Ireland - Dublin (Day 2)

Dublin!!! Wow – what a great place. The airport was a breeze getting our bags and our rental car. Our car is a Ford Focus and it’s pretty roomy. When we rented the car online it was only $90 which we thought was just too super great for 10 days, but when we picked the car up at the airport, we discovered that you are required to purchase Irish Car Insurance which comes at the super deluxe price of $30 per day, plus an additional one time fee of $30 if you plan to drive into Northern Ireland, so our super duper great price of $90 quickly became $400. I knew it was too good to be true to get a car rental for 10 days for only $90 :) Oh well, having a car in Ireland is an absolute must if you plan on seeing the entire island. The craziest deal of all is that Ireland drives on the opposite side of the road from the US, so that is a trippy thing to get used to… sitting on the left side of the car, while Stanley drives on the right side of the car. Honestly, the part that really confuses me the most is the turns… going left when we are used to going right… going right when we are used to going left. I’m sure the more we drive around, the more I’ll get used to it, and Stanley is a super driver no matter where we are, so I’m not worried at all. After we got our rental car, we drove to Dublin and found a parking garage right on the Liffey River, which runs through downtown Dublin, and set out to explore the city on foot. It’s not terribly hard to walk around Dublin and the city is fairly small, so we covered a lot of ground today. We took pictures of several old architecturally awesome buildings, cathedrals and the like. But, because we arrived in Dublin so early (6:05am) all of the attractions were closed, not opening until 9:30 or so. We ended up stumbling upon Christ Church Cathedral which is really beautiful and medieval in style, so we ate a lovely continental breakfast at a pub across the street waiting for it to open. We explored after it was open and enjoyed the choir practicing for the 11:00am service. Today is Palm Sunday, so entrance to the cathedral was free and the singing was lovely. The floors in this cathedral were really cool too, I especially liked them in the main part of the cathedral, all colorful and designed, almost like celtic knotwork. We had access to the main floor of the cathedral as well as the crypts below where they had artifacts from previous bishops of the church and kings of England who ruled Ireland. After thoroughly exploring the Christ Church, we made our way over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. When we got there, we realized that it didn’t open until noon and it was 11:15, with a 45 minute wait. That would have been fine except is was really cold today and the closer you got to the bay, the colder it got. So we were freezing, waiting outside for the museum to open. Silly us, we sat there until 11:45 while a huge crowd started gathering, but it didn’t appear from where we were sitting that there was a line forming, so we just stayed where we were. Just before they were going to open the doors, we decided to mosey toward the door and realized that a HUGE line of about 400 people had formed. Ugh.. we decided to walk up the street a bit and enjoy a Guinness and figured that by the time we were done, the line would have died down. So we walked a couple blocks down the road and found a lovely pub that was playing great celtic music and enjoyed ourselves while we passed the time waiting for the line to die down. We’re thinking we’re pretty smart and so when we walk back to Trinity College and see an even bigger line had formed... we were totally bummed! Plan failed… and on we go to explore more and decide to tackle the Book of Kells tomorrow… on St Patrick’s Day… because that seems like a better plan, huh? HAHA – we’ll see! We decided to make our last stop of the day Jameson’s Whiskey Distillery. Our feet were getting sore from walking all over the city, and the lack of sleep was catching up to both of us, but we were ready for one more adventure to wrap up the day. So, a brief jaunt across the city back toward our car and into Jameson’s we go. It was an hour wait for the next tour, so we went upstairs to the Jameson’s restaurant and enjoyed a very delicious bowl of Irish stew… MMMM!!! Once the tour started, we learned how Jameson’s came about and how they’ve been making top quality Irish Whiskey since 1780. Wow! At the end we got to sample some Jameson’s, and I must say, I actually almost liked the taste of it… almost. I’m not ready to grow hair on my chest just yet, but I’m getting there. Stanley is so proud! Back to the car, we traveled to our Bed & Breakfast which is about 14 km outside of Dublin and it is SO nice here, and beautiful. It’s a little cottage type house nestled into the green foresty landscape with a cute little parking lot. Our room is small and cozy and has it’s own bathroom and it’s absolutely delightful. We’ll be staying here two nights, it will be great. Stanley and I are going to enjoy a pub dinner down the street and then head to bed at 8:00pm or 9:00pm for some much needed sleep on Ireland’s schedule. Tomorrow – it’ St Patrick’s Day, so we’re going to spend the day in Dublin amongst the masses of partying people and parades and pubs with great celtic music. On the itinerary… Dublin Castle, a second attempt at the Book of Kells, St Patrick’s Cathedral, The Guinness Storehouse tour and museum, and whatever else we decided sounds great. -Michele

What a fine trip to Ireland! I am a huge advocate of travel generally and international travel specifically. There is nothing quite so interesting as to get away, not to the familiar and trite but to one’s roots or to an historic or culturally rich place. When compared with the silicone-implanted, high-fructose-corn-syrup of what passes (barely) for ‘cull-chure’ in McUSAGenerica (A Subsidiary of Disney), The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (the portion still dismally governed by the UK/British Empire) is a veritable cornucopia of authenticity. Arriving here around 6 AM we had a bleary-eyed full day in Dublin right off the plane. We drove into the city, parked at a secure and centrally located garage just south if the Liffey and sauntered around the vacant city at will. Michele details all the places we visited but I have to particularly point out the crypts of Christchurch Cathedral, just magnificent! All the cathedral’s silver and gold plate was on display as well as ghoulish relics like a mummified cat and bat found the church’s massive organ pipes. This edifice has been built and rebuilt and lovingly restored for at least a thousand years. Its psychological roots sink deep into the fabric and populace of Dublin. There is a connection between a sense of place and attainable philosophical satisfaction; something we deracinated ‘US American’ moderns could internalize to great benefit.

2 Points to ponder
-Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones- I COMMAND YOU TO BUY THEM IF YOU TRAVEL ON PLANES MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR!!! “Better sound through research” Damn straight. Quit whining and plop the $300.
-Old Jameson’s Irish Whiskey Distillery- VISIT THIS PLACE!!! Quality. Ancientness. Care. Patience. Legacy. Human Achievement. If you disagree, you are wrong.
BY ORDER ~SEA