Disney Sheep

Since it was a beautiful sunny (if windy), Sunday morning, we decided to explore a little farther afield and got a great hill work out in as we walked up and down the towns streets.

Most of the housing on the hill side anyway, appears to be row housing. Ok, it definitely wasn't exciting, but it was a beautiful sunny day.

Almost immediately I noticed that instead of gardens, lawns etc, the houses have about 8 to 10 feet between the house itself and the sidewalk. And instead of grass, that space is covered by asphalt or concrete block tiles that runs the frontage of the house in lieu of grass. Usually there is a low concrete wall surrounding the asphalt, and that is topped by a fence. Checking into it later I was informed that this 'yard' is called a 'forecourt', but realistically it reminded me of a prison yard for gnomes!

But the reason that these 'yards' caught my attention was due to their fences. Dublin might have their doors, but in Milford Haven they use their fences to set their houses apart from each other, some were concrete block design, lots were ornamental iron, and most of them were painted different colours. It was neat.

While researching the ports on this itinerary prior to our cruise, it became obvious very quickly that Milford Haven's claim to fame was being a port that provided you with access to the rest of Wales. In fact one particularly unflattering review was written by a person who had grown up in Milford Haven - they described it as having sweet 'fluff' all with a great beach attached. Hmmm.

Even after reviewing all of the excursions on the Princess site, I did not see anything that interested us, and since we planned to be fairly busy in the three other ports, we decided we would simply walk around the town itself to see what was available, and call it good. We used the morning of our arrival in Milford Haven to get a slower start to our day. Heading up to the Panorama Buffet for breakfast, there were a fair number of people still in the restaurant, but it was definitely not as busy as we were used to on other port day.

Heading down to get a tender to shore, there was no longer any need to get a numbered tender ticket at the Casino Lounge, and instead we headed straight for the tender embarkation area. The ship was using their own tenders to ferry us ashore, and although they seemed to have the process well in hand, they were loading people in wheelchairs on this tender which resulted in extra time to load and unload being required.

The trip to shore was relatively short and on the dock the town had set up a tent with local volunteers handing out brochures and providing information. We did receive a map (think paper placemat style), which made it very clear that Milford Haven has about two or three main streets that head straight up over the hillside, and then there are about two or three streets that run perpendicularly across the hill, making a wobbly grid pattern of sorts.

We chose to start our visit by walking along the marina waterfront, where there were maybe a half dozen shops/restaurants. However since it was Sunday, only a few of them were open. I think both of the stores that we checked out (probably two of the three or so open) sold household knickknacks - not really what you typically think of as souvenirs per se. As an example there was a sign in one store, a wooden plaque style with the words- Retirement that's when you get less money and more husband.

Actually as we walked along and I saw that not much was open, I kept remembering the movie Laws of Attraction when Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore head to Ireland only to discover when Julianne tries to hire a car, that businesses aren't open on a Tuesday and it gets to the point that she keeps repeating (in a sing song voice) but we're not open on a Tuesday - only in our case replace Tuesday with Sunday :).

Looks like you guys were the only ones in the pool. It was often the same for my wife. I don't think there were ever more than three people in the pool at the same time.

 

DW said the heated pool was fine, but then after getting out, she would either have to get into the hot tub or get back to the cabin to take a warm shower. If she went back to the cabin, I had to provide room service---decaf coffee + cream on the side. And on embarkation day while everyone else was eating, she had her clothes blow away while she was in the pool.

 

And as can be seen in your pictures of the pool area, there was no problem of people saving the lounges. lol

Like your DW we were almost always the only ones in the pool, especially on the days when the ship was cutting through rough water and the pool was like our own mini wave pool :). And yes we had our clothes blow away a couple of times, but DH would rescue them, usually as he was heading for the shower before supper. One of the things we truly enjoyed was the conversations with other passengers in the hot tub at the end of port days.

And it is nice to hear that you were attentive to your DW and brought her coffee :).

I really think that if you want to see the Book of Kells, you have to go early before they even open like we did. Our wait was short. We did see later when doubling back to Trinity College a long, long line. I would be afraid if someone used your proposed strategy of going near closing time, that you would not get back to the ship before disembarkation. And if you did get in, you might have to rush through and not be able to really appreciate this amazing work.

