I got up at the crack of dawn to fly to Dublin. Jim and Laura were gracious enough to get up to take me to the airport. Once Alvina and I met up in Dublin, we tooka bus into the city centre. We got ourselves oriented, and Alvina enjoyed a nice Irish breakfast. (I had eaten a Cornish pasty in the airport earlier.) After breakfast, we walked to Dublin Castle taking in the sights along the way: the Dublin Spire, the General Post Office, the O'Connell Statue, the River Liffey, and the Ha'penny Bridge.
When we got to the castle, I was ready for my lunch so we sat for a short while in the cafe. Then it was off to explore the castle grounds. We didn't feel like taking the guided tour so we didn't go into the actual castle. The castle garden had a thin celtic knot maze brick path laid out on the lawn. I enjoyed walking that.
Then we went over to Christ Church Cathedral. It was beautiful and had lots of interesting artifacts including a mummified cat and mouse from the church organ. The cat and mouse were referred to in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.
Next we walked several blocks to see the Book of Kells display and some other similar works like the Book of Armagh. Upstairs was the Old Library which had the lovely scent of old books. There were several glass cases displaying more historic texts. The oldest known existing harp in Ireland is housed there too. It was a wonderful setting with all those tall shelves full of old texts and those neat spiral staircases.
After Trinity College, we caught a bus out to Sandymount Beach. I got a little turned around but we eventually found it. Unfortunately it smelled so bad that we didn't stay very long. That gave us more time to shop along Grafton Street where we saw the Molly Malone statue. Then it was back to the airport to go our separate ways.
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