Off and Running

On Tuesday we drove up to Dublin and spent the night. We dropped Oretta at the airport at 8 and said goodbye to her as the OCS folks to her to the gate. It was a good visit on both sides. That done, instead of just driving 3.5 hours back we thought we would make a bit of detour and see some of the surrounding coast. First stop Malahide Village-Starbucks. This is a very cute and active village. near as I can tell all of the Starbucks in the ROI are in and around Dublin Town. After our coffee and croissants we drove over to Malahide Castle and Demesne. You can tour the inside of the castle provided you arrive when its open (10:30am) instead of a very early (by Irish Standards) 9:30am. I was still able to get some lovely shots of the parklands and the buildings. A little background on the Castle, Malahide Castle, set on 250 acres of park land in the pretty seaside town of Malahide, was both a fortress and a private home for nearly eight hundred years. The Talbot family lived here from 1185 to 1973, when the last Lord Talbot died.
The house is furnished with beautiful period furniture together with an extensive collection of Irish portrait paintings, mainly from the National Gallery. The history of the Talbot family is recorded in the Great Hall, with portraits of generations of the family telling their own story of Ireland's stormy history. One of the more poignant legends concerns the morning of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, when fourteen members of the family breakfasted together in this room, never to return, as all were dead by nightfall. Malahide Castle is very unique in Ireland because the Talbot family managed to keep control of the castle for 791 years. The Talbot family began their reign in 1185 and ended in 1976 despite a short interlude, 1649 to 1660, while Cromwell marched through Ireland. The lands and harbor of Malahide were granted to Richard Talbot in 1185, one of the knights who arrived in Ireland with Henry II in 1174. According to Burke's Peerage, Richard Talbot or de Talbot was the common ancestor of the Lords of Malahide and of the Earls of Shrewsbury.

The history of the Talbot family is recorded in the Great Hall,where portraits of generations of the family tell their own story of Ireland's stormy history. Many additions and alterations have been made to this romantic and beautiful structure, but the contours of the surrounding parklands have changed little in 800 years,retaining a sense of the past. Malahide Castle is operated by Dublin Tourism Attractions in conjunction with Fingal County Council. The hall of the castle is one of the purest specimens of Norman architecture but it is not known whether it dates from the reign of Henry IV or from that of Edward IV when the original building was considerably enlarged and embellished. The circular towers flanking the facade were added in 1765.

At the heart of the medieval castle is the Oak Room, approached by a winding stone staircase and lit by Gothic windows added in 1820 when the room was enlarged and the front hall below was created. The room is lined with carved oak from floor to ceiling, representing scriptural subjects, now black with age and polishing. Some of the carving is of Flemish origin, including six panels representing biblical scenes opposite the window; their religious theme suggests that the Talbots, who remained Roman Catholics until 1774, used this room as a chapel in penal times. Over the mantelpiece is a fine representation of the coronation of the Blessed Virgin which according to tradition disappeared when Cromwell seized the Castle and miraculously sprang back to it's place when the Talbots were reinstated.

From there we headed over to Howth - just because Adrian had heard of the village and wanted to check it out. It was lovely, but there is no claim to fame other than Dubliners go there on a sunny day. It has a lighthouse and a working pier, not much else. We had a great walk along the harbor and feeling refreshed headed for home.

Enjoy the shots.

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Gotta Love Ryanair

So, while Oretta was here we thought we would take a quick trip over to Italy so she could visit family in Vico. We booked our flight on Ryanair out of Dublin to Pisa, only direct route and it was very cheap - 125 euro for all three of us. Can't beat those prices. So the flight is leaving from Dublin at 8:40pm and arriving in Pisa at 11:50pm. We arranged a hotel to spend the night in Pisa, the plan was to pick up the rental car and drive to Vico the next day. We left Shannon about 1:00pm in the afternoon. Got to the airport in Dublin with plenty of time to spare, got through security and picked up som sandwiches to eat. Plane takes off fine, smooth easy flight. Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain we are now circling Pisa because there is fog. 10 minutes later captain comes on again, we are going to divert to Genoa because we do not have good enough visibility to land in Pisa. Arrive in Genoa it's now maybe 12:30am - land, sit on the plane for a few minutes. Captain comes on we are going to put you all on a bus and drive you to Pisa. Sit waiting for buses to arrive. Oh, it looks like the weather has improved so we will refuel and fly to Pisa, sit back and relax. Few minutes (maybe 30) later, we are going to offload you while we refuel so you can wait in comfort while we refuel. Of course, Adrian being fluent in Italian and fortunately (thank you Oretta) us being at the front of the plane - he hears them dickering about who exactly is going to pay for the fuel, because it was not pre-arranged in Genoa. They take us off the plane and into the terminal- the airport is of course closed. We hear an announcement your flight for Pisa should depart at approximately 1:40am. Ok, 30 minutes later - announcement. Pisa airport is closed, please proceed to baggage claim, collect your bags, go through Passport Control, we are going to bus you to Pisa. So bus finally arrives, we all climb on board and hmm, its a 2.5 hour bus ride to Pisa its now about 3-3:30am. We arrive in the coach park of Pisa airport at 5:00am. Get a taxi to the hotel, because of course nothing is open yet. Check-in, sleep for a couple of hours, Adrian gets the car and off we go to Vico. It was a very long night but hey we were in Italy so all is good. We got to meet cousins Adrian has never met during the week we were there and visit other friends and cousins in the village.

Even with the drama of getting to Vico it was a wonderful week and we were very sad to come home last night. It would have been nice to have stayed longer, but we took a few photos, ate way to much, enjoyed the sun, I figure my tan will be gone in 2-3 days and enjoyed the company.

Hope you all like the pictures and accompanying explanations!

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