The Pettitt Page: August 30

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Our day in Dublin. We caught the 8:30 bus our of Ballinsloe to Dublin. Our bus driver was new and I think he got a little lost at the Dublin airport, so it ended up taking a while longer than we thought it would! Upon arrival we headed across the Liffey River toward the “Spike” which is really the Millenial Tower, or something like that, and then walked down O’Connell street. The street has statues all down the middle of it. They are all a bunch of men from Irish history…we didn’t really spend a whole lot of time looking at them, but it is apparent that the birds love to sit on their heads! Down O’Connell Street is Trinity College. We decided to not do the tour, but we walked around the campus and spent some time in the gift shop. The Book of Kells is housed at the college. From what I can tell (without taking the tour) is that it is a copy of the Bible that has some very intricate and beautiful writing and decorations. They have tons of post cards, books, and calendars of the pictures in the gift shop and I have a feeling I saw more of the book looking at those than I would have on the tour! Then we headed to Grafton Street, which is open only to pedestrians and has tons of up-scale stores. We stopped and had lunch at Bewley’s where they actually have a theatre as well, but we just ate soup and salad. At one end was St. Stephens’ shopping center which was a three-story mall, but it was built with tons of glass windows and was very pretty. We walked through St. Stephen’s Green and then headed to the National Museum. The museum was full of ancient and archeaological history of Ireland. I was amazed at how much gold they have found in the bogs of Ireland. Display after display was full of beautifully crafted gold collars, bracelets, belts, etc. all found in the bogs around Ireland. There were also many displays from more recent times with Celtic art and many intricate crosses and relic boxes. There was a TON to see there! Next stop was Murphy’s ice cream. It is made from the milk of Kerry cows and was DELICIOUS! Their ice creams are all natural and include flavors like balsamic vinegar, mint (made w/ fresh mint), sea salt, and cream. I tried honeycomb and brown bread, mom had honeycomb and sea salt, and grandma had Baileys. Then up the street to see Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral and St. Patrick Cathedral. Back toward Grafton street to do a little shopping, but a little too late because the stores seem to close at 6pm! We did find a Kilkenny that was open and shopped around for a bit. A fish and chips stop. Back to the 8pm bus to Balinasloe and then on to Banagher. We sure got our walking in for the day, but it was great to see so many new places!