Isle of Man - Dublin

July 24

Its so nice to have smooth seas and over the last 5 days or so its been quite flat.

Makes so much difference to a cruise, the staff are better, the passengers are happier and so too are G $ T.

This morning we arrived on the Isle of Man and the City of Douglas.

Its so nice, has a massive bay about 2 miles long with lots of old multi storeyd hotels and guest houses. Very pretty.

All along the concrete board walk are beautiful flower gardens, all of a different variety and all in flower.

There is a little horse drawn cart that takes people to the electric railway that runs over the island.

There is a population of 80k on the Island.

We didn’t go on the train to see the lookout on the mountain as we were a bit tardy getting off the ship and then spent some time on the computer posting, sending emails and catching up on footy scores. 7 this week Freo let me down by 1 point. Bugger!!!

.We walked the promenade in sunny weather although the wind had some sting in it.

Then walked through the Town, most shops closed on Sunday.

We then went to a pub for a Guinness and got talking to some fellows from Liverpool who had been cycling the island and were waiting for their ferry.

They told us about a little town 11 miles away called Peel and how wonderful it was.

So we caught a local double decker bus, took about 35 minutes and was ushered around by  a local fellow who had lived in the town for 74 years. He was so funny but full of knowledge and so proud of his Peel.

A beautiful day was had by all. Remember the Isle of Man. “To die for” 

July 25

Dublin dear Dublin

A big City of 1 mill. we arrived to a cloudy cold day, but it improved slowly and was reasonably okay later on at least 18 degrees.

Shuttle bus into town, we decided to walk and not do the HOHO.

Had a tour through Trinity College which dominates Dublin with its historic buildings and beautiful gardens.

We then trudged onto the Christ Church Cathedral and through the antique district which looks like its had a severe case of death, lots of empty shops and many in a bad state of repair.

Discovered a market of not much subsidence and then found our way to Temple Bar the guppy area of Dublin, lots of pubs and restaurants all very colourful and decorated so nicely.

Decided to do our Guinness bit and found a lovely beer garden in the Temple Bar hotel.

It was so nice, quite crowded but very cosy. the Guinness in Ireland sure makes our product taste like soapy water.

After our little rest our feet almost recovered to battle on.

Walked through Grafton Street a pedestrian street full of upmarket shops pots of buskers and heaps of people. A great experience and obviously the place most tourists like to be.

The onto St Stephens Green a 25 acre park that was very crowded as well, no doubt about the English and Irish you only need a sniff of sunshine and they all get their gear off. We’re all rugged up in jeans and fleeces.

We then walked onto the museum (closed on Mondays, as are most things), with 2 great cruise ships in you’d think everyone would be open.

Walked through the area Merrion Row known for their upmarket Georgian style homes that have a plaque with all previous residents names on them.

Then onto O’Connell St where the 395 foot spire is located. Dublin’s streets are badly signed and we had great difficulty following our maps as they blend from one to another even though its the same street.

As we crossed the famous bridge over the Liffey River here was a young man on bended knee proposing to his girl friend. Well what a performance they were bawling their eyes out and it seemed like a very bad experience, but they soon cuddled up and were quite happy!

By this time our feet were screaming out “ no more! no more! so we caught the shuttle back to the ship and that was Dublin, a City that is obviously in great need of some financial assistance.