Ireland 8 - Dublin 2
Day 8 was our last full day of the trip. We revisited Bread 41 for breakfast again. The bakery was very close to our hotel and they open at 7am, which is quite early. It was convenience for early birds like us to start a day there. Surprisingly there was already a waiting like even just after 7am, but it was much shorter that the day before.
Perhaps many people just do take away. The dining area wasn't so crowded. We both had a Potato Danish, which was filled with potato and Pesto Genovese. It tasted very good but strongly of garlic. We also shared a custard tart and a Morning Bun. The latter seemed like their signature pastry, which features a donut-like exterior with swirls of warm spice and citrus zest. It was pretty sweet but tasty.
After then we walked around the city to digest the rich savory and sweet pastries.
We found a statue of Oscar Wilde, a notable Irish novelist, poet, and playwright, who was born in Dublin in 1854. It sat in front of the Kennedy's Pub, where Oscar had his first job at age 14. It appears that the pub is still in business today.
A grand, neo-Classical building near the bar is the Davenport Hotel. Various architectural styles were found in Dublin.
The corner-sited, large four-storey-over-basement Georgian townhouse was Oscar Wild's childhood home. It has been restored and is today open for tours during summer, offering insights into Wilde's early life and family history. We only looked at the exterior of the house.
We arrived at at the east corner of St Stephen's Green, the largest of the city's Georgian garden squares. We said Hello to the statue of Wolfe Tone, a key Irish revolutionary figure in the 18th century.
Look at a running squirrel!
At the west corner of the park was Superintendent's Lodge, which used to be Park Superintendent and his family's residence. The lovely red brick lodge had a hard time in 1916. St Stephen's Green became a battlefield during the Easter Rising, a rebellion against British rule in Ireland that took place in Dublin during the Easter week in 1916. The Irish Volunteers, including the medical unit took over the lodge and sometimes firing shots from the upper floor's windows, which made the lodge become a target of the British Army's machine guns. The lodge was heavily damaged, and all the Volunteers moved out from there. While the Volunteers were in the lodge, three principal officers of them told Park Superintendent's daughter to make tea for them and when leaving told her to send the bill to the "Irish Republic," according to Superintendent's report.
We got outside of the urban park and kept exploring the city.
A Lidl store in the city center looked like a common store of the German-based discount supermarket chain but also it was unique to provide shoppers with a peek at archaeological remains through the glass panels on the floor. One was a building structure built around 1070AD, which was probably used for storage or craft activities.
We happened to come to St Patrick’s Park again. St Patrick's Cathedral looked nicer against the blue sky.
Hello again, Christ Church Cathedral!
We made sure to see Dublin Castle, which we somehow missed on the day before. Built in the early 13th century on the site of a Viking settlement, Dublin Castle had housed the headquarters of England (later British) administration in Ireland for centuries until it was handed over to the new Irish government in 1922, following its independence. It's a major government complex today.
The buildings surrounding the Upper Castle Yard included the State Apartments and the Bedford Tower, built primarily in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Clearly they didn't look like a medieval fortress castle.
Opened in 1870, the Bretzel Bakery is an established bakery offering a wide array of artisanal bread, pastries and cakes. We wanted to bring authentic Irish soda bread home. However, it was somehow difficult to find a place that sells the best soda bread in Dublin, even just any kind of soda bread. J found that the Bretzel Bakery sells good quality brown bread, a kind of soda bread. Therefore, we walked further to the southern edge of the city center.
They had brown bread and we got one. The bakery was busy. I didn't have time enough to browse what baked goods they had on the day, but I remember a lot of almond croissants were in the showcase so did Bread 41. I realized almond croissants were everywhere in Ireland. It was easier to find an almond croissant than scones, which surprised me.
On our way to go back the heart of the city center, we walked through the Iveagh Gardens, located south of St. Stephen's Green. The public park was used as one of the venues for the Dublin International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures in 1865. Many original landscape features have been preserved or restored since 1995. The rosarium was one of them. We took a short break on a bench there although the roses were past their peak at that time.
