Buswells Hotel

Walk around with a Friend.

by wise23girl

Well I had three walking adventures on my recent trip to Dublin. (Nov 2009)

The first was with a fellow VTer Irishfem and we went to Dublin Castle for lunch, coffee at the Central Hotel upstairs in a "library" coffee lounge and then to the smallest pub in Ireland "The Dawson Pub" for the traditional Guinness..

Another day friend Gene turned up to take David and me to lunch. We walked to Temple Bar, across the Liffey( no we did not walk on water...there was a bridge called the Ha'Penny linking Temple Bar to Liffey Street.), past The Church Restaurant, and on and on to a Chinese Place he knew. We ate a selection of Chinese food and then we walked back to Buswells Hotel for a coffee..

Next it was a shopping trip with friend Bridget21(Lyn) who was visiting Ireland at the same time. She came in by bus and then we spent a bit of time looking and buying in Grafton Street shops and then it was on to O'Connell Street . Just past the post office we turned left and here were more shops to see. Made a few more "girl" purchases and then it was bus home for Lyn and a walk back for me.

And that evening I was able to lead the way back over to The Church to meet Annemariebyrne for dinner.But we did splurge on a taxi home with a nice Irish driver.

Dublin Fair City

by wise23girl

"Here in Dublin"

"Cead mile failte" (A hundred thousand Welcomes). This lovely welcome is found every where in Dublin and in all of Ireland for that matter.
I love to see and hear the Gaelic language being nurtured and not pushed aside for English even though the use of English world wide makes it easy for us.
As the hotel computer was a euro gobbler I spent a lot of time in Grafton St . Then it was coffee at Bewleys just down the road a little.

Of course for the odd sniffle I found a natural remedy place...to my delight.

Now I read this somewhere and think it is Dublin to a tee.

In the words of an old song:

Dublin can be heaven
With coffee at eleven
And a stroll in Stephen's Green

There's no need to hurry
There's no need to worry
You're a king and the lady's a queen

Grafton Street's a wonderland
There's magic in the air
There's diamonds in your lady's eyes
and gold dust in her hair

And if you don't believe me
Come and meet me there
In Dublin on a sunny summer's morning!

"Some Adventures in Dublin"

Well wisedancer and me and the VAs went out on the town. First it was Davy Byrnes but their food had finished so we ended up at The Last Stand Pub drinking Guinness (well me and the VAs) eating Irish stew, and watching France beat Ireland in the football(soccer).

Then my next adventure was with IrishFem After a few attempts to find a time to suit us both Louise met me in the lounge of Buswells Hotel. I am no stranger to walking around Dublin so off we went. Now Louise had a few things in mind and, with the VAs in tow, we first visited Dublin Castle for lunch. Do you know that in all my times in Dublin I had never been there.

Then it was to an upstairs"library" coffee lounge" in the Central Hotel. And "yes" there is more. We went to the smallest pub in Ireland, The Dawson Lounge, for a Guinness. How about that. Now she is one of my VT friends and I hope for another chance to see more of Dublin with her. She has just been to Australia worse luck.

I will put a photo of Louise in a Dublin tip.

"A VT Meet with BillNJ"

So we met in the Longstones Pub very aptly chosen by BillNJ who I might add had never been to Dublin ever before.
We were joined by Krumel(Birgit) and AnnemarieByrne with an apology from one other.
After the meal Birgit had an hour bus ride back to County Meath so Anne Marie led us to Mulligans in Poolbeg St and then Davy Byrnes in Duke St.

Well Mulligans is very old and famous but was full mainly of blokes and as there was no where to sit we did not stay. To be quite honest with all those men around I hesitated to let the lady VAs out to even look.

But luckily it was a quiet night and Davy Byrnes made very nice Irish coffee.

Now we have another get together Monday and AnneMarie has suggested The Church as a good place to soak up that special Dublin feeling.