Just "Plane" Exciting!: Exploring Dublin

We woke up with sore shins and calves--all that walking! Stopped in at a little cafe on our block for breakfast. Another winner! French toast and bacon for the girls. Sausage/bacon/eggs on a bap (soft roll much like a hamburger roll) for the men. Then we walked across the river to the "spire" to board our hop-on hop-off tour bus. We really enjoyed it, because it gave us a nice overview of the city, more than where we were able to see by walking. Our plan was to ride the entire loop to "get the lay of the land", then hop off at different locations on our second trip around.
We decided that we might run out of time, though, and hopped off at the Guinness Museum. The museum was very touristy, but I loved it! Guinness is such a part of Ireland's culture, and I was interested in learning its origin and history. (The museum was also CROWDED. I would advise buying tickets online before going--gets you in much more quickly.)

This traditional Irish dance/music demonstration was my favorite part!

After consulting the map to figure out where we were and where we wanted to be, we boarded the bus again to continue the hop-on hop-off tour. Here are some of the things we saw:

The Natural History Museum

The US Embassy - It looks like a shell of a building with broken windows to me,
but it's really the windows reflecting the trees, sky, and clouds.

The Samuel Beckett Bridge is also known as "the harp bridge", because it resembles a harp
lying on its side. The harp has been the national symbol of Ireland since the 1200s!

The French Huguenot Cemetery was founded in 1693 by the French Huguenot non-conformist
churches of Dublin. So very beautiful and peaceful--even magical! I loved everything about it.

The very fun Oscar Wilde statue
Mr. Wilde is in good company among the many famous Irish authors,
such as William Yeats, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, and George Bernard Shaw.
And let's not forget Maeve Binchy--I LOVE her books!

Beautiful street lamps and unique chimneys of Dublin.

The Georgian District

Georgian Dublin describes the buildings erected in Dublin from 1714, which was the beginning of the reign of George I of Great Britain and Ireland, through 1830, when King George IV died. During the reign of these four Georges many private and public buildings were built in the Palladian architectural style. Love the doors!

From the Georgian District, we walked back to our hotel, making sure we stopped at Butler's Chocolate Store again! We chose Fitzgerald's Pub for dinner, our first pub experience, and ate traditional pub food. We LOVED it! Irish stew for Art, beef Guinness pie for Denise and Tim, and fish and chips for me. We really wanted to stay and enjoy the traditional Irish music, but we were just TOO TIRED! We headed back to our apartment, ate a little chocolate, and planned our last two days in this wonderful city.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

After a quick breakfast at the little cafe on our block, we headed back towards the spire to once again board our hop-on hop-off tour bus (good for 2 days). Imagine our surprise when we found that most of the street was closed to traffic because of a HUGE celebration for the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, the rebellion that was pivotal in winning Ireland's independence from England. HUNDREDS of people had gathered in front of the General Post Office (GPO) where the rebellion began. We listened to music, saw marches, and heard speeches and proclamations. Very exciting to witness the celebration! And there were lots of Guardia out to keep order!

We found the alternate location for boarding the tour bus and headed out to Trinity College, arriving 2 hours after our morning started, and realizing that we could have walked there in 15 minutes! BUT, we would have missed all the excitement on O'Connell Street.

Trinity College

At Trinity College, we participated in a student-led tour of the campus. As an added bonus, our guide looked like Harry Potter, complete with the robe! He told us that the robe was the single most asked-about part of the tour. As it turns out, all students were required to wear them until the late 1900s.

Trinity College is probably most famous for the Book of Kells, an illustrated manuscript written in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament as well as several passages from earlier versions of the Bible. It was created by monks, is a masterwork of Western calligraphy, and is considered to be Ireland's finest national treasure. It is housed in the college's library. And while the Book of Kells is amazing, I was in AWE of the Long Room of the library.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

After our fabulous tour of Trinity College, we practically ran (should have skipped the coffee stop) in order to arrive at St. Patrick's Cathedral in time for the Evensong service (all men's/boys' choir). It was very different from what we are accustomed to, and was also very reverent and beautiful.

With a little time on our hands after Evensong, we wandered among the streets of Dublin and were happy to find Grogan's Pub (since our maiden name is GROGAN!). We had hoped to eat dinner there, but discovered that they only served drinks. But what a great photo op for us two Grogan girls! We also found the Molly Malone statue, which was our meeting place for tomorrow's tour to Northern Ireland.
Sure wish our sister, Jenelle, had been with us! See Molly's shiny bosom? It's from being groped! RUDE!