IT’S TIME TO LEAVE DUBLIN!

 BEFORE I GO, HERE’S A LAST, WONDROUS LOOK AT MY NEW FAVORITE CITY!

TRINITY COLLEGE, FOUNDED IN 1592 BY QUEEN ELIZABETH FOR “…THE REFORMATION OF THE BARBARISM OF THIS RUDE PEOPLE!”

THE END OF ANOTHER PERFECT DAY IN DUBLIN, SANTAS STROLL DOWN TO THE PUB FOR A DRINK.

I LEAVE YOU WITH AN OLD IRISH PROVERB: “MAY THE SADDEST DAY OF YOUR FUTURE BE NO WORSE THAN THE HAPPIEST DAY OF YOUR PAST.”

GOODBYE  IRELAND.

If you’re planning a trip to Dublin and the Irish countryside, here are my highlights: Restaurants: Rustic Stone, Pichet, Chapter One.  Take-away markets: Fallon & Byrne, Listons, Avoca.  Shopping: Powerscourt Townhouse Centre. Antiques: Francis Street, Dublin 8.  Museums:  The National Gallery of Ireland, Museum of Decorative Arts & History, National Museum of Ireland – Antiquities, Natural History Museum, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art with Francis Bacon’s studio, Dublin Writers’ Museum,   Museum Building at Trinity College. Libraries: Chester Beatty Library and Gallery of Oriental Art, Marsh Library, Old Library at Trinity College (Book of Kells).  Churches: Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Newman’s University Church. Georgian architecture: far too many excellent examples to name all, but included are Newman House, Leinster House, Castletown House, Russborough House (open for Spring to Fall visitors), Old Parliament Buildings, Dublin City Hall, The Four Courts, Rotunda Maternity Hospital. Natural phenomena: the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, the west coast of Ireland, the Aran Islands, and many national parks.