Wrapping Up Dublin

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THURSDAY:

We visited Ingersoll Rand (IR) this morning, whose Irish office focuses specifically on shared services/back-room office duties for all IR offices worldwide. Our speaker was good, and it was interesting to hear how they manage these services from one office across their diversified line of businesses - plus we got free hats!! (I think the hats are becoming the highlight of our trip!! Doesn't take much to get us excited, huh?) Next, we visited Cooley Distillery in Kilbeggan. Cooley is the only independent Irish-owned whiskey distillery in Ireland. They served us a soup & sandwich lunch then walked us through the original distillery and showed us how they used to make whiskey. The machinery was powered by a water wheel and steam engine. We discussed the history of the company and how whiskey is made (a little too much information about whiskey-making for me - kind of like "Moby Dick" and whaling!!!) Our last stop was the tasting bar - not a big fan of whiskey by itself, so I only tried one. After we got back to the hotel, a group of us went shopping and then to dinner in Temple Bar. Then back to the hotel to try to get some work done (except I didn't actually get too much done - I seem to keep finding ways to avoid working!!)


FRIDAY:

We had a free day today because it was Good Friday (businesses don't open and shops have limited hours), so we got to sleep in! I walked down to Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green to take some photos then met a small group for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After lunch, I got to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, a 9th century copy of the Gospels. It was so cool to see that kind of craftsmanship and to be standing next to something that old!! It had a nice museum that explained the history of the monastery where the book was created and how the book was made. The text and pictures were drawn on vellum (calfskin), and the vellum sheets were bound between two pieces of wood. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures of the Book of Kells or the Long Library (very impressive!!) at Trinity College, so you'll just have to look at these sites on the web:
http://www.snake.net/people/paul/kells/ http://www.tcd.ie/Library/heritage/longroom.php

After we left Trinity College, we walked back through town, and I got some more pictures. We stopped in the "Midieveal/Viking" area of Dublin and saw St. Audeon's Gate, part of the original town walls. I also stopped to get a photo of Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland. Got back to the hotel and tried to do a little work. Then went to dinner at a Persian restaurant and had another kebab (much better than the Indian one), and then we all headed back to the hotel to pack and to turn in early - we have an early morning tomorrow and have to leave the hotel at 6:30 to catch our flight to Porto.

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