R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 74

Fun Photo Friday — Dublin favorites 3

Library of Trinity College

Time for Week 3 of Dublin Fun Photo Friday Favorites:

Molly Malone Heading Home Anybody Get the Name of that Bird? Buttressed Early Kindle — The Manual Edition Gothic in Black & White

Ireland — Day 2 in Dublin; More St. Patrick’s Images

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, as you may have noticed on Monday’s article, is quite impressive. But today prepare to be awed. Everything in the interior is absolute eye (and camera) candy, clear down to the tiled floor:

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Let’s zoom in a bit and take a look at the detail clear down to the engraving in the tile:

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

The stained glass is exquisite:

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

The structure, immense:

St. Patrick...

Ireland — Day 2 in Dublin; St. Patrick’s Cathedral

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin

On Day 1 in Dublin we toured the city via Hop-on/Hop-Off. Having gotten our bearings, Day 2 was for exploring sites of interest discovered the previous day. One of those sites was St Patrick’s Cathedral.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin

I’d like to give you a construction date, but with this structure’s convoluted history that would be a complicated undertaking. Let’s just say that some parts date as far back as 1191 through 1270, the spire dates to 1749...

Fun Photo Friday — Dublin favorites 2

Orange and Yellow

Week 2 of four Fun Photo Friday favorites of Dublin, starting with the Bachelor’s Inn at the corner of Bachelor’s Way and Bachelor’s Walk:

That’s a Lot of Bachelors

Wouldn’t want to be up this high after sampling too much Guinness:

Don’t Get Tipsy This High Up!

A preview of Day 2 in Dublin:

Church

Some local color:

Local Color

Some would say that the art of distilling is an almost religious experience:

Stained Glass Fit For a Distillery

Ireland — Dublin; Sights around town

Today let’s just take in the sights around Dublin, shall we? Starting with a closeup of the Stiffy on the Liffey:

Looking east on N. Earl Street between O’Connell and Marlborough:

Time for a little reflection:

On O’Connell Street looking upward:

A pilgrimage for some coming to Ireland:

And:

What’s hiding behind these rooftops?

St. Patrick’s Tower, of course:

This may look like a glass church spire:

But St. James’ Church is now a ...

Ireland — Dublin; Pearse Lyons Distillery

St. Patrick’s Tower, a former tower mill about 1,200 feet/365 meters east of Pearse Lyons Distillery:

I mentioned in last Wednesday’s blog article that I would be showing you more of the Pearse Lyons Distillery. Well, today’s the day. This is the main tour entrance, which is next door to the converted St. James’ Church, which Mr. Pearse Lyons purchased in 2014:

But let’s head on over to St. James’ and look around. When you first enter you’re into the narthex (atrium) and nave (cent...

Fun Photo Friday — Dublin Favorites Part 1

Danishness in Bright Yellow

Including this week, I’ll be running a total of four weeks’ worth of articles on Dublin before we continue on to another Irish destination. That means this week’s Fun Photo Friday is the first of four featuring Dublin favorites.

Reflections on Dublin Wings and Fascio Dublin Color Lookin’ Down the Street Whiskey in Glass at the Old Church

Ireland — Dublin; Getting Our Bearings

Let’s continue where we left off on Monday. That would be Ha’penny Bridge on the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland:

River Liffey as seen from Ha’penny Bridge

And as I mentioned on Monday, Ha’penny Bridge is a great place to just people watch for a bit:

Pedestrians on Ha’penny Bridge

Heading into the Temple Bar district you’ll find a lot of great places to eat:

Street-side menu

By the way, our favorite restaurant in this area is Quays Irish Restaurant — reasonably priced with grea...

Ireland — Day 1 in Dublin

This week begins a new travel photography series. It begins with a two-day stay in Dublin, Ireland. After that we flew to Amsterdam to catch a Royal Caribbean ship, Brilliance of the Seas, on which we headed to . . . Ireland. During this series I’ll be showing you many sights in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, after which we’ll go transatlantic to Ponta Delgada in the Azores. Reaching Tampa, I’m going to keep you captive for a back-to-back aboard Brilliance of the Seas for a look at the Mayan...

Fun Firearms Friday — First Look: Ruger® AR-556® MPR

We’re finishing up “M” Week at the blog. Monday was Mosin. Wednesday we ran with Marlin. Today’s “M” is for Ruger’s MPR version of their AR-556.

I finally gave in to the AR-style rifle bug. But give in I did, after a lot of research. I had no desire to ever travel this road again, and I didn’t want to make a mistake, so I studied for months. Along the way I discovered a lot of information that directed me towards today’s subject — the Ruger AR-556 MPR (Multi-Purpose Rifle).

What were t...