A Day in Dublin

We opened the curtains on a slightly overcast but dry day, apparently an anomaly for this summer according to the shuttle bus driver who took us into town. Not that the Irish are at all prone to exaggeration, but he said that it has rained every day of the summer; we could only hope that the luck of the Irish works better for visitors than it does for locals.

Rather than taking an organized tour from the ship, we took the advice given by a few people who had been here before, and just did our own walking tour. In case anyone's keeping track, the pedometer told us we had walked yet another 7 miles when all was said and done.

So here's what we saw of Dublin. It's a good thing that we're planning to be back here next summer on a British Isles cruise – there's still lots more to visit.

We wanted to start our tour at Trinity College to see the exhibit of the Book of Kells, but there was a lineup to get in and we weren't sure how long a wait it would be. So we decided to leave it until later. Instead, we walked toward St. Patrick's Cathedral. On the way, we found the bronze statue of Molly Malone, affectionately known either as 'the Dish with the Fish' or 'the Tart with the Cart', depending on your state of mind when you pass by.

Our route took us by Dublin Castle, so we stopped to check it out. It doesn't look that much like a castle, except for the church and tower, but it does have a very nice green surrounded by gardens (the green apparently also doubles as a helicopter landing area for the government departments that are located in the Castle – there's not another open piece of ground big enough that we could see).

We finally reached St. Patrick's Cathedral. What an impressive building, both inside and outside, although we had expected there to be a bit more decoration on the inside. One of the more interesting features is the church organ. The original organ was replaced over a hundred years ago, but it is on display, and is the same organ on which George Frederic Handel played his 'Messiah' oratorio in a church for the first time in 1742. Apparently he wrote much of the piece while in Dublin, and there is a plaque and a hotel bearing his name on the spot where the first actual performance took place.

This photo isn't just for the intricate floor tiles - people have hand-stitched
their seat cushions in some very beautiful patterns.

The original organ that was played by Handel

The plaque and hotel are just behind Christ Church Cathedral, which happened to be the stop after St. Patrick's on our little tour. It would have been nice to get more than one photo of it, or maybe visit the interior, but we walked all the way around and couldn't find anything that looked like a main entrance. Maybe you need to be a member of the congregation before they'll tell you how to get inside…

After all that walking, we decided to look around in the Temple Bar area, an older part of town that now houses shops and restaurants, and maybe find a traditional Irish pub for a spot of lunch.

Once we arrived, we discovered "finding a pub" would not be a difficult task. They are only side-by-side all the way down the three blocks of the main street in this very touristy part of town. After walking from one end of Temple Bar (the actual street name) to the other and back, we settled on The Original Temple Bar Pub. Looking through any of its many doors it was crowded with "locals" so it had to be the place for us. And we were not disappointed. Finding a spot at the main bar, we ordered a "traditional" Irish cold meat and cheese platter, complete with fresh-baked crusty breads and crackers. And a Jamesons Irish on the rocks for Monica while Larry had an NA version of a local draught brew.

And this is only the Irish whiskies!!

We finally managed to get into the Book of Kells exhibit. This is a hand-written and beautifully illuminated (decorated) Latin manuscript of the four Gospels that was used by St. Colum Cille to 'turn darkness into light', to spread Christianity throughout the country. It is said to have been written over 1,000 years ago, in the 9th Century, probably by monks on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. It was even stolen once, around 1050, when the thieves made off with the jewel-encrusted cover and threw the rest of the book into a gutter. After it was recovered it was cared for a little more carefully, and eventually ended up in Trinity College in 1661. We don't think it has been on display for all that time; if it had been the entry fee probably wouldn't have been as high. Of course, you can't take photos of the exhibit, but the few pages of the book that are open to view are quite impressive. There is probably a lot of info on the Internet if you're interested in checking it out further.

The ship leaves at 6:00 for the first of two sea days on our way to Iceland. Our table host last night, the Chief Officer, told us that we will once again (for us anyway) cross north of the Arctic Circle, and at the Welcome Party last night the Captain dropped some "teasers" about cold weather and rough seas. He commented that Serenity was in Istanbul, where it was 34C and that we could look forward to a temperature of 34 too. In Fahrenheit!!!! So I guess we will just have to wait and see what the North Atlantic has in store for us.

We'll leave you with a photo of us taken by Justine, one of the bar waitresses, in the Starlight Lounge before dinner and the party. This one's for you, Jane: