Dublin

St. Patrick was a real person. The story is that pirates from Ireland raided a coastal village in Britain, and taking several young people as slaves. The future St. Patrick was one of these slaves, and was put to work on an Irish farm. He had not been a practicing Christian but now began to pay more attention to his faith.

After several years, he received a vision from God showing him how to escape, and made his way back to his home village. He then began to believe that God wanted him to go back to Ireland, not as a slave but this time as a missionary and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. The shamrock is so important to St. Patrick's Day because he is said to have used it to illustrate the principle to the three-in-one of the Holy Trinity. Ireland became a powerful early center of Christianity, eventually sending the missionaries who converted much of northern Europe.

This is what approaching Dublin by ferry looks like. First you see Howth Head, the headland that extends into the sea. Then you see the two stacks of the former Poolbeg Power Station.

There are good deals on hotels in European cities. But beware. If you see a train overpass right next to your hotel it probably means that you will be waking up whenever the commuter trains start running.

The following images begin in a courtyard of Dublin Castle. The cylindrical stone building, in other images, is the outside of Dublin Castle. Also seen is the Irish Parliament, Dublin Cathedral and, Christ Church Cathedral. Dublin is divided in half by the River Liffey, all of the places just named are south of the river. The first two images of Dublin Castle are from Google Earth. Notice that Irish castles often include a church. It's not a bad idea to have God on our side.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.343175,-6.2674355,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DrfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.898773%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

All of the photos of Dublin on the travel photo blog of Europe, which can be enlarged simply by clicking on them, http://www.markmeekphotos.blogspot.com/2006/09/dublin-ireland.html , were taken north of the River Liffey, except for this one:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250938.jpg

The first of the following views of Dublin is on College Street, adjacent to Trinity College. Trinity College, south of the River Liffey and just in the opposite direction from where the above photo was taken, is one of those great European universities and was founded in 1592. The first scene is Trinity College from Google Earth.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3456316,-6.2568794,3a,75y,292.01h,93.14t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6nA6pEevoAgnRg86I9jJNQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D6nA6pEevoAgnRg86I9jJNQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D49.396404%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656 

On display at Trinity College is the famed Book of Kells. This is a richly illuminated copy of the Gospels that was produced in an Irish monastery about 1200 years ago. It is possibly the most valuable book in the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells#/media/File:KellsFol292rIncipJohn.jpg

The following scenes begin outside the brewery of Jameson's Irish Whisky.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3481348,-6.2766321,2a,75y,346.95h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1st5ZjM-9kVVCqJ9BmyM0C3Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dt5ZjM-9kVVCqJ9BmyM0C3Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D352.12512%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Another famous brewery, that we saw in the travel photo blog of Europe, is, of course, the Guinness Brewery, just south of the River Liffey. The company came up with the idea of providing something to debate and discuss while drinking Guinness, and the result of the project is the Guinness Book of World Records.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3879/3734/1600/dc_250939.0.jpg

The reason that the color green represents Ireland is obvious. The frequent mild rain and limestone soil provide the green grass that gives it it's nickname of "The Emerald Isle". This is what Ireland looks like from up high on Google Earth.