Gratitude Grace Growth: Dublin City Tour

Today we walked around Dublin city close to the hotel before boarding the On & Off Bus to see more of the city further away. The Spire of Dublin, officially titled the Monument of Light is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 121.2 metres (398 ft) in height, located on the site of the former Nelson Pillar on O'Connell Street.

The General Post Office (GPO), the headquarters of the Irish postal service, moved several times before finding its current place at the centre of Dublin’s O’Connell Street. At first the offices were located in buildings around College Green, but in August 1814, construction of a purpose-built headquarters began. The building was completed in January 1818, at a cost of £50,000. During the 1916 Rising, the GPO was one of three Dublin landmarks—the Four Courts and the Custom House being the others—to be destroyed in the fighting. The GPO was rebuilt and reopened in 1929.

The Post Office

O'Connell Street (Irish: Sráid Uí Chonaill) is Dublin's main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m (160 ft) in width at its southern end, 46 m (150 ft) at the north, and is 500 m (1650 ft) in length. Known as 'Sackville Street' until 1924, it was renamed in honour of Daniel O'Connell, a nationalist leader of the early nineteenth century whose statue stands at the lower end of the street, facing O'Connell Bridge.

Looking down towards O'Connell Bridge

O'Connell Bridge

Merchants Arcade which leads through to Temple Bar the entertainment center of Dublin with restaurants and bars.

Trinity College (Irish: Coláiste na Tríonóide), formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, is the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin. The college was founded in 1592 as the "mother" of a new university, modeled after Oxford & Cambridge, but, unlike these, only one college was ever established; as such, the designations "Trinity College" and "University of Dublin" are usually synonymous for practical purposes. It is one of the seven ancient universities of Britian and Ireland, as well as Ireland's oldest university.

University Entrance

We then jumped aboard the On & Off Bus to see more of the city further afield.

The original gas lamps that are now powered by natural gas.

"Molly Malone" (also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City") is a popular song, set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City. The Molly Malone statue in Grafton Street was unveiled by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Ben Briscoe during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, declaring 13 June as Molly Malone Day.

Molly Malone

One of Dublin's many buskers.

Irish Parliament & Senate Building

We the spent some time browsing through the National Museum and found some really interesting things, along with an amazing Egyptian Exhibition which unfortuantely I could not photo

National Museum of Archaeology of Ireland

Naked Goddess from Tamassos Cypro-Archaic 600-480BC

Terracotta figure of female late Bronze Age 1450-1200BC

Sheela Na Gig from Clonmel County Tipperary Late Medieval

Museum Staircase

The Mullamast Stone (Pillar Stone) from county Kildare with sprial ornament & animal headed designs, it is considered to have magical properties and deep score marks suggest that weapons were sharpened on it to ensure success in battle.

The Shelbourne Dublin, a Renaissance Hotel, is the cities leading international luxury hotel. Founded in 1824, The Shelbourne has been part of Dublin's social life for 183 years. The Shelbourne offers 265 guest rooms, including 19 suites of which 12 suites are named after famous guests who have an association with the hotel. Most famous is the Princess Grace Suite, a favourite room for Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.