Day Four (Dublin)

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The ghost of James Joyce let me sleep through the night. I don't think ANYTHING would've woken me last night. It was very quiet in the back of the hotel and I was exhausted.

The hotel breakfast didn't live up to the great experience we had back in Killarney. It was mostly cereal and bread. No eggs, bacon or hash browns. Everyone raved about the coffee but it's not my cup of tea. Instead, I went back to my room and downed a soda and half a bag of chips.

When we were walking around last night we kept seeing people wearing dark blue cowboy hats. I didn't really pay them much mind until we had to run through the gauntlet of drunks on the way back to the hotel. Many of those same carousers were wearing those cowboy hats as well as blue scarves and blankets. Some of the others in our group complained that they were kept awake at night by the partyers carrying-on all night long. I didn't hear a thing.

The first order of the day was to board the bus for our city tour of Dublin. We spent most of this Sunday morning hitting every corner of the city. There was virtually no traffic so we got some great photos of the sights.

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Photos

Somebody was partyin' last night
Shortly after breakfast we climbed into our bus and headed down toward the river. Just before the bridge over the River Liffey is a statue of Daniel O'Connell, another hero of Irish Independence. These angels sit at the base of his effigy. On closer inspection you'll see that she had quite a good time last night. Looks like a Guinness glass.

The doors of Dublin
Dublin's Georgian district is famous for its beautifully painted doors. Nothing fancy. Just bright vibrant colors and no two doors look the same. Legend has it that this practice originated because too many drunk husbands couldn't find their way to the right home when all the doors were painted white. By using unique colors the lushes didn't have to try to focus on house numbers either.

St. Patrick's Cathedral of Dublin
After exploring the Georgian district from the comfort of our bus we then drove along the barely discernable old city wall. We passed a couple of archaeological sites that were in the process of unearthing old Viking sites. Dublin was once an important Viking port called "Deflin". Eventually our ride brough us up to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Interior of the cathedral
You might have expected the prettiest cathedral in Dublin to be named "St. Patrick's", but would you believe this is a Protestant church? It was the church used by the English nobility that ruled Ireland up until the 1920's. It is still an Anglican Church.

Choir stalls
At one time the Knights of the Order of St. Patrick assembled in this section of the church. The flags of the various nobles stand above effigies of their helmets and weapons.

Jonathan Swift
The famous writer and satirist Jonathan Swift was once the dean of this cathedral. There are momentoes of his presence throughout the church.

More reconstruction
Like I said earlier, no matter what old church, castle or structure you stop to visit in Europe, odds are at least somewhere there will be ugly scaffolding in place making repairs. It's certainly better than letting these historic treasures fall apart but it really does ruin the tourists' photos.

Along the River Liffey
We then headed alongside the River Liffey noting just how low the waterline got during low tide. Last night it must've been high tide because the waters were at least ten feet higher.

Taking a short break in Phoenix Park
Next stop on our city tour was in Phoenix Park, the largest urban enclosed park in Europe encompassing over 1700 acres. Our tour guide was very excited to point out door grazing in the far distance. Obviously she has never been to the Poconos where the deer walk up to our windows to look in on us. Inside the park we saw a number of pick-up soccer and rugby games being played as well as many rich people riding horses. I couldn't wait to leave however because the temperature was beginning to climb into the mid 80's again.

Trinity College and the Book of Kells
The final stop of our city tour was on the campus of Trinity College. Housed in the school library and accessed through the college bookstore is the reknowned "Book of Kells". These are the original hand-written Bibles done by Irish monks back in the Dark Ages. What makes them so special are the beautiful gold-leaf decorations (illuminations) adorning the elaborate script. The Four Gospels are written on vellum paper and feature illustrations depicting the Apostles in action. As you can see the line to get inside is almost endless. Group after group of students on tour barged into line ahead of us which didn't sit too well with me in this heat. Once inside we had to meander through another endless line past display after display explaining how the ink was made, or how the vellum was scraped off animal hide or how long each page took to make. When you finally reach the display area with the actual Book of Kells it's almost a disappointment. Everyone is climbing over each other to stare down into a small glass display case. You're almost better off looking at a picture of the books. After viewing the Book of Kells you go into an immense library that looks like something out of Harry Potter or Indiana Jones. Stacks and stacks of very old brown books in rows upon rows situated in rooms upon rooms.

