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Afternoon tea on a bus driving around the Dublin streets? And not just any bus – a genuine 1961 Routemaster, a real vintage bus named Pauline. It sounds like a crazy idea but it totally works.
The brainchild of Karen Nixon, Vintage Tea Trips is a dream come true.Teaming up a vintage vehicle with delicious goodies, she has given Dublin city a unique and exciting new adventure.
An eye-catching blue and yellow painted venue for Afternoon Tea, Pauline - a genuine 1961 Routemaster, named for Karen's granny - was the first bus to make Karen's dream a reality. For anyone old enough to remember Dublin buses back in the fifties and sixties with the open platform at the back, going on board is nostalgic. While a friendly host ticks names off the list, many passengers relive memories of running after a moving bus and hopping aboard; knowing every bus conductor by name on the school route. The driver has his own separate cab – no talking to the driver please.
Upstairs there are five tables for four and three for two, the two at the front the 'VIP' seats with the best city views. On each table a tiered cake stand offers delectable-looking cakes, a plate of crustless sandwiches and a piece of salmon roulade. The hosts bring tea and coffee in big bespoke containers that fit into a deep hole in the table, to avoid spills.
At first the passengers are so busy talking and eating, they almost forget to look outside. It's a fun atmosphere with everyone taking photos - of the food, themselves, the interior of the bus, which has been given a complete facelift and is painted white, with white comfortable seats and the original windows. But when they finally turn their attention to the outside, they find that Pauline, not surprisingly, is the centre of attention as she makes her way through the city streets. Children wave and passengers wave back, parents smile as everyone sits and nibbles.
And so to the food...Sandwiches (one each of beef, egg and cream cheese, perhaps) and, on the top of the cake stand, something luscious like lemon and blueberry drizzle cake. On the the middle plate there may be white chocolate velvet cake, Guinness brownie, then there are fresh scones and...a surprise.
Pauline's route goes through the Phoenix Park, taking in Aras an Uachtarain and the American Ambassador’s residence; she drives slowly through Georgian Dublin, O’Connell Street where passengers hear about the Rising; they see the Jeanie Johnston sitting proudly on the Liffey. Who knew that in all the voyages the original ship made during the Famine to the USA, not one person died on this ship? A remarkable fact, just one told by the hosts.
Not for Pauline is there an automated commentary. The hosts take turns to go upstairs to give the passengers some of Dublin’s fascinating history, and even the Dubliners on board learn something new.
All too soon, and with the goodies polished off - though some may well be taken home as there is a generous amount of food – the tour arrives back in Temple Bar.
And now that Pauline has been joined by sisters Kitty, Molly and Jean there are four vintage buses in this great little fleet, as - each, without doubt, destined for a little place in Dublin's history.
