Advertisement
Published: March 17th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Well, it is a really amazing place. We've all enjoyed Dublin and are glad we are here for more than a few days.
Yesterday was spent at the Book of Kells, I fell seriously in love with the library, BEST LIBRARY - I had to sit down i was so amazed, what a great space. Trinity College was filled with Americans here for the weekend. The whole of Dublin is filled with anyone who isn't Irish. We left and headed to St Patricks Church via Christ Church. Then on to the viking/medieval section of town. Took a break at the oldest pub in Dublin - Greg had his first guinness.
Kasey and I were excited to find the irish branch of Primark - we all stocked up on our St Pats outfits - be sure (ooo a funny Irishism) to check back to see what we came up with!
Today was sloth morning for all except me - set off to get provisions for a real irish breakfast - eggs, bacon and black pudding - for St pats day. Found Aldi - which is the same the world over.
Went to the post office to try and
post a few things to leeds - just in case Ryan air is worse than I think - however, for about a 2 kilo pack it was going to 38 euros - !!!! So we will be ruthless and cull and make sure all carry on's weight 10 kilos! Kasey has decided to collect stamps as souvenirs -nice and light! Cooper wants to collect currency - which won't be fun once we hit the EU and it's all the same.
We headed out to try the first free tour - have heard about these on trip advisor and wasn't 100 % sure but it was GREAT. the tour went for almost 4 hours, Ursula was our guide. The kids loved it too - we all learn't a lot, very moving to hear again and again of the Irish trying to get rid of the british - such a tragic history. Free tours are run in all european cities, you pay the guide in tips and they on sell to pub tours - which sounded great value for money but they would't let us take the kids! JOKING. I'll admit that the walker/oloughlans were the oldest (by far) and the
youngest (by far) on the tour!
We ended up with a HUGE tour bonus - a Star Wars reference, we went to Trinity college on the tour and Ursula told us how George Lucas wanted to film in the library but was refused, so he sent in a team of 15 with cameras and managed to recreate the whole thing using CGI for the scene in the 2nd movie in the Jedi library. A great tour bonus!
Christ church, besides having Strongbows remains in the tombs, has an interesting history. when it fell in to disrepair the local businesses used it to meet and but in a brewery and a brothel. Nice use of sacred space, since then it's been restored and is spectacular, great location looking over the whole city.
It is really amazing to have the time to stop and think about the history of the country while we are here. it really wasn't that long ago, 1916, that the british bombed the centre of the city - just a 5 minute walk from here. Still seeing IRA and Sienn Fien on tonights news.
tour ended in a park - kids neededto ply and
run, which was very convenient. Walked home by 6.30pm.
Just skyped Janey - kids got out of bed to wave to her.
Though i'm tired can't sleep - this place gives you lots and lots to think about.Lack of routine isstarting to be one more fun
Advertisement
Tot: 0.217s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.1144s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Janey
non-member comment
Loving your STYLE!!!!
Those boots are fab! Where can I get me a pair? (yes, I'm being sarcastic) Skyping was a nice surprise, though the kindy kids were a bit concerned that I had a giant for a friend, since your head was about 2 foot tall! xx