They're everywhere
Like I hadn't had enough of the bloody Blarney Woolen Mills back in Blarney. Here they were right across the street from Trinity College library. Naturally we had to stop in. We didn't buy anything (for a change) but did pick up a pretty nice map of downtown Dublin. Next door was a sporting goods store where I did get a very nice rugby shirt in the light blue colors of the local team. Somehow I ended up passing it on to Tyler. Gail found more jewelry. I was thinking that since this was Sunday morning and here we were in the very Catholic city of Dublin so we best do some shopping at what I assumed would be the only open store. How wrong I was.

Bangers and Mash
Just around the corner from where we shopped was part of the Temple Bar district. Leading to the district was a pedestrian-only street chock full of open clothing and souvenir shops. Gail kept running into every shoe store she passed. By now the sun was making things rather uncomfortable and I was ready for a drink. We spotted a pub with outdoor dining so we decided to sit down and take a break. The break easily became a lunch break. Along with my Smithwick's I ordered bangers and mash. It more than made up for my lack of breakfast that morning.

Relaxing in St. Stephen's Green
We spent about an hour and a half people watching and sipping our beers at our outdoor table. Eventually we made our way back into the increasingly crowded shopping district. By this time the streets were teaming with light blue-clad revelers headed for a bif Gaelic football game. They were getting a little rowdy when we decided to head across the street to an inviting city par. St. Stephen's Green sits smack dab in the middle of Dublin near the Georgian district we had toured earlier in the day. The park is about the size of two football fields. Quite a few Dubliners were escaping the heat of day by picnicking under the forest of shade trees throughout the park. We found a nice quiet corner where we sat for a spell. Sitting nearby was this guy who looked like a Trinity College professor boning up on his James Joyce.

Heading back to the hotel
At first the heat and humidity didn't seem to slow Gail and her mother as we returned to more shoe shopping. While they spent a good half hour in one of the many Clark's Shoe stores we passed that day, I waited outside and watched some of the free entertainment provided by street buskers. Somehow the girls actually got tired of shopping so we headed back across the Ha'penny Bridge toward our hotel. Sure enough, just a few blocks from our hotel Gail found another Clark's Shoe store. While she shopped I got an ice cream cone. While eating it I noticed quite a few people carrying Lidl shopping bags.

And still more shopping
As we drew closer to the hotel Gail also spotted the Lidl shoppers. We asked one of them where the store was. She said it was right around the corner. We escorted Gail's Mom back to the hotel where she got out of the heat then Gail and I went back out looking for a Lidl. We asked a second person where the Lidl was located and she not only told us where it was but she escorted us across the street toward it. When we found it we loaded up on candy and cheap souvenirs. We also took time to walk through a big shopping mall that was in the process of being renovated. In the Boots drugstore we purchased a couple cans of the great smelling Boots deodorant and some make-up for Cassie.
At dinnertime we ate at the same Irish pub we had eaten in back in 2002. The meal was nothing to write home about but it wasn't awful either. I remember the restaurant distinctly but can't remember what we had to eat. After dinner Gail, her Mom and I decided to walk down by the river hoping to find a night river cruise but when we got there the kiosk had closed. We walked by the statue of Daniel O'Connel once again then the ladies decided to go see Pirates of the Caribbean at a nearby theater. I walked around for awhile hoping to find a pub with Irish music but nothing appealed to me. I returned to the hotel and watched the Gaelic football championship before falling asleep.