Dublin

We got into Dublin and our hotel early evening and headed across the River Liffy for a couple of pints and unfortunately not dinner. Apparently, the Irish aren’t late eaters so when we had finally decided to eat that was no longer an option. We ended up finding a diner a few streets over and since they also served pints there we headed “home” after that.

Our new home is comfortable; we got upgraded this week to a suite with a staircase up to our “library”. Don’t get too jealous. It is just two small hotel rooms with a spiral staircase connecting them, but to have two completely separate rooms is pretty exciting in our world. I woke up waaaay too early on Saturday and it was nice to be able to go upstairs and watch tv instead of trying to lay perfectly still while debating on just how many pillows it would take to make the bathtub a comfortable reading area.

Saturday we walked through most of the city making our way to the Kilmainham Gaol, stopping along the way at a few churches and other things we happened upon…





The jail has housed pretty much every important Irish patriot and holds more sad stories than I care to recount. It was really interesting though and our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and, as it seems to be with most Irish people, a most excellent storyteller.

On our way out for an early dinner that night (why can’t we seem to eat lunch and keep our feeding times on schedule?) we ran into our compadre coming in from Brazil. After dinner we met up again to get him his first pint and add a few to our tally.

Sunday we decided to do the hop on/hop off instead of traversing the city again on foot. We first went to Trinity College where we had a great little tour from a grad student before heading up to the Long Room to see the ancient Book of Kells. The book is one of the oldest existing in the world today and although very interesting, I have to say the Long Room was the real highlight for me.

Anyone who finds the smell of yellowing pages in an old book intoxicating would understand just why I was in complete heaven. I could have sat in there forever just smelling the thousands of glorious old books. It was all I could do not to reach across the ropes and hold one in my hand. If only you could smell it…



We then rode through the Georgian neighborhood over to St. Patrick’s…


After grabbing lunch we headed over to Dublin Castle and the Charles Beatty Library…




We hopped back on the bus to ride through Phoenix Park, Dublin’s largest park that could house 2 Central Parks within it. It’s home to the US Embassy, their Army headquarters, their White House, the Dublin zoo, polo fields, gardens, and even leftover deer and pheasants from the days it was used as the King’s private hunting grounds.

It was a gorgeous day in Dublin with loads of sunshine although it was a chilly ride atop the open air bus’ upper level. We crashed pretty early that night and the wife began what is sure to be her last international audit of the year the next morning.

For my Monday I took advantage of our 2 day ticket and road almost the entire tour again. Although I was seeing some repeats, I was learning so much more from the bus driver that I didn't want to get off. He was providing commentary along the way that was laden with the wonderful Irish humor. It was highly entertaining.

My goal of the day was St. Michan’s Church, and more specifically their crypts. I couldn’t take photos inside, but trust me- it was beyond creeptastic. Due to high methane content and the limestone construction their crypts preserves bodies really well. I mean really well, like practically as well as the Egyptian mummies, just without all the work. As part of our experience you can touch the finger of an 800 year old knight for good luck.

I better be winning the lottery from “shaking hands with the Crusader” because just walking into the tomb room with all the open coffins was enough to really weird me out. Luckily I had lunch (read: pint o’ Guinness) beforehand so I was fortified and feeling braver than normal. Without it I may have chickened out before even going down the spooky crypt doors...



I thoroughly enjoyed my little day out. It’s so nice to be back in a city that actually has things to do and I swear the weather is amazing. It’s only in the low 60's, but it’s so sunny and wonderful. Everyone at the client has warned the Wife the sun is sure to disappear at any second and not to expect it to return for the rest of the year, but for the moment- it's gorgeous...




On the agenda for tomorrow: buy Wellies.