October 15th
We awake in Dublin, more or less on the local schedule. The brutal travel and staying awake of the previous day seem to have worked. It's definitely time for a shower, since I've got nearly 40 hours of travelling and the dirt of two continents and three countries on me.
Breakfast! The best part of a B&B. Here at the Charleville Lodge, breakfast means orange juice, milk, toast, and a lot of slippery protein (bacon, eggs and sausage). There's also cereal and fruit we could take advantage of, but the meat, eggs and toast seems like plenty of fuel to get the day started.
Right! then, we've got breakfast in us, and it's time to go out and do some touristing.
Of course we don't have correct change for the bus, but we borrow a bit from the front desk
of the B&B, and we're on our way. The first stop, somewhere to buy a Rambler card ![[Footnote5]](images/foot.gif){kind=small}
for the buses so we don't have to worry about having the correct change.
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The first stop (after getting our bus passes) is Trinity College, Dublin to stop in the old library
and gaze upon the Book of Kells which ends up being pretty cool. I'd have pictures for you, but
no photography is allowed inside. There's also the Long Room which is very impressive. It looks
like few of the books here are actually ever pulled from the shelves, which seems like a shame.
Personally, I think books are there to be read. I understand not wanting to wreck extremely old
books, and hopefully reproductions are available for people to look at, but we sure didn't see them. We also discovered later that the 10 bus (that we ride to and from the B&B) stops right at the front gate of Trinity College. It would have been handy to know that, but then we wouldn't have gotten the Rambler cards yet, so I guess it worked out for the best this way. |
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Leinster House (Notice the construction) |
(36K) |
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National Gallery |
(33K) |
After seeing a lot of old books, it's time to head off to Leinster House, where there's not really that much to see, since it's not open to the public, and the National Museum of Ireland. The museum is (as are so many other things) being rearranged (the Collins Barracks location looks like it will end up being the main location once they're done moving exhibits around, but meanwhile, the one downtown has a good history of the Irish Revolution), but it's still kind of neat. It's also free, so that's a bargain. The National Gallery is across the courtyard, but we decide we're not up for paintings at the moment.
| The next stop is St. Patrick's Cathedral which has a very nice park next to it, too. We walk around, and I try and take pictures of the stained glass (which is actually pretty impressive), but when I get home, I'll discover that my digital camera just isn't fast enough for this sort of work, and I'll need to use a tripod for stained-glass pictures. Sigh. Well, at least the experience added another tip for Dave's Travel Tips. |
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Dvblinia |
(43K) |
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The Castle Inn |
(33K) |
Since St. Patrick's is so close to Christchurch Cathedral, we started heading that way. We're
pretty hungry at this point, though, so after taking a few pictures of the outside and looking at
Dvblinia (which is described as a multi-media experience), we decide it's time for a
lunch break (at a few minutes to three in the afternoon! I told you that breakfast was enough fuel
for a while). We ate at the Castle Inn, which has a sign outside proclaiming "Now Serving Quality Food".
Brian's quip is "Do they take the sign down when they're serving crap?" As it turns out, we're just
in time for the last of the lunch, and have a pretty good meal. The sign is down when we leave, but the
food is all gone, too.
Christchurch Cathedral |
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Time to actually walk around Christchurch Cathedral, now that we're not so hungry. Again, it's a
pretty impressive piece of work.
(I still need to add the descriptions from brochures) |
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We're thinking that's about enough for the day, but the buses are fairly packed, so we walk up to
the Garden of Remembrance and look around before catching a bus back to the B&B. Again, we're
very near a bus stop, but walk a few extra blocks because we're not sure where the stops are. |
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After dropping some of the junk at the B&B, we're off to John Hanlon's for a few pints and some dinner. It's the kind of place I'd hang out in if there was one closer to me at home. The Rugby World Cup is on the TV, and I get a quick tutorial in Rugby from one of the guys sitting at the bar. Ireland is stomping the Rumanians, who are nearly as bad as the US team. As the older guy next to me points out, "Well, at least they [the American team] can't get any worse." I also notice that the average Irish drinking pace is a little quicker than my default, so I pick up the pace a little. I suspect that has a lot to do with pubs closing at eleven in the evening, instead of one in the morning, the way they do at home in Minnesota.
The final observation of the day is back in the B&B, where I realize that the toilets here are much
nicer than those in the US. The reason? They don't have any of the low-flow, water-saver crap
here
they have real, old fashioned, suck down anything and everything you might
want to dispose of toilets that really flush. A bit of unexpected luxury.
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