint.
After this pilgrimage, it was time to do a bit of shopping. LOL. We made our way to a few shopping centres in downtown Dublin. We finally found a store that sells wool, so I went in and bought myself 15 balls of Irish yarn to make myself a blanket. I haven't knit in more than 5 years, so I think it will be great fun to get back to it. I used to knit in front of the TV, listening to the running commentaries from DVDs, and now that I have a TV again, I think it would be great fun to return to knitting. Troy followed my lead and bought me five balls of wool so that I can knit him a scarf. I am looking forward to it.
We then located a Carrolls souvenir shop again, and took stock of what they have to offer. We will definitely return tomorrow to finish off our souvenir shopping. I especially like the Christmas ornaments they have for sale. I also finally mailed my postcards to family and friends.
We then returned to the bookstore we both fell in love with, Hodges Figgis. I promptly bought the books I had eyed yesterday, including ABBA The Scrapbook, a biography of Kate Bush, a book on the legends and sagas of Ireland, as well as a 22-CD box set reading of the unabridged Ulysses. Hey, it was the theme of our trip, so it seemed appropriate.
We returned to the hotel to get rid of all of our bags and to map out our next step. Troy took off his shoes and decided to read a few chapters of his novel (The Writing Class by Jincy Willett), and I surfed the Web a bit to see the news back home, and to read the Astrology Zone web page for October. After a while, we decided we would have dinner at the hotel here tonight. After all, it is well recommended in both our travel guides. So, around 9:00 p.m., we headed to the dining-room, which is even more gorgeous by moonlight. Keeping in line with the Irish menu, I got the seafood chowder for starters, followed by the chicken and vegetable pie in puff pastry, with a side of colcannon (cabbage and mashed potatoes). For dessert, the assortment of ice cream. Troy started with the duck liver pate on soda bread, then had the squash risotto. I think he is starting to tire of constant Irish fare. After dinner, he had a glass of 16-year-old Irish whiskey. I decided to join him and got a glass of 10-year-old Tyrconnell Irish whiskey. It is aged in sherry casks, so it takes on the flavour of the sherry which gives it a smoother taste. Very nice, although I think I would have preferred it on the rocks.
So that's it, I think. My blog is up to date just as Troy's wonderful Celtic CD has come to an end -- an Irish duo known as Lumiere. Speaking of music, I was also thrilled to hear this morning that Loreena McKennitt is coming out with a new album this month, a recording of traditional Irish songs. Can't wait!
Good night all,
M.
We went downstairs for our complementary breakfast. This morning, I had the pancakes, and Troy, the French toast. I also enjoyed fresh fruit salad and chamomile tea, which is really helping with my congestion.
We were able to leave the hotel by about 10:30 a.m. We were sort of taking our time because we had already planned to take things in stride today. We decided that today we would visit the National Gallery. But before we made our way there, we wandered the Dublin streets a bit, determined to see the few remaining sites we had wanted to see on our trip. Along the way, we stopped at the chemist's where they had the Ulysses reading last night, which I completely forgot about. It turns out that yesterday's reading was from Molly Bloom's soliloquy. I was even more disappointed that we missed it. On Monday, they start reading Ulysses again, one hour a day for 50 days, until Christmas. Unfortunately, we will have already left Ireland by the time they start the reading. We also passed near J. & C. Nicholls Ltd, the undertakers that are mentioned in Ulysses, so I took a picture. We got to the National Gallery around noon and made our way inside. A full third of the gallery is currently closed because it is being renovated. We still got to see many impressive works of art. The old Italian masters were well represented in the gallery: Titian, Filippino Lippi, Fra Angelico and Tintoretto. The highlight of the museum is Caravaggio's Taking of Christ, a very imposing piece of art that Troy said was his favourite, and I think I share his opinion. But in addition to the Italian artists, there were great works from the Dutch masters (Rembrandt and Vanmeer). There were also impressive works by Picasso, Manet, Goya and El Greco. Another highlight for us was the Irish painters' wing. As neither one of us was familiar with Irish art, we really appreciated the wing dedicated to Jack Yeats, brother of famous Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Troy in particular really loved many of Yeats's bolder impressionistic pieces from his later career. All in all, a wonderful visit, which we somehow managed to complete around 2:30 p.m. In the gift shop, Troy showed me what he had found: a finger puppet of Virginia Woolf, much like the one I had bought of James Joyce. As Woolf is another of my favourite writers, I got the finger puppet, and Troy bought himself both the Shakespeare and the Oscar Wilde finger puppets.
