Ireland and UK Holiday 2015, 1st July

In Dublin until later in day to fly out of Dublin at 20:25 to Abu Dhabi

Some wandering in Dublin to check out a few things missed earlier. Found the site of the Newgate Goal where my ancestor in 1815 spent some time, wandered some back streets near there where the fruit and vegetable markets are. Found a toy shop where they have the largest range and quantity of toys that I've ever seen.

Caught the tram to near the Four Courts building to check it out. It was open so wandered inside, security does not allow photography in the building, loads of lawyers in gowns and some scruffy looking clients in there attending the courts. There's a lot more than 4 courts in there of course. Of interest were the informational plaques inside explaining the history of the Four Courts where Lyn's interest was centered on the partial destruction of the records in 1922, thus making it impossible for family historians to trace large chunks of family history. The civil war saw the Republicans seize the building and when they were later forced out they exploded a bomb to wreck a large part of the place including the large dome. The records were destroyed in that blast and subsequent fire. There are still bullet marks in the front of the building from 1922.

The whole building in a rare moment of quiet traffic, scaffolding on the dome area for some routine maintenance it seems......



The front entrance.......



A few bullet chips as seen in a small crop from a shot inside that front entrance area......



Next to the markets, here's Mr Duffy's flowers........



The original market building is too small and there's many other buildings in the area selling all sorts of fruit and vegetables at the wholesale level. Space at a premium so produce is temporarily parked on pallets in the street quite a lot it seems.....



The trees behind in the above picture are in the childrens' play park where the old Newgate prison once stood. The low walls are all that is left of the prison walls......



Strangely the park was securely locked so we had no access to the imposing statue seen in the centre, that one has to do with a 19th century uprising and lists some heroes of that time.

Later after more random wandering we stopped for a sandwich and drink on the boardwalk along the Liffey. The Ha'penny Bridge is in the background, popularly named for the 1/2 penny toll for pedestrians that lasted from  1816 to 1919. The bridge was a product of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England......



As for popular naming, a bronze nearby of two old ladies with shopping sitting on a seat has become "the hags with bags" and further away a statue of a woman reclining in a fountain pond has become "the floozie in the jacuzzi".

Next on to the Jeanie Johnston replica sailing ship, and our excellent guide telling us facts about the famine migration of 1845 onwards. This ship was renowned for never losing a single passenger, while others were known as coffin ships due to the death rate due to disease and starvation. When the ship finally returned to normal freight business it was lost in a storm, but again all the crew were saved at the last minute so went into history as never having lost a life. We failed to get our guide's name.....



That's all for Dublin, now to the airport and our transport for the next 7.5 hours to Abu Dhabi, Airbus A330 for those interested......



Next morning a short sojourn at the airport in Abu Dhabi, I'll see if I have any photos for that day.