 

When you leave the Book of Kells, you end up in the library. (Neither DW or I an sure whether you can get into the library in any other way.) In addition to looking like something out of the Harry Potter movies with books stacked to the ceiling, there are busts of famous Irishmen all along the walls.

I completely agree with you Ontheweb that if the Book of Kells/Trinity College is a priority for you, then you need to start there. I have read that heading to see the Book of Kells at the end of the day has been successful for some, but it probably also depends on your All Aboard time.

Here is Tom's web site. Look for Dublin under Ireland.

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/portguides.html

Many thanks Gettingwarmer for getting Phabric a timely answer. Tis the season you know - as in the cold, flu, and virus season!

Dublin, Ireland, Proposed Touring Plan OR

The Hindsight Report as in If I Knew Then What I Know Now - (IIKTWIKN):

Dublin is truly a walkable city and the majority of the sites and sights that we were interested in were within a reasonable walking radius. Prior to our trip, I had found Tom's Tour Guide on line to be very useful in figuring out the sites in Dublin that I was interested in seeing. However by visiting sites based on our priorities without having planned sufficiently in advance with a map (because I was so focused on our time in Edinburgh), our route was not as efficient as it could have been. Essentially we kept Trinity College as a point of reference and without intentionally planning to do it, tended to go back towards the College before visiting another site. Yeah, not the most efficient.

What I would recommend if you travel to Dublin as part of a cruise and take a taxi from the port, unless you really wanted to see the Book of Kells, start touring near the O'Connell Bridge, walking to the Spire, checking out the statue of James Joyce with his walking stick (referred to by locals as the 'Prick with a Stick'), and the General Post Office (where the 1916 Easter Rising began - consider watching the TV episode of Young Indiana Jones on this subject).

From the GPO head for the Ha'Penny Bridge and see the statue locally known as the 'Hags with the Bags', before proceeding across the River Liffey again, towards Christ Church Cathedral, and then to St Patricks Cathedral. Note, the Viking Splash Tours start near Christ Church Cathedral and might be an interesting opportunity to learn some of the history of Dublin, especially since we have now visited the inside of the Cathedral. After (or before) visiting St Patrick's Cathedral, you could visit Dublin Castle (and if it is around the end of July, roughly, it's sand castles in the courtyard) - this leaves you just a few streets away from Grafton St and close to St Stephen's Green.

Continuing on in a counter clockwise circle, St Stephen's Green provides a great spot to simply check out the statues including the Wolf Tone monument, locally known as 'Tonehenge'. Since Grafton St ends (or begins depending on your perspective) at St Stephen's Green, there are numerous places to pick up a snack to enjoy in the park, such as Marks & Spencer or gelato shops, yes there is even a McDonalds. Grafton St and St Ann's St (where St Ann's church is located), have been converted to pedestrian shopping streets and are 'do not miss' from my perspective, however I would probably visit them at the end of my sight seeing (after finishing up at Trinity College). A statue of Phil Lynott, the front man for a famous Irish band, Thin Lizzy - locally the statue is known as the Ace with the Bass - can be viewed from Grafton St.

Continuing in a counter clockwise pattern, you could visit the National Museum of Ireland and/or the National Gallery of Ireland and then continue on to Merrion Square, a park which has a colourful statue of Oscar Wilde in it as well as a children's park apparently. Leaving Merrion Square, we would head west on Clare St/Lenister St South which provides views of the Georgian 'row' houses with their famous colourful doors. Although apparently there are examples of Georgian buildings and doors all around the outside perimeter of Merrion Square.

Following this route you would wind up at Trinity College. At that point you can easily view the grounds and then decide if you want to try to see the Book of Kells when the lines are hopefully 'winding' down. The famous Molly Malone statue, locally known as the 'Tart with the Cart' near Trinity College is another 'do not miss' sight for me. Depending on whether you need to do more shopping, at this point you could visit Grafton St (again even :) or just grab a taxi and head back to the ship.

As a side note, we found a few Tourist Information Centres open at different spots along this route where we were able to ask directions. The Temple Bar area is also located near Trinity College as an alternate option to souvenir shopping at that point.

If we wanted to visited Trinity College at the start of the day, we could simply reverse the order of this touring route.

