More From Dublin (Day 10 - GToE)

Another day in "The Fair City" is done and I'm just as tired, but it's been a lovely, lovely day. Today's weather was not nearly as nice as yesterday, but at least the rain stayed away. So far I've been lucky with that on this trip.

If you remember from yesterday, I was heading off to an early bedtime. I ended up sleeping (off and on) for about 12 hours last night and believe me, I needed that sleep. I was up early and ready for a day of sightseeing. It started with a full Irish breakfast. Today's new food: white pudding. If you remember black pudding from my time in London, white pudding is similar to black pudding, but does not include blood. It consists of pork meat and fat, suet, bread and oatmeal formed into a large sausage. Yeah, not exactly health food but do I give a shite about eating healthy? I think not.

Today, because my legs are still aching, I thought I'd give them a little rest. I opted to do a Hop On-Hop Off Bus Tour. In cities that are walkable, I'm not a fan of the Hop On-Hop Off Bus Tours because it feels like a waste of money, but I really needed to give my legs a rest. Therefore, it was €17 well spent. I won't go through all of the stops but just the ones that are most interesting/important. The tour, of course, stopped at Trinity College, all the museums, Dublin Castle, Christ Church, St. Patrick's Catherdral, Guiness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol, the Old Jameson Distillery, and the Dublin Writers Museum. I did not go to all of these places today. There just wasn't enough time, but I did my fair share of them.

With the encouragement of the tour guide and knowing what friends have said about this site, I got off the bus at the Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison turned museum and "played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the prison by the British and in 1923 by the Irish Free State" (Wikipedia). After the prison became defunct, it fell into disrepair. Then a group of concerned citizens had the idea to refurbish the site in honor of those who lost their lives there. The tour was a grim reminder of how harsh prison life was a hundred or so years ago and that sometimes people were willing to pay the ultimate price for a cause in which they deeply believe. It was a very sobering visit. The saddest story had to be that of Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford. Plunkett was one of the leaders in the Easter Rising of 1916. He was captured and sentenced to be executed. He requested and was granted permission to marry his fiance, Grace Gifford, 7 hours before his execution. They were married in the prison chapel and had all of 10 minutes together in his prison cell. He was executed the following morning. A truly heartbreaking story.

After visiting the prison, I hopped back on the bus heading toward the Dublin Writers Museum. Along the way, we passed the Clarence Hotel which is owned by U2. I had no idea that they owned a hotel, but there you have it. I then arrived at the Dublin Writers Museum. While I'm uncertain that it was worth the €7.50 entrance fee, it was moderately interesting to read the history of some of Ireland's most famous writers - many of which I had never heard of before, although I certainly knew the "biggest" - Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and others.

I returned to Trinity College after the Writers Museum in order to go visit their library. According to reports, the library at the college is considered one of the most impressive in the world. Additionally, the library houses the Book of Kells, "an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables" (Wikipedia). I was less interested in the Book of Kells than the library but the entrance fee includes both. The Book of Kells was a fascinating look at an ancient book, but really the highlight was seeing the library itself with what looks like endless rows of books. It was a reader's paradise. 

Next I walked through Dublin's shopping district (meh), before heading to the National Gallery of Ireland (the art museum). I'm certainly glad the museum was free because it would not have been worthy an entrance fee. It's extremely tiny, but I did manage to ferret out a couple of nice Impressionist paintings.  I then went to see the Oscar Wilde memorial located in Merrion Square. It's a very colorful statue and would be something that Oscar would have loved. I hopped back on the bus. I couldn't decide whether to get off at the castle, Christ Church, or the Guiness Storehouse and eventually decided to do none of them. I was getting tired and it was getting late. So I will hold off on those three sites until Saturday. Instead, I stopped for dinner (as I hadn't had any lunch, I was famished) and then needed to do some laundry. Yuck! Funny thing is when I was in the US, I never did laundry, always sending it out. Now that I'm traveling, I don't have a choice in the matter.

Tomorrow, I head off to Blarney Castle where I intend to kiss the Blarney Stone. Remember to check out my Day 10 photos at my GToE photo site.