The yew maze was another one. I tried and successfully reached the sundial in the center!
Then, we visited National Museum of Ireland (NMI), Kildare Street, a branch of NMI focused on archaeology. The exhibition includes Ireland's important archaeological finds from the Bronze Age, Vikings and medieval times with some Egyptian items, including the Iron Age ‘bog bodies’, prehistoric Irish gold, and an early medieval book of psalms, known as the Faddan More Psalter.
There were many fascinating artifacts to see! The museum was a must-to-visit in Dublin. The staff who we talked with were very kind and friendly, too. The Victorian Palladian style building itself was worth seeing. The mosaic floor with the zodiac design in the rotunda was an eye catcher.
It was time for a celebratory afternoon tea at The Shelbourne, the most prestigious and historic 5-star luxury hotel in Dublin!!!
The Afternoon Tea was served in The Lord Mayer's Lounge, a respected drawing room overlooking St Stephen's Green.
Various kinds of tea and coffee were available. We both chose Irish Afternoon Gold (Darjeeling and Assam blend). Our server prepared a pot of tea and filled our cups. She kept the pot at her station and came back with it to our table to refill our cups whenever our cups were getting close to empty. She did the same for our water glasses. When we changed the tea to The Shelbourne Blend (Assam Golden Melange) in the middle of the course, she also changed our cups to new ones. She was super attentive but never overwhelming.
Our "Classic Afternoon Tea" stand was gorgeous. It consisted of four tiers. We started from the bottom. The 4th tier: Plain and Golden Raisin Shelbourne Butter Scones and Banana Bread. Two scones per person. Jam, butter and clotted cream were served for scones. The scones were ultra soft and tender, so-called "hotel-style." Lovely. By the way, I had two plain ones. Did J had two with golden raisin??
The 3rd tier: four kinds of sandwiches: Oak Smoked Salmon with lakeshore mustard and lemon gel on treacle bread, Classic Egg Mayonnaise and Cress on white bread, Roast Chicken and Chive Mayonnaise on wholemeal bread, and Feta and Tomato on pumpkin seed bread. They were tasty. The sandwiches were refillable. I thought I could have another smoked salmon one, but we still had 2 tiers to conquer. We didn't ask for extra sandwiches. It was wise; otherwise, we couldn't have finished up all.
The 2nd tier: Key Lime Pie Cheesecake - lime cheesecake filled with apple-lime mint jelly on lime curd meringue tart, and Triple Chocolate Cake - sot, moist chocolate butter cake, layered with rich dark chocolate, coffee, and hazelnut ganache with chocolate feuilllentine crisps.
The top tier: Mango Blackberry - Alphonso mango-soaked sponge and blackberry coulis, covered with creamy mango mousse, and The Eclair - white chocolate whipped ganache and raspberry gel eclair, topped with raspberry inspiration.
Those four kinds of cakes were heavenly. I loved all! Meanwhile, I couldn't believe I was able to eat everything along with four or five, maybe six cups of tea. While we were relaxing at table, our server brought a surprise. Small pastries and Happy Anniversary on a plate! The Afternoon Tea was for our few days early wedding anniversary. When J made a reservation, he mentioned it, which I didn't know and appreciated. J said he was too full to eat them. So was I, but I ended up with finishing the plate. Our server asked us if we would like coffee or something. I wanted to try Japanese green tea but I really couldn't find any room in my tummy. The Afternoon Tea was absolutely one of the highlights of the trip. Later J asked me what was my favorite. The first thing that popped up in mind was actually banana bread. That perhaps looked the most plain piece but tasted divine and memorable.
We walked around more to consume calories that we just owned. We also did some shopping. Crumpets at Marks and Spencer, for example.
The last but not least was cheese shopping at Sheridans Cheesemongers. J picked three kinds of Irish cheese to take home.
From the beginning to the end, the trip was remarkably enjoyable! Thank you so much J for driving for hours almost everyday. Without a car, the itinerary wasn't feasible. I’ll always cherish the memory of that incredibly beautiful color of the ocean we saw together on Ireland’s remote southwest coast.
