Where the fun begins

We are having a grand time in Dublin, so we are.  After a good night's rest in a very comfy bed in a very quiet room we felt quite refreshed and ready to start the day.

This is such an interesting city, with so many visitors and so many different languages being heard on the street and I find myself thinking in an Irish lilt.

We made our way down Grafton Street past Molly Malone's statue to Trinity College.

 

Trinity students lead a 30 minute tour of the campus which gives you a peek at student life and a good history of well known Alumni, including Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde.  Included in the tour was entry into the Long Library to see the Book of Kells.  It really is very amazing to see the printed word put into historical context.  In the Library are also samples of the earliest forms of writing on papyrus and cuniforms.

 After lunch our plan was to see Dublin Castle.  Finding the Castle took us longer than we had thought.  We knew the general area, just east of the Temple Bar area, and we saw signs directing us to it and knew we were headed in the right direction. 

 Just to be sure, we stopped in at City Hall to use the washroom and get further directions.  We found out that the Castle was closed until July for the Irish EU Presidency  meetings.

There is no shortage of interesting sites to see in the area.  We went to Dublinia & The Viking World.  This is a heritage centre in the heart of the medieval city.  The exhibits explore life in the medieval city and the world of the Vikings.  The centre is adjacent to Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin’s oldest building.  The original cathedral was built by a Viking king and in 1169, the Norman Earl of Pembroke ordered the present building to be constructed.

In the evening we visited O’Neill’s Pub for dinner.  We had heard that it was a good place to hear traditional Irish music.  We arrived at 8pm and were told that the music began at 9.  We enjoyed a fine pub meal (I had roast beef & Yorkshire pudding, Ed had the plaice), and sat next to a couple visiting from Campbell River.  They told us about their adventures of driving around the circumference of the Island and of their close calls on country roads with on-coming lorries.  I am glad that Ed and I have decided to keep Ireland safe and stay off the roads.   The music never appeared, but we had the chance to make some new friends from home.

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to shine again, and if it does it will be more walking to see the sights.