August 3, 2013 - Walking History Tour of Dublin

There are walking history tours of Dublin lead by History Majors at Trinity College so we decided to take one. But first, a traditional “fish & chips” lunch at a take-away counter. We were told by a cab driver about the place that had the best in Dublin. They are served in the traditional paper wrapper and you find a place to sit and eat and try to avoid the pigeons and seagulls. I have never seen such large slabs of Cod. I do not know where we get our small Cod fillets in the US, but they are definitely not from anywhere in the UK or Ireland where the fish sizes are huge. Elaine and I shared some chips and the serving was still too much for us to finish.

 

Outside the Lord Edward Pub, Edward’s favorite.

We began our tour outside the chapel on the Trinity College grounds where there was a wedding going on and a nice golden Rolls Royce to take the bride and groom away. Must have had some Scottish friends or relatives, note the presence of the kilt.

Above, the old Trinity College library where the Book of Kells is housed (how did the English not take the books back to England and house them in the British Museum? They took everything else from throughout their empire). Below is the female students favorite statue at Trinity college. I forget the name but he was the famous Dean who stated that women would be allowed into Trinity College over his dead body. When Trinity College finally went coed in the 1960’s, female graduates are fond of having their picture taken at the statue with their diploma pointed at his face.

Above, the original Irish Parliament House closed and abolished by the English overlords in 1808. It is now the headquarters of The Bank of Ireland which declared bankruptcy just after the Irish government bailed it out with a $28 billion loan. While we were walking by, the tour guide suggested that we be very quiet since we should not awaken the bank regulators who had been sleeping for the last 20 years!

Smock Alley Theater, one of Dublin’s great live theaters.

The Dublin City Hall with its magnificent rotunda.

Below, sand sculptures on the grounds of Dublin Castle.

Below, one of the fine dinners we had at a very highly rated restaurant.

Somehow the picture is missing, but there is a very ugly 1970’s City Council building in Dublin that everyone hates. A row of 17th century Georgian townhouses were torn down to build the nondescript building. On its exterior there are long pieces of steel attached to the building which appear to be completely out of place but do break up the monotony of the otherwise square cinderblock building. There was a similar building in Belfast but it was a hospital. The pieces of steel on it were painted yellow. Prince Charles was induced to come over for the dedication of the building. Now, Prince Charles is noted for his opposition to anything being built in London which is not Victorian. He wants London to look like Paris in the similarity of its architecture. He thought he was speaking to an aide off mic when the microphone picked up his comment that the building was, “the ugliest thing he had every seen and what’s with this yellow trim?” The people of Belfast immediately dubbed the building, “The Camilla!”