June 26, 2016

Ireland I (Dublin, Ireland)

After a little more than four hours of flight time, we arrived in Dublin, tired, but happy to finally have the project properly underway. Having learned from my 2014 trip to Ireland with Angie (who was also on this trip, as a part-vacation, part-assistant, part-documentary photo/videographer), the hotel bookings I'd made in Dublin all had early check-ins. As a result, after picking up the rental car, and fighting with the GPS (it is ironic that the first GPS co-ordinates used on the the trip, to the hotel, were the ONLY co-ordinates that were wrong...sending us to a totally different location), we arrived at the hotel in a timely fashion, and by 10am, were unconscious in comfy beds, recovering from the trans-Atlantic flight.
After a good late-morning nap, we headed gathered ourselves and headed into Dublin; after some debate we decided to save the taxi fare and have me drive (on 4 hours sleep) into the city...fortunately it was Sunday, and traffic was light. We found an awesome parking spot next to the river, and then struck out of foot, with cameras in hand!  
The weather was quite pleasant (especially as the forecast had been for rain) - overcast with pleasant temperatures. Without a specific goal in mind, we wandered south across the river, taking the Capel Street Bridge, which is famous for its Hippocampi light-posts. 
As soon as Ingrid saw the hippocampi on the bridge, she wanted a portrait with them - my first image of her in Ireland. 
The last place we explored on our all-too-brief visit to Dublin was the Library of Trinity College Dublin, home to the famous books of Kells. The instructions to visitors were none-too-clear, with "no photography signs all over the place, and then "no flash" signs, next to tourists (like us) taking a million photos a minute. Very odd.

The 65-metre-long (213 ft) main chamber of the Old Library, the Long Room, was built between 1712 and 1732 and houses 200,000 of the Library's oldest books. The Long Room holds one of t last remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic. This proclamation was read by Patrick Pearse near the General Post Office on 24 April 1916.

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