Day 6-Dublin Castle

Today was our last full day in Ireland :-( There were a few things we wanted to do so we tried to start the day off as early as possible. David really wanted to play golf so Jay joined him for a rainy day off golf. Sheila joined me, Ryan, and John and off we went! The same guy that drove the bus for us the day before took us to Dublin Castle. He was definitely a piece of work and he most definitely remembered Sheila from the day before :-). He told us to call him when we were ready to come back to the hotel because on New Years Eve taxi drivers sometimes drove their rates up. So, we tucked his number away for later in the day (there is a story about that.) The buildings now are used for government purposes.

One of the entrances to the castle

The entrance stairwell had coat of arms lined agaisnt the wall

All of the detail was gorgeous

Can you imagine a chunk of plaster coming down on your head???

This room is now used as a conference room. The smaller chairs are for the ladies and had a wider seat to accomidate the larger dress at the time.

Loved that there was detail on everything



All of the light fixtures were beautiful. Anything crystal was Waterford since Waterford is from Ireland.

State Corridor







Ornate crown molding in every room



This was used as women to shield their face from the fire since their makeup was made from wax

State Drawing Room. This is the salon that was used by women. They were only allowed to join the ball when a gentlemen would ask them to escort them. The room faced East so it was very dark in the evening. You can imagine how dark it was before electricity.



The throne room used when under English rule

The unicorn represents Scotland, the harp Ireland, and the lion is England. Makes me think of the nursery rhyme "The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown" I think it was in Alice in Wonderland too.

All of the portraits had the crest above it

Wish the sun wasn't glaring on the portraits

This is my favorite picture of the day. I love how the portraits are reflected in the mirrors.

St Patrick's Hall









The Record Tower. Only medievel structure still left standing above ground.

Below ground there were still walls left





During one of the plagues they sealed off any place where water could get in thinking the water was spreading the disease. This actual made it worse because rodents couldn't get out.

Left of the tower is Chapel Royal

After Dublin Castle we went to the museum which was pretty boring so no pictures of that. Our next stop was Kilmainham Jail.