An alternate transportation option would be to walk from the port along the River Liffey getting to see the Sam Beckett (harp) bridge to the city bike station near the Sean O'Casey Foot Bridge and ride bikes the rest of the way to downtown (heard about this option from another passenger during hot tub time) - which could take you past the Famine Memorial. You could park the bike at another stand downtown, or simply ride it to sites you want to see and then drop it off near a site you want to visit. Given our issues with the taxi driver, I really wish that I had known about this option at the time.

You will notice that my list did not include visiting the Guinness Storehouse (Celiac issues) or the Kilmainham Gaol. Interestingly enough, our table mates had chosen to take the ship's shuttle into town and then use the HOHO bus. Since they did not know about the Gaol, they were quite surprised when their bus driver announced that if you did not already have tickets to get into the Gaol that day, then you were out of luck as they were all sold out, so if seeing this site is important to you, you might want to book tickets ahead of time.

Back on board the ship we stuck with our routine. First stop was the Panorama Buffet for lunch, followed by a visit to the library and then rest and relaxation. It should be noted that DS had bought an Ireland hoodie as a souvenir that has become his go to hoodie since our trip.

After afternoon tea we headed for mock tails and goofing around in the pool and the hot tub before dinner.

Note that the next pictures are taken from the hot tub and are included to put the size of the pool in perspective. When I initially saw the pool, I thought it would be too small to be useful, but you can see that it was deep enough and long enough to swim and play in - as long as the number of people using it at any one time was limited.

According to guidebooks, the design of the houses on Merrion Square was typical of the Georgian houses of Dublin. The external visual uniformity of the micro-Georgian city masked a wealth of variety and decoration that adorned the interiors of the buildings. But at one time, all of the exterior doors were the same colour, most likely a neutral shade.

One of the 'urban legends' is that the famous writer George Moore lived next to another famous writer, Oliver St John Gogarty, in Ely Place. Both were a bit eccentric and it’s said that Moore painted his door green so that the drunken Gogarty would not come knocking on it, thinking it to be his own door. Gogarty then painted his door red so that the drunken Moore would not come knocking on his door! And that’ supposedly is what started the fashion. The truth is a lot less colourful.

These houses that we would today call row houses, were built in the Georgian style and the exteriors had to adhere to strict architectural guidelines. In order to set themselves apart, the former residents of Georgian Dublin painted their front doors whatever color they fancied, red was more durable apparently, added ornate knockers, elegant fanlights above the door, and wrought iron boot scrapers, near the the entrance.

We had one last objective at this point, and that was souvenir shopping. And yes, I felt the need to tease DS again and take photos of some of the more inappropriate Irish souvenirs.

At one point as we wandered, DS saw a huge building with flags, and the one he spotted was an American flag, so he casually asks if that is the US Embassy. DH and I glanced in the direction of the building and broke out laughing. I guess he couldn't see the huge Heineken sign from his initial viewpoint!

After easily finding a few minor souvenirs, DH led us once again to a street near Trinity College where there was a line up of taxis waiting. We easily caught a taxi back to the ship where we were more than willing to call it a day from a sight seeing perspective, although along the way we spotted the Sam Beckett 'Harp' bridge as well as the Famine Memorial statue and the replica of the ship that the Irish people had sailed on when they left Ireland during the famine, but we only saw them briefly as we drove by in the taxi.

We were definitely getting tired at this point, but I really wanted to see the Oscar Wilde statue. We found out after asking in a Tourist Information Centre, that the statue was located in Merrion Park. Once again DH consulted the map and led me back past Trinity College to the park where we easily found and photographed the colourful statue of Oscar Wilde.

Mission accomplished DS and DH were happy to head us back towards Trinity College once again, this time along South Leinster St. As we walked I noticed the brightly coloured doors of the 'row housing' lining the street and realized that we were walking along the Georgian section with some of the famous 'Doors of Dublin'. As I walked I aimed my camera at each door I spotted and shot a quick single photo and kept moving, since I was thinking that DS would come back and drag me along if I was silly enough to try to slow him down.

While on the Caribbean Princess in Dublin, Princess brought in Irish dancers for a show before leaving Dublin. We came back later to see the show, to only find out that they played the show over many times on the tv.

 

Did they have the dancers on the Ocean?

