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Published: August 16th 2008
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After a few days back at home I'm finally starting to feel human again. So that means that it's time to start sharing our photos and experiences with everyone. Hope you all enjoy it.
Our first day in Ireland was a bit rough. We arrived in Dublin at 9 am Irish time, that's 1 am Arizona time. We were understandably a bit tired. But there was no rest for the tourists. One of the drawbacks of the Mespil was its distance from the town center. It was probably only a 10 or 15 minute walk. But when you've been on a plane for 12 hours it seems a lot longer.
Our first stop in Dublin was at the National Museum of Archaelogy and History. Here we saw some amazing gold from the Iron Age, also some early Viking relics from the founding of Dublin, and of course the bog bodies. The bog bodies are Iron Age people that died 3000-5000 years ago and were buried in the bogs of Western Ireland. There they were naturally mummified. They still have hair and everything. A bit creepy to see them, but it really strikes a chord knowing that they lived so
long ago.
Afterwards we set out to catch the Dublin Hop On/Hop Off bus. First we got off at Christ Church Cathedral. It was a very pretty place, quite old by Irish standards. This was on my to-do list since this is where "Strongbow" was buried. His tomb is still there in an aisle of the Cathedral. Strongbow was the first Norman (English conquerer) who came over from England to rule the Irish in the 1100's. Not a very nice person, but still...he changed the course of Ireland's history. The next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral. I don't remember much about the place, because after this we were pretty much wiped out.
This evening we had reservations at the Arlington Hotel's Dinner Show. It was wonderful. I thought the food was really good. It was definately traditional Irish fair, beef and guiness pie. A band called Gypsy Lacey performed. They were 50-60 year old Irish men who came out on stage with glasses of Guinness and had cup holders built into their mic stands. They were so lively and so into singing the traditional Irish pub songs and ballads. We even had a sing-a-long to Molly Malone. Then
the dancers came out. There were only three of them, but they were very good. I have video of both of the acts, hopefully I'll be able to share them with everyone soon.
The next day we got up and walked back into town. It was too early for anything to be open yet, but we saw a lot of stuff. We walked down Grafton Street, a famous pedestrian shopping street, while it was virtually empty. Next we made our way over the Tourist Info center housed in an old church, but it was too early and it was closed. So then we walked through Temple Bar. It's a lovely old, cobbled, pedestrian part of the city which specializes in nightclubs, pubs and restaurants. U2 acually owns a hotel in this area. It's called Temple Bar after a family by the name of Temple and "bar" was an old word for water. It's right on the banks of the River Liffey. Anyway, walking through this old part of the city really gives you a feel for what it must've been like back in the old days. And it was early in the morning, so again, nothing was open and
no one was out yet.
After this we stopped by Dublin Castle. It doesn't really look much like a castle, more like a composite of several Georgian manor homes, but it's got a humongous courtyard. And even though it wasn't open yet we roamed around the courtyard and pretty much saw everything. Including the only remaining Norman part of the castle, which is a round tower from the 13th century. I was thrilled about that.
Back on the hop on/hop off bus we made a complete circle of the city. We saw so much that we wouldn't have had we not done this. The Guiness Brewery was a highlight. They still make beer there in massive quantities today. And the old Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising were executed for treason against England. We drove through Phoenix Park, where the US Ambassador and the Irish President both live, though it is literally a "park". The Dublin Zoo is also there. Our last stop of the day was Blarney Woolen Mills on Naussau Street where we all bought Aran sweaters.
Next we met our tour group at the hotel where we got our first
glimpse of Tommy O'Reilly, our guide for the week. Dinner that night was an absolute disaster as we walked really far one way from our hotel to eat somewhere the guide had recommended only to realize it was 20 Euro a plate. So then we walked really far the opposite direction to get back to an Italian place by our hotel. It was just ok, but anything would've done that night since we were so tired.
Tomorrow...the first travel day of the tour.
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