Morning Has Broken ... October 7th in Dublin

Of course, we stayed here; it is owned by Bono and The Edge.

The River Liffey (Ha'penny Bridge is in the background).

The back of Christchurch Cathedral (founded in 1030).

With the time change, we actually arrived in Dublin on October 7th, which was an early Sunday morning. Janice purchased the bus tickets with Euros that her mom had given to her. We soon learned that "Quay" is not pronounced the same way that us Americans would pronounce it and it was the first of many trips on buses and trains managing our luggage. It was a cold morning and my knee was a bit swollen from the flight. We were alert enough to get off the bus in the Temple Bar area - not too far away from the Clarence - but not close enough that it was a hop, skip and jump. Cobblestone streets and empty Guinness kegs dotted our route up to Wellington Quay. Once inside the Clarence, we were treated wonderfully ... and we kept our sleepy eyes open just in case Mr. Hewson happened to be in the house.

Janice and I did take a little nap and then took a walk west toward Christchurch Cathedral, where we took part in the late afternoon Vespers service. The church is amazingly historic. On the way over to the cathedral, we walked past the place where Handel's first performance of "The Messiah" took place.


We attended an evening Vespers service at Christ Church Cathedral. This was a "light a candle for peace" display.

The view from our room.

As we were leaving the evening song service, we noticed this woman preparing a late Sunday afternoon picnic for this kitty. It was very formal and cute.


Orchids in the Clarence Hotel.


A pub dedicated to writers in Dublin.
Looking up ... St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Our first day concluded with an early dinner at a restaurant/pub off of Dame Street. We sat up on the second floor in a room adorned with a tin ceiling and ate fish & chips. It was difficult to understand our waiter because he had such a thick Irish accent. He told us about how differently the people out west in Cork spoke. I was tired, but it was one of the best meals I've ever had because we were excited about the week before us and the adventure of traveling in a foreign place all on our own. Although I was thousands of miles from home and my family, they were never far from my thoughts ... I wished they could've shared in the adventure.