Dublin

Our hotel arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 9:30 a.m. this morning. We had no intention of driving in this city any more than we had to! The car was retired for a day or so.

We started out at Dublin Castle, which is still used for State occasions and is surrounded by government buildings. Sorry, but we didn't take any pictures there.

Next we did some shopping in Temple Bar, the trendy newly-refurbished part of town. That was fun! Then we moved on to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Below are pictures of the cathedral, which was completed in 1284, but heavily restored in the 19th century.

The Cathedral and grounds.

Happily, we were permitted to take interior pictures.

The room below is actually behind the main alter.

Below is Christ Church Cathedral. This structure is Dublin's oldest stone building. Parts of the existing structure have been dated back to just before 1180, indicating that the Normans started the building shortly after they took over the city. The whole building would be a romantic ivied ruin if it weren't for the intervention of the Dublin whiskey distiller Henry Roe, who paid for its reconstruction between 1872 and 1878.

One of the best parts of Christ Church is it's crypt! It had very few tombs though. Perhaps because the newer St. Patrick's Cathedral became a more fashionable burial place.

This was a particularly interesting tomb or monument. Unfortunately, you couldn't read anything.

We also spent time at Trinity College. We viewed the Book of Kells and the incredible library. After about four and a half hours of walking, we had arrived back at the hotel. Time to rest and freshen up for the evening.

Today was my birthday, so I got to pick a place for dinner. We took another taxi back to Temple Bar and I immediately found Luigi Maloney's Restaurant. We enjoyed a lovely meal with lots of Dublin yuppies surrounding us! For most of the meal we were the oldest people in the room! It was very nice though, and we enjoyed the food and atmosphere.

After dinner, we made our way to the Abbey Theatre to see a performance of "Da". The play was great, by any standards. A perfect end to a wonderful birthday!

Abbey Theatre: http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whatson.html#Abbey