By 3:00 p.m., I was starving. So, we left the gift shop and wandered down the narrow cobblestoned alleys in search of something to eat. We came upon the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the little restaurant Troy had told me about. He had really enjoyed a meal here the week before I arrived to join him, so we went in and had a good meal. I ordered the garlic mayo burger, with the onion rings as an appetizer. Troy shared my rings and had the burger with blue cheese sauce. Very tasty meal, and a rare venture outside my usual traditional Irish menu.
After lunch, we decided that since it was already 4:15 p.m., we should try to get to the church on Whitefriars Street before it closes. We had tried to see it earlier this week, but our plans had been thwarted by a funeral. This time, there was no such problem. We were able to enter the church and explore the various chapels built therein. There was a chapel to Our Lady of Dublin, a chapel to Our Lady of Fatima, a chapel to Pope Pius X, a chapel to Theresa of Lisieux, a chapel to Saint Jude Patron Saint of Lost Causes. But the highlight of the church, and the reason for our visit, was the tomb of Saint Valentine. The tomb contained the holy relics as well as a cup containing the blood of the martyred saint.
After this pilgrimage, it was time to do a bit of shopping. LOL. We made our way to a few shopping centres in downtown Dublin. We finally found a store that sells wool, so I went in and bought myself 15 balls of Irish yarn to make myself a blanket. I haven't knit in more than 5 years, so I think it will be great fun to get back to it. I used to knit in front of the TV, listening to the running commentaries from DVDs, and now that I have a TV again, I think it would be great fun to return to knitting. Troy followed my lead and bought me five balls of wool so that I can knit him a scarf. I am looking forward to it.
We then located a Carrolls souvenir shop again, and took stock of what they have to offer. We will definitely return tomorrow to finish off our souvenir shopping. I especially like the Christmas ornaments they have for sale. I also finally mailed my postcards to family and friends.
We then returned to the bookstore we both fell in love with, Hodges Figgis. I promptly bought the books I had eyed yesterday, including ABBA The Scrapbook, a biography of Kate Bush, a book on the legends and sagas of Ireland, as well as a 22-CD box set reading of the unabridged Ulysses. Hey, it was the theme of our trip, so it seemed appropriate.
We returned to the hotel to get rid of all of our bags and to map out our next step. Troy took off his shoes and decided to read a few chapters of his novel (The Writing Class by Jincy Willett), and I surfed the Web a bit to see the news back home, and to read the Astrology Zone web page for October. After a while, we decided we would have dinner at the hotel here tonight. After all, it is well recommended in both our travel guides. So, around 9:00 p.m., we headed to the dining-room, which is even more gorgeous by moonlight. Keeping in line with the Irish menu, I got the seafood chowder for starters, followed by the chicken and vegetable pie in puff pastry, with a side of colcannon (cabbage and mashed potatoes). For dessert, the assortment of ice cream. Troy started with the duck liver pate on soda bread, then had the squash risotto. I think he is starting to tire of constant Irish fare. After dinner, he had a glass of 16-year-old Irish whiskey. I decided to join him and got a glass of 10-year-old Tyrconnell Irish whiskey. It is aged in sherry casks, so it takes on the flavour of the sherry which gives it a smoother taste. Very nice, although I think I would have preferred it on the rocks.
So that's it, I think. My blog is up to date just as Troy's wonderful Celtic CD has come to an end -- an Irish duo known as Lumiere. Speaking of music, I was also thrilled to hear this morning that Loreena McKennitt is coming out with a new album this month, a recording of traditional Irish songs. Can't wait!
Good night all,
M.
Sounds like non-stop good days for our intrepid travelers. Excellent to read about how well things are going for you guys traveling as a unit. There's nothing more comforting to read than the image you've conjured of Troy reading in bed whilst you consult the stars online.
ReplyDeleteYou've found your bliss!
-Nick
ps. 'Sell a bit'? Boooo.