Dublin

We returned from Rome at 9pm and then spent the night in the airport.  It was rough. We found a comfy spot at Starbucks, which was closed, but then were forced to move because it needed to be cleaned. :(  After sleeping uncomfortably in what is probably the coldest part of Luton, we moved to be near the Ryanair check-in counter.  After moving, I discovered that the unused scales to weigh luggage were actually pretty damn comfortable.  Oh well, if I ever spend the night in an airport again, I know where to sleep. 

Our flight to Dublin left at 6:40 and arrived in Dublin at 9:00.  We got through customs really quickly which was nice.  When we got the bus into town, we found the place where the walking tour started, but it didn’t start till 11.  So we walked over to the Dublin Castle which is now home to government offices.

We kept walking around the castle and found this police memorial park. By the way, the thing in the background has a label on it that says “Coach House”.  No coaches were ever kept there however.  It was just a wall built to block Queen Victoria’s view of Dublin’s slums. Hahaha.

Don’t let the sun fool you, it was a very chilly day.  While we were sitting here relaxing, we saw two tour groups come walking in.  We got a little worried as we had wanted to go on the free walking tour and it looked like it had already started!  Deciding to head back to the place where the tour started, we were relieved to find out that it had not started, what we had seen was in fact a private tour.  Phew!  We got to go on our free walking tour with a very intelligent guide.  It was only supposed to last three hours, we had him for four!

 

This is the other side of the castle.  Yes, all seven different colored parts.  There’s the light blue, the red, the yellow, the dark green, the blue, the white stone, and the dark stone.  All one castle.  No one gave the architect any plans when he was restoring the castle so he painted them the colors he liked!

We went inside the church that was on the right side of the castle.  This is the church used in The Tudors-the only problem is that that was set in the 1500’s and this church has dates on the wall from the 1700s on!

This is the world famous Chester Beatty library.  Everything in it, and there are a lot of priceless books, many religious, was donated by an American who in return got Irish citizenship and a state funeral when he died.  Our tour guide said he thought Ireland came out better on that deal!

We did a lot more stuff but apparently I got bored of taking pictures! 

We visited Trinity College where they had some funky rules on the books until recently.  Here are two examples:

• Any Catholics on the grounds can be shot with a bow and arrow.
• If you come to your exams dressed in a full suit of armor and riding a horse, you can eat a meal and have a glass of wine whilst testing.  However, you need to also bring someone with you to tend to your horse.

We also went to the Temple Bar area which was pretty neat.  There are approximately three night clubs and a hotel owned by U2.  They bought the hotel after the previous owners wouldn’t let them drink in their bar. 

Then we ended up near the government offices which had only two unarmed guards.  After, we ended in a park.

Allison wanted to go to the Guinness Factory and I don’t like Guinness so I walked around and then sat in a Costa Coffee trying to warm up.  When she got back, we did souvenir shopping and then headed back to London.  We were very excited for Sunday which was Harry Potter!