Wordless Wednesday : There Once was an Ugly Duckling…

Swans on the Canal, Dublin

Thursday Doors : A Safe Door!

Door of the Night Safe

It’s a door of sorts, one that can only be used if you have the right key.     This photo was taken in The Bank Bar and Restaurant, in College Green, Dublin.    This restaurant was formerly (you guessed it) a bank, in fact there was a bank here since 1892, first the Belfast Bank, and later the Royal Bank of Ireland.   It has been a restaurant since 2003, but has retained many of the original features inside, including the safes and safety deposit boxes downstairs in the vaults.

The Bank website gives the following information on the origins of the building :

The exterior is Franco-Scottish in inspiration and is unique in that it is one of Dublin’s rare examples of Scottish sandstone. The interior, which was once the main banking hall, is a stunning example of merchant power and patronage displaying an extraordinary ornate setting, stained glass ceiling, mosaic tiled floors and spectacular hand carved plasterwork and cornicing.

Inside features of the Bank

Linked to Norm’s Thursday Doors

Norm’s Thursday Doors : Afternoon Tea/Gin Anyone?

Dublin Door

My door this week is from The Westin Hotel in College Green in Dublin, just across the road from Trinity College, and right in the heart of Dublin.   As you can see, it has a very opulent stone facade with ornate columns, and  the hotel has 4.5 stars.   It changed hands a few years ago, and was bought by a US billionaire (not Mr Trump) for 65 million Euro!    I am sure the inside matches very well with the outside,  (I am yet to visit) and I hear the hotel is famous for it’s afternoon teas – you can even have Hendricks Gin in a teapot – now there’s a good reason to visit.   You can read the afternoon tea menu here, and be sure to pop in if you are ever in Dublin.

Linked to Norm’s Thursday Doors

Wordless Wednesday : The Little Viking is Enjoying the View!

The Little Viking

Weekly Photo Challenge : Mirror

Reflections upon reflections

This mirror over the fireplace is in a very large room, with an exact replica at the other end of the room, so that when you look in the mirror you see many more mirrors, this is called an infinity mirror.  I am not sure how many mirrors can be seen, but I think it is at least seven.

Linked to Weekly Photo Challenge : Mirror

Cee’s Which Way Challenge : August 24, 2016

This challenge is all about capturing the roads, walks, trails, rails, steps, etc. we move from one place to another on.

I found a few interesting bridges on our recent trip to Dublin.  The day before my son’s wedding, as everyone was gathering for the big event, we went on The Viking Splash Tour around the city,   This is a fun tour in a World War 2 amphibious vehicle, that goes around the old part of Dublin, on road and water, everyone dresses up in Viking Hats, and even though there was a little bit of rain, we all had a great time!

Here come the Vikings

We drove along by the side of the River Liffey, past the main bridge, O’Connell Bridge, and one of the pedestrian bridges, the Ha’penny (Halfpenny) Bridge

O’Connell Bridge

Strolling over the Hapenny bridge

We also drove along by the canal, and heard about the history of the time when barges were the main form of transport to bring goods up the river from the docks.    Anyone for a stroll along the canal?

strolling along the canal, Dublin

Linked to Cee’s Which Way Challenge

Tuesdays of Texture : The Glass Ceiling

This is the detail of one of the ceilings in the Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club in Dublin, a beautiful building dating back to 1840.   This ceiling is in the card room, where our son recently got married, and the workmanship and the plasterwork make this a  spectacular room

Having fun in the Card Room before the ceremony

Oh to live in such a place – you can read more about the club here, and its famous visitors over the years

 

Linked to Narami’s Tuesdays of Texture

 

Norm’s Thursday Doors

College Green, Dublin

I am finally back blogging again, after a hectic month with family visiting from all over, and finishing up with my youngest son’s wedding to the love of his life in Dublin last weekend.

On a stroll around Dublin on Sunday morning (maybe to clear some heads), we came across these very ornamental gates/doors into the Ulster Bank – I don’t think anyone would attempt trying to get through these doors after hours!   This is a beautiful building, as you can see from the impressive carved pillars on each side.

Further along the street, we visited another bank, this one has been turned into a restaurant, while still retaining all the characteristics of it’s former home, and the vaults downstairs still have the original safes, as you can see…I wonder if there are any forgotten gems inside?

Old bank safe

Linked to Norm’s Thursday Doors

 

Wordless Wednesday : Watching the Sun go down in Dublin

Sunset over St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, Dublin

 

The Bridge with Strings Attached

Samuel Beckett was an Irish novelist and playwright that was born in Dubin in 1906, he wrote many plays and novels, one of the most famous being ‘Waiting for Godot‘   He lived most of his life in Paris, and died there in 1989.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, and in recognition of his contribution to the arts, one of the newer bridges crossing the Liffey in Dublin has been named the Samuel Beckett Bridge

A Bridge with Strings

This is a very contemporary looking bridge, installed in 2009, and looks like a harp lying on its side, and it is most impressive when seen at night, with all the buildings around it lit up.