Although we were probably in the hot tub after afternoon tea by 4:30 pm, I just checked the Patter for Dublin and there was a Folkloric Show -Gaels Afloat with traditional Irish music, song and dance scheduled for the Cabaret Lounge on deck 5 Fwd at 4:30 pm.

5:30 pm was all aboard.

Hope that helps.

Other notable features continued.

On one side of the park, fronting on a street is the Wolf Tone monument. Of course since it is backed by a wall that resembles an upright wall of stones, it is commonly referred to as 'Tonehenge'.

A memorial to the Great Famine of 1845–1850.

The O'Donovan Rossa memorial.

And the centrepiece of the fountain near the Fusiliers Arch entrance.

We enjoyed St Stephen's Green, including the peace and quiet we found (despite a rather huge group of French students wandering around en masse) and enjoyed our snack from M&S.

With our cups safely wrapped in several layers of paper and cardboard boxes etc, we continued on to St Stephen's Green. We entered via the impressive Fusiliers' Arch at the Grafton Street corner which commemorates the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the Second Boer War.

While the central park of St Stephen's Green is one of three ancient commons in the city, its current layout owes much to the restorations of the 1800s.

The grounds are roughly rectangular and are centred on a formal garden.

On the north side (and spanning much of the length of the park) is a large lake. Home to ducks and other water fowl, the lake is fed by an artificial water fall, spanned by O'Connell bridge, and fronted by an ornamental gazebo. The lakes in the park are fed from the Grand Canal at Portobello.

Apparently during the Easter Rising of 1916, a group of the Irish Citizens Army took over the park - however the British Army were able to take over the upper floors of nearby buildings and fire down upon them. In the end, the Irish Citizens Army moved to the nearby Surgeons College. AND both sides allowed a cease fire to let the grounds keeper feed the ducks!

To the south side of the main garden circle is more open heath surrounding a bandstand, and often frequented by lunching students, workers and shoppers on Dublin's sunnier days. And a bust of James Joyce facing his former university.

Other notable features include:

A fountain representing the Three Fates inside the Leeson Street gate.

Next I wanted to head towards St Stephen's Green looking for more statues, so DH lead us there along Grafton Street which ends at St Stephen's Green. Grafton St and St Ann's St are the main pedestrian shopping streets in Dublin.

These streets were very very busy with huge crowds of people, or perhaps it just seemed that way since areas were choked with crowds watching buskers entertaining the tourists.

When we spotted a Marks & Spencer we stopped and picked up some gluten-free cookies and coke products in the food court to take with us to the park. And then just after that we spotted The Disney Store.

Perhaps it was the very cheesy leprechaun Mickey and Minnie in the store window, but we couldn't resist going inside.

It was a fairly large two story store, and I could not resist buying Anna and Elsa mugs from the movie 'Frozen'. They are one of our most used souvenirs since our return home.

Somewhere along Grafton St we spotted the Phil Lynott statue, commonly referred to as 'the Ace with the Bass'. Lynott was from the area and he was the frontman for the band Thin Lizzy.

At this juncture we headed for the General Post Office (GPO), the site of the start of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Although we headed inside, it was mostly just a post office, since we didn't really have enough time - or the inclination, to check out the museum side of the GPO. There was a statue there dedicated to the Uprising, along with a green mailbox (for which Ireland is famous).

Outside I noticed gouges in the pillars, which were probably the infamous bullet holes as a result of the uprising, however I don't think that DH or DS saw them. To be honest however, I was so fixated on the GPO that I did not see the statue of James Joyce with his walking stick, apparently commonly referred to as the 'prick with the stick' that is apparently near the GPO.

There was also 'the Spire' further down the street, on the spot where the Nelson monument used to be, but for some reason I did not take a picture.

River Liffey and Ha'Penny Bridge. After the Cathedral I was on a mission to 'collect' another statue, so we headed north towards the Ha'Penny Bridge, the oldest iron bridge in Dublin, and a bridge built to replace 7 pedestrian bridges.

We quickly scored a few photos of the bridge and then crossed to the north side where the 'Hags with the Bags' statue is located.

Trying to snag one last photo of the bridge, this time I got photo bombed by a 'beach chicken'!

I love that you did go back to eventually see Florence!

