Leukemia Fighter! (CML); I Am Dancing and Traveling My Way Through: Dublin, Ireland

Friday, August 19, 2022

Dublin, Ireland

I woke up feeling much, much better, had a light breakfast, and boarded the tender boat to take us into Dublin. Since none of us are early birds, that typically means no waiting in line with hoards of people to get off of the ship.

Once on land, we bought a train ticket, roundtrip, into Dublin for 5 pounds. We had no real plan of attack and ended up meandering around Dublin. I am certain there must be some really pretty parts of Ireland, but the city of Dublin, not so much. (in my opinion)

The city is large, but once again, without someone to tell us what we are looking at, we are quite clueless!

We did manage to find the Christ Church Cathedral of Dublin, where because of my leukemia, they allowed us to enter, at no charge. This particular Cathedral's story begins almost a thousand years ago, when Hibero-Norse King, Sitruic Silkenbeard, built the first church in about 1030.

The Anglo-Norse rebuilt the cathedral in the 12th and 13th centuries and it was heavily restored in the 1870s. The building that is there today, is a mixture of medieval and 19th-century architecture.

The floor tiles were amazing, and they are 19th-century copies of the original medieval designs. The tile depicting foxes dressed as pilgrims- the "Foxy Friars"- is a design unique to Christ Church.

Most of the stained glass dates back to the 1870s but is based on medieval designs.
Richard de Clare, better known as "Strongbow" was one of the leaders of the Anglo-Normans who captured Dublin in 1170, marking the beginning of 800 years of direct British rule in Ireland. Strongbow was in Christ Church in 1176, but his original tomb was destroyed when the roof collapsed in 1562.

The Crypt is the largest crypt in Ireland, and the oldest working structure in Dublin, whatever that means. There were many treasures in the crypt, plus a mummified cat and rat, found in the cathedral's organ pipes.

After touring the cathedral, we made an attempt to find Dublin Castle; apparently, it is right in the city center, and after asking numerous people, and being given directions that were supposed to be "idiot proof" we gave up. We did not see it anywhere, and there were so many people, and so much traffic, that these four tired people decided to just throw in the towel, go back to the train, and get back on the ship.

We did find the train station, and while we only spent 5 pounds each, it was not an overly exciting day. We had much more excitement, not good excitement after we got back on the ship.

The captain first called medical to a room on the fourth floor, then he came on again stating they had to med-vac a patient to the hospital in Dublin, and then as time went on, the water got really choppy, making it difficult for the tenders to get him off the ship, and the other passengers back on the ship.

We watched much of the goings on from our cabin and were amazed at how they got the doctors, nurses, and tender captains back on the ship, through a door right below our window. We were grateful we had decided to come home when we did.

At dinner, we heard that a passenger actually fell while getting off the tender, requiring medical attention. We don't know whether or not they landed in the drink, but hope that all are well today. We also heard that they have quarantined eight cabins of covid people. We are still wearing masks everywhere we go, and are thus far feeling fine

That's it for today, folks!

Random photos, nothing too exciting: