Denver to Dublin A Mighty Long Airplane Ride.
Kind of a typical long travel day for us as we were up at 0400, thirty minutes before the alarms sounded. We checked out of our hotel and drove to our parking location, parked the Jeep and were swept to DEN by their shuttle. Quick check in and through TSA in short order. Made our way to the UAL Club room and got repacked and had breakfast.
Our first flight is from DEN to ORD (Chicago) and all goes well. Breakfast for me was overnight oats and fruit, while Lynn had an egg white sandwich. When we landed in Chicago we passed a hotdog and Italian Beef stand, as we made our way to the United Polaris Lounge. Needless to say United has really upped the game with the advent of the Polaris Lounges. The food is amazing and the bar is top shelf. We snacked in the small offerings of Chicken Pot pie, Salmon, Cottage Pie and assorted cheeses. A very nice way to spend our 4 hour layover.
We are glad to have the Business Class upgrade for the flight over the big blue wet thing (the Ocean), hope we get some sleep as we will hit the ground in Dublin running.
Easy non complicated arrival as we breezed through immigration and customs. Most European airports are great as they offer free trollies for your luggage, making life easy in the navigation of an airport. We walked straight out to our bus stop and in a few minutes were on our way to Dublin Center. The airport shuttle busses are nice and the price is right, 12 euro round trip compared to a one way taxi fare of about $60 US. Our stop was the first one, maybe a quarter mile walk to the Hilton Garden Inn where we are spending this one night. We checked in and our room was not ready so we repacked and stored our bags and went for a walkabout.
The walkabout was to get walking times to various locations, such as a place for dinner this evening and the location where we will meet our group tomorrow morn. Our first stop was at Custom House Quay for a coffee. Then we made our way to locate the Westin Hotel for tomorrows meet, and then the Temple Bar where we plan to have dinner before attending River- dance at The Gaiety Theater this evening. All is a easy 20 min walk. We returned to the hotel unpacked and rearranged our bags a bit in preparation for tomorrow. We also started a bit of laundry. I do believe a nap is in order.
The Temple Bar was our choice for dinner this evening as the menu is simple, making it perfect for us, as well as some live music. A bit about the Temple Bar area is in order.
In 1599, Sir William Temple, a renowned teacher and philosopher, entered the service of the Lord Deputy Of Ireland. In 1609 Temple was made Provost of Trinity College, Dublin and Master Chancery in Ireland and moved to this country.
Sir William Temple built his house and gardens on newly reclaimed land here on the corner of Temple Lane and the street called Temple Bar. In 1656, his son, Sir John Temple, acquired additional land, which, with reclamation made possible by the building of a new sea wall, allowed the development of the area we now know as Temple Bar.
In the 17th century ‘Barr’ (later shortened to Bar) usually meant a raised estuary sandbank often used for walking on. Thus the river Liffey embankment alongside the Temple family’s plot became known as Temple’s Barr or simply Temple Bar. Later this evolved into the present thoroughfare connecting this whole area from Westmoreland Street to Fishamble Street. So now you know the story of Temple Bar.
Dinner for us was at the Temple Bar where Lynn had a ham, brie and chutney sandwich, for myself, I had a bacon butty. These were served with grapes and a bite of carrot cake and a bite of brownie. I enjoyed a pint of Rowers Red and Lynn had a ginger ale.
From Temple Bar we wandered the back streets making our way to the Gaiety Theater. We arrived about an hour early so we strolled to St. Stephens Green. Located near Grafton Street a pedestrian mall shopping area, this is a popular city green space and is called “The Green” by locals, who enjoy a picnic or maybe feed the many gulls and ducks. We walked around a couple of the ponds till we found a empty bench and took a bit of respite there. It is a wonderful place to people watch, yet we felt the need for coffee as the night had yet to start.
Next to the Gaiety Theater there is a Cafe Nero, I remembered my punch card and filled it with our purchase of a cappuccino for Lynn an espresso for me. So my next visit to Cafe Nero the coffee is on them.
Soon the door to the theater opened and we were ushered into the theater bar. The Gaiety Theater is a grand venue in the most classical sense, with it’s intimate seating and ornate ceiling, balconies and boxes. Simply a gem which was opened in 1847 and continues to bring world class entertainment to the city of Dublin. We met several friendly local folks and enjoyed chatting with them before and after the performance of Riverdance.
How does one even begin to review Riverdance, there are simply not enough adjectives to describe this presentation. It is powerful, heart pounding, emotional to the depth of ones soul, brilliant, precision to an exacting degree, high energy, romantic, talent beyond ones belief, vocalists of great talent and depth, instrumentalists who poured their hearts into the performance, the dancers whose drive and passion are over the top, all combine to bring a performance leaving one totally entertained. To see Riverdance again was magnificent, but to experience it at The Gaiety in Dublin is most memorable. If one should have the chance to see Riverdance anywhere in the world, simply do so without question.
After the show we walked back to our hotel to hopefully sleep in preparation for the next day.
Thanks for following along on this journey and do feel free to share this blog with one and all.
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