 

There are so many places I want to return to but so many I still would like to see for the first time - the Book of Kells being on the latter list.

 

Still enjoying your TR, Yvonne!

 

Kristen

I agree with you Kristen, I am glad that Ontheweb did get back to see Florence and I hope that you get to see the Book of Kells - me too :)

I have a ocean view cabin.

 

Is there a small refrigerator in the cabins?

Although I can't really remember using the fridge, DH does remember the usual small fridge being in our balcony cabin.

I just read through your whole review up to the end. It was very enjoyable to travel along with you! Sounds like an amazing journey and you are so lucky to have been able to see your daughter while traveling.

 

Looking forward to the rest.

Thanks for your kind comments, we were very fortunate to get to meet up with DD in Edinburgh - it felt magical. Glad to have you reading along.

The medieval crypt is not only one of the largest in either Britain or Ireland, but also the oldest structure in Dublin. The crypt contains many historic artefacts that have survived there simply because they were in no ones way!

Statues of Charles I and Charles II

Other things fall under the categories of the wonderful and the weird.

Display of Historic dress

Cat and the Rat - the one presumably chasing the other , were trapped in an organ pipe in the 1860s and became mummified

The cathedral was founded probably sometime after 1028 when the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin made a pilgrimage to Rome.

And at that time, the church was built on the high ground overlooking the Viking settlement.

In the 1170s, Strongbow, a medieval Norman-Welsh peer and warlord who came to Ireland at the request of the King and whose arrival marked the beginning of English involvement in Ireland, helped to fund a complete rebuilding of Christ Church, initially a wooden building, in stone. Which is perhaps why the cathedral contains the reputed tomb of Strongbow.

On the other side of the cathedral is the tomb of Bishop Charles Lindsay, a former Dean of Christ Church and the last to hold the position of bishop of Kildaire.

I was also intrigued by the medieval floor tiles. Apparently there are 63 patterns in all, which the Victorians copied throughout the cathedral.

Luckily we had picked up a kid's guide to the Cathedral since it mentioned the mummified Cat and Rat, which lead us to the crypt. Missing the crypt would have meant missing the best part of the Cathedral!

Christ Church Cathedral. Walking towards the Christ Church Cathedral we were passed by an amphibious tour vehicle bearing participants in the Viking Splash tours. They were loud and they were proud - of the Viking hats they were wearing. And once DH and DS saw them, I had no chance at that point of getting them to go on a tour, even if it meant getting to rest, as in sitting in a bus that would end up sailing on the River Liffey for a short period of time and would have had a tour guide tell us about Viking history in Ireland. Instead we proceeded on to the Cathedral where we found a group of visiting school kids heading inside.

Joining a relatively short queue, we paid for 2 adults and one child (i.e. Under 16 years old) to enter the building. The Cathedral itself is in many respects simply a really large and well appointed church, albeit a very old one. We wandered around checking out (and since photography is allowed, taking pictures of) the amazing arches and beams in the ceiling and structures,

the Baptistry,

the quire, the stained glass windows,

Empathizing with you over getting ripped off by a taxi cab driver in a foreign country. That happened to us once in Athens. We were tired of walking around after exploring the area of the Parthenon. There was a museum that DW wanted to see, and she really did not want to walk any more. (and she is usually very into walking.) We hailed a cab, and asked what the fare would be, and he quoted us a very reasonable rate. And then the meter began running, and the fare was MUCH, MUCH HIGHER. When we questioned it, he just grinned and said a lot of traffic. There's not much you can do when a taxi cab driver pulls a stunt like this in a foreign country.

 

We took the Princess shuttle. And went straight to Trinity College and got on the line for the Book of Kells. They had not opened yet, so the line was not too long. (Later we went back to Trinity College, and the line was extremely long.) The time waiting went quickly as I struck up a conversation with the couple in front of us who it turned out were on our ship.

 

The Book of Kells was truly impressive. Sorry you missed it, but you now have an excuse to go back to Dublin. Unfortunately, you could not take pictures. (DW did have a working camera by then since she was able to buy a new lens on the sea day between Edinburgh and Dublin.) Leaving the Book of Kells exhibit, we were then in the Library. DW got a lot of pictures there. It looked like something straight out of the Harry Potter movies.

