Our Last Day in Dublin

After all the rainy weather we've had in Dublin, we awoke on Saturday to a beautiful day - our last day in Ireland. We checked out of our apartment and then put our luggage in some storage lockers. From there, we left to do some last bit of exploring.

 

Our first stop was Christ Church Cathedral which was built in 1050 - it obviously has a long history that reflects the struggle between the Catholic and the Angelican Churches - at different points it was a Catholic Church and at other times it was an Angelican Church depending what king was in power.

There is a crypt underneath the cathedral that we toured where we got to read about the famous people buried there so many years ago.

After we left the cathedral, we walked over to the area by Dublin Castle for a picnic lunch. Check out that beautiful sky and warm temperatures!

After lunch, we wandered up to the area near Dublin Castle where people were gathering to wait and hear the official announcement regarding the outcome of the referendum authorizing gay marriage. The vote had been on Friday (the day before). When we left the area at about 2:30, there still hadn't been an official announcement, but the people gathered seemed very excited.

 

 

 

We then walked over to St. Stephen's Green which reminded us of Central Park in New York City - everywhere you looked, men, women, and children were enjoying the beautiful day!

 

After the park, we did a little shopping including the purchase of some Celtic Whiskey for friends of Dave and Steve.

At about 5 pm, we walked back past the Dublin Castle to see the crowds gathered. Even though there still wasn't an official announcement, the crowd definitely believed the "Yes vote" had prevailed.

 

 

We then picked up our luggage and took a bus to the Dublin Airport - once there, we were able to walk to our last night's stay at a hotel next to the terminals where we'd be leaving the next morning.

Andrew left at 4:30 am to fly to Spain where he will travel for a week before going back to Paris for one last week. He will be back in Minneapolis two weeks from today.

Steve, Dave, Greg, and I left at 7:30 am for a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. Mike picked us up at the airport in Minneapolis at 5 pm. We've had a wonderful trip, and are so grateful that all six of us could spend this time together exploring Ireland!

 

 

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Historic Walking Tour of Dublin and Guiness Tour

This morning, I decided to go on a 2.5 hour historic walking tour of Dublin. I ventured out by myself while the rest of our group relaxed and read.

The tour was great! I love history and our tour guide was excellent - I learned a lot more information about Ireland's long struggle for independence.

 

 

The tour took me to some new areas of Dublin as well as some areas that I had already seen - I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

After I got back to the apartment, we all walked over to the Guiness Brewery for the tour. This is actually the #1 attraction in Dublin, so we were looking forward to this tour.

 

The tour gives you a good background on the history of the Guniess Brewery and gave all of us a better appreciation for the worldwide appeal of the Guiness brand. The highlight of the tour is the pint of Guiness we all got to have up in the 360 degree bar that overlooks the city.

 

 

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A Visit to Kilmainham Gaol

On Thursday, we walked to Kilmainham Gaol and had a fascinating tour of this old historic jail. As part of the tour, we learned more of the history of Ireland's emergence as a modern nation (from the 1780s to the 1920s - a history intimately connected with the Kilmainham Gaol.

 

 

Our wonderful tour guide told us about the era of prison reform where prisons were reconfigured to keep inmates housed separately instead of in group settings. We learned about some of the various "rebellions" of the Irish people as they attempted to free themselves from English rule and the subsequent jailing (and executions) of the rebels.

Finally, this jail, that was built for approximately 140 people, surged to a population of over 9000 during the Potato Famine years when men, women, and children were thrown into jail for stealing a loaf of bread or turnips from a field in order to try and feed their family.

The execution of several of the rebel leaders of the Easter Sunday, 1916 uprising was the catalyst that finally led to Ireland's independence in 1921. We learned a lot on this very interesting tour.

 

After our tour, we walked to a nearby park for lunch and then explored the north side of the river.

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon, I was feeling in need of a good dessert, so we found a place called Queen of Tarts where we stopped for coffee and dessert before heading back to our apartment to make dinner.

After dinner, we headed back out to O'Neil's Pub where we heard some excellent Irish music - in my opinion, the best we've heard so far.

 

 

 

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Trinity College and the Book of Kells

Today we spent time in the neighborhoods surrounding Trinity College. On our walk there, we passed through the Temple Bar neighborhood where the famous Temple Bar is located.

 

 

 

Our destination was the Trinity College Library which holds the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books in Ireland. In addition, the library has a display of medieval gospel manuscripts including the Book of Kells, the Book of Armagh, and the book of Durrow. These are beautiful, lavishly decorated documents in Latin of the four gospels. The exhibit included an interesting description of the process of creating the vellum pages, the ink, and the book binding methods. The scribes and artists who produced these beautiful books in the early 9th century held an honored place in Irish history.

Another part of the library is called "The Long Room" which houses around 200,000 of Trinity Library's oldest books.

 

 

After our Trinity Library visit, we ate a lunch we had brought along with some "Trinity coffee" we bought.

We then headed over to the National Museum of Ireland where we looked at several exhibits including one on the "Viking Age" in Ireland from the first recorded Viking raid in 795 AD.

 

We're back at our apartment taking a breather before heading out again tonight.

 

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In Dublin!

 

 

This morning we dropped our rental car and Mike off at the Shannon Airport for his flight back to Minneapolis. After we said our goodbyes, the rest of us conveniently hopped on a bus to Dublin that left right from the airport. Our bus arrived in Dublin at about 2:30 pm and we rolled our way to the apartment we have rented for a few days.

 

After getting settled into our apartment, we took a first hike around the city. Once again, the weather went from sun to rain to sun again all in the span of an hour. We've decided that even if it looks perfectly sunny you must have a rain jacket with you at all times.

 

After our late lunch, walk, and a stop at a grocery store, we're back strategizing what sights we want to see in Dublin.

We will have a late dinner and then probably head out again for awhile tonight.

 

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