Our last three nights in Ireland were spent in Dublin. We travelled by train to Heuston Station and our hotel, the Ashling Hotel was just a 3 minute walk across the river. We would definitely recommend this hotel, especially if you are using the Heuston Station (which has express bus service to the airport, as well as multiple rail links).

We spent time in Dublin on our last Ireland trip – see Dublin: The Bustling Irish Capital – and saw most of the attractions and areas that interested us on that visit. On this visit, we were winding down from some busy days, we both had developed head colds and the weather was quite dismal, so we took it quite easy, just taking in a couple of experiences.

On our last trip, we determined that the Temple Bar area was not our type of scene. However, there was a restaurant we wanted to try so we ventured there one evening. The Temple Bar was already decked out for the holiday season!

One of our favourite Netflix series is Somebody Feed Phil. On the Dublin episode, Phil visited Gallagher’s Boxty House and we thought it looked great. We were not disappointed with their interpretations of the traditional Irish Boxty. We shared the Gallagher’s Boxty Platter and thoroughly enjoyed the Boxty Fries, Dublin Hills Goats Cheese on Boxty Loaves, Boxty Pancake topped with Bacon Lardons and Blue Cheese Sauce and Sweet Chili Boxty Dumplings.

The Guinness Storehouse Experience is often listed as a must-see in Dublin and numerous people told us we should go. The classic Guinness Storehouse Experience (the basic level visit) provides a self-guided tour through seven immersive floors which tell the story of Guiness and how the famous brew is produced. We have previously been on a number of brewery tours where you witness the brewing in action. This is not part of the basic Guiness visit; however, the presentations were very well done and informative.

The tour finishes with a complimentary Guinness at the Gravity bar. Not being a fan of this beer, I sipped a bit at mine. Harvey enjoyed his although the noisy atmosphere doesn’t live up to a real pub experience.

Located at The Arlington Hotel O’Connell Bridge, Celtic Nights combines traditional Irish dance and music. The evening starts with a three course dinner – we found the food to be good, perhaps not great, but based on serving a large room of people in a short time, we were pleased with it. The performers – both the band and the dancers – were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

The National Museum of Ireland – Collins Barracks was located just down the street from our hotel so on a rainy afternoon, we felt it deserved a visit. This branch of the National Museum presents Irish culture and history with decorative arts and design as well as a Military History Collection. The displays were interesting to wander by, albeit not too exciting – perhaps this was just the mood we were in or we were comparing it to the excellent Belfast Ulster Museum. I’m sure that visiting the other locations would result in a more comprehensive experience.

One area of interest at the museum was the aptly name Dead Zoo Lab. Here they are presenting popular specimens from the natural history collection, as well as some specimens that haven’t been on display for many years, while the Natural History Museum on Merrion Street is closed for much needed conservation and refurbishment works. At any one time approximately 1,300 objects are on public display spanning entomology, geology, mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, and a wide variety of marine life.

This was just a brief look at Dublin – as shown in our previous trip blog, this capital city has much to offer and is definitely worth visiting!

As always when on a European trip, we spent time in London both before and after Ireland. Here is just a look at some of our time there.

Witness for the Prosecution is an Agatha Christie stage play presented in the Council Chamber of the Edwardian Baroque County Hall. It’s an amazing venue and a great play. We are sworn to secrecy so we cannot reveal the verdict!

When in London, we walk a lot, just visiting with our girl and seeing some neighbourhoods.

We also spend quite a bit of time visiting over food and drinks. Here are some that we remembered to take pictures of.

Fish pie at The Admiralty at Trafalgar Square; always multiple stops at Gail’s Bakery for coffee and scones; burgers and fish & chips at the Red Lion and Sun.

We had some great meals with family as well as friends that were visiting London!

Afternoon Tea at The Swan at The Globe Theatre

Sunday Roast at The Bull in Highgate

Birthday dinner at Le Petit Beefbar

And so ended a great trip! Thanks for following along with us. Until next time……

Cheers,

Bev & Harvey