Dublin, finally

It’s not that I've been avoiding Dublin; really, it’s just that cities don’t interest me in the same way as geology, nature, and rural scenery does. As cities go, Dublin is easy enough and interesting enough to be enjoyable. We made two day trips to Dublin from Navan, by bus #109.

a different view from the top of a double-decker bus

Our first foray was on a bank holiday and I thought maybe that was why there were so many people on the streets. Our second was on a regular Monday and it was equally busy. Coming back to Victoria I've realized how much of a car-culture we live in and how heavy the traffic is here compared to the pedestrian traffic of Ireland.

Grafton Street

So what did we do and see in Dublin? Christ Church Cathedral (Church of Ireland and roughly like the Church of England), has the most amazing crypts and a lovely feel in the main church. St Patrick’s cathedral (Roman Catholic) seems to be a lot more about politics and had a gift shop set up at the back of the nave; I didn’t like it much and it  needed a good cleaning.

similar tile floors in both cathedrals

Both charge an entry fee which allows them to cope with the upkeep of such old buildings. Christ Church is an honest to goodness Gothic structure complete with flying buttresses and seems to be the heart of Dublin while St. Patrick’s is the largest church in Ireland and is more associated with the whole country. They were rivals back in the 1200’s but eventually sorted it out sometime in the 1300’s. I said one is Anglican and the other RC, but I’m not really clear on it because Wikipedia attributes them both to Church of Ireland.

We went next to another kind of church, the Guinness Storehouse. It’s a bit like Disney in organization and display, but well done and interesting. Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease for the property, in 18-something and never looked back.

All but Pat drinking Guinness. She just could go it or beer in general.

We went to Trinity College to see the original Book of Kells,

When I saw the Book of Kells in 1968 it was in a case in this room. Now it has it's own  environmentally controlled  annex, and gift store of course..

 took a bus tour, had a beverage in O'Donoghue’s Pub of the Dubliners fame,

the slope on the floor is at least 12 inches, and it's been many a decade since  the place has  been "done up".

wandered up Grafton Street and generally got a sense of the city centre. And we met up with a strange group of people for lunch!

Pat, Jim, Ed, Andrew, Rob, and Eva at lunch at O`Connell`s. Andrew is studying at UCD

footsore after walking half the city we took a carriage back to the  centre to catch our bus.

And that's it for Ireland, or at least for my posts about our trip. There is a lot more to say but not by me!