July 07, 2004 - London to Dublin

     Heathrow sucks!  It is reportedly the busiest international airport in the world, with 63 million passengers on 425,000 flights every year.  Given that, you would think they would be able to make things work.  However, after we successfully got up at 5:00 a.m., took a taxi to the airport, checked in, and then waited for them to pick a gate for our departure, when I decided to take a look at the gate we'd been told our flight usually took, I found I was unable to get back to the lounge where Sheila was waiting.  I had to join a mass of arriving passengers, walk with them to baggage claim, locate the security check point and enter the terminal all over again.

     The flight was full but short.  We checked in to our tour group fairly easily and then waited quite a while for the bus driver who would take us to our hotel to check in prior to the 2 p.m. tour this afternoon.  We finally got through the whole process, not the peak of efficiency, by about 1:30.  So we have 20 minutes to unpack, etc.  

     On the other hand, after weeks of weather forecasts of doom in Ireland, the sky is blue and clear with just a wee wisp of clouds that could be decorating a young colleen's baptismal dress, don't ya know.  (Sheila hates it when I talk like that and has warned me not to do it in public.)

The afternoon tour was a bit frenetic but interesting.  In among a tour of the city, we made two stops.  The first was at Trinity College, where we visited the Book of Kells.  This is an extremely intricately illustrated set of the gospels, looted by the Vikings for the ornametal box it was stored in, and later found by the monks, lying on the ground beside a bog.  It has been restored and is on display at Trinity College.  I couldn't take pictures of the Book of Kells, but here's a picture of Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and a Dublin street scene.

 

The second stop was also special: the Guinness Brewery.  As part of the tour, you get a free pint of Guiness Stout.  (I told her, if you can't hold your booze. . .)  (Actually this was at the top floor of the Brewery, where the free stout was served, where chairs were in short supply but where the view of Dublin was excellent.)  The panorama below should give you some sense of the city.  All the buildings in the foreground are part of the brewery.

     After we got back to the hotel, we had an introductory drink (to get to know the other 47 people on our 50-seat bus).  Then it was off to dinner and an Irish show in the hotel.  We met some interesting people from Baltimore at dinner (that is, we agreed on politics), had great conversations over dinner and enjoyed the show.  However, we took the opportunity to leave at intermission in order to re-pack for tomorrow's 7:50 a.m. departure.


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