Although we would have liked to see the Book of Kells, I am more definitely that we missed the Rest of the library since I would have loved taking pictures of it. As you say though, it just gives us a reason to take another British Isles cruise in order to go back :).

Dublin Castle. As you approach Dublin Castle you see a typical round castle tower with a turret, and that is pretty much the only part of the castle that appeared 'castle-y'.

Most of Dublin Castle dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland.

Originally built as a defensive fortification for the Norman city of Dublin, it later evolved into a royal residence, resided in by the representative of the monarch. The Castle served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland.

Over the years parliament and law courts met at the castle before moving to new purpose-built venues.

It also served as a military garrison. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, the complex was ceremonially handed over to the newly formed Provisional Government and is now a major Irish government complex.

We did not choose to tour inside, but instead walked around the cobblestone square, taking pictures of the buildings and the arches, as well as the sand castles, that are part of the Dublin Castle Sand Sculpture Exhibition which is free to the public. Duthain Dealbh – meaning ‘Fleeting Sculpture’ – are a trio of artists who have created giant free standing sculptures on location every year for the past ten years. This year’s theme is ‘Bright Sparks’, inspired by the work of Irish scientists.

The sculpture of Albert Einstein was one of our favourites.

And yes, we spotted the 'famous' statue of Lady Justice who was not blind.

Trinity College. One of the reasons that we started with Trinity College was due to online reports that we should either start with the College or end with the College in order to beat the crowds. When we arrived just after 9:30 am, (thank you Princess ventilation gremlins for the lack/loss of sleep and ensuing slow start to our morning - I know, just channel 'Frozen' and let it go- however it was still really having an effect on our day at this point) there was already a huge crowd on the grounds waiting for tours, and there was a long line waiting to see the Book of Kells.

We decided to pass on seeing the book at this time and just explored the College grounds.

At the end of our Dublin sight seeing, we were simply too tired to attempt a visit to the Book of Kells. The buildings were neat to check out, as old buildings go, but the one that stood out the most to me was the one I dubbed 'the Marty McFly' building, because it reminded me of the 'clock tower' building in Back to the Future' :).

Next up, the Molly Malone statue or as she is commonly known, 'the Tart with the Cart'. Heading back out of the College the way we entered, we found the location where the Molly Malone statue should have been to discover that it had been moved to nearby St Andrew's church. DH immediately checked his map, while I started looking down streets, and spotted a church.

Sure enough, Molly was there and we quickly snagged a few pictures of her and with her, before we headed off in the direction of Christ Church Cathedral. On the way there, we ended up finding Dublin Castle first.

After our rough night due to disturbed sleep, it was really tough to get moving in the morning. Although it was still before 10 am when we got off the ship (docked), there was only one taxi waiting. All of my research had indicated that a taxi from the dock to Trinity College should cost around 10€ roughly. I was even prepared for inflation and I had factored 15€ in my cost estimate for planning purposes. However when we asked the taxi driver told us it would be 6€ each or 18€ for the 3 mile trip!!!

If I hadn't been so tired (from the middle of the night personal foghorn in our cabin) I would have balked and convinced DH that we should find another way. Instead since we were later than planned DH just agreed. The taxi driver even tried bogus logic on us of well look there are three of you etc, but even though I didn't know the 'rules' for taxis in Ireland, I still wasn't buying it. And what made the situation even worse was that the taxi driver then charged DH 20€ and DH just paid it!!

So now, I was tired and grumpy and feeling out of sorts. However in our family we try to apply the rule that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react, so I decided to not let this ruin my day. We did grab a taxi at the end of the day from almost the same place that the taxi in the morning had let us off - he quoted us 15€ as the expected cost for the trip and then read the meter at 11€. DH gave him 15€ Or more and told him to keep the change - it wasn't the money for the first taxi driver, it was the principle that bugged me.

Arriving in downtown Dublin, the taxi let us out by Trinity College. It was definitely an overcast day to begin with but things lightened up as it progressed and we felt the need to open jackets or remove them altogether. Since we had never been to Dublin before we decided to explore the city itself.

Our plan for Dublin was simple, although there were two or three main sites that we were interested in seeing, we decided to search out a number of Dublin's famous statues with their rather more infamous names as that would mean that we got a great overview of the downtown touristy core, which is what we wanted.