Day 9- October 22nd

Today was our latest wake-up of the entire trip- 9:30am. We start the morning with a city sight-seeing tour and drive along the River Liffey. We went through the Georgian Squares and saw the famous Dublin Doors. I was able to take pictures of a few of them. We then saw the statue and post office that were shot during the civil war between the treaty and anti-treaty factions. After a lot of fighting for Irish independence, a deal (treaty) was struck with some of the leaders of the Irish Independence movement and the English. Some of the other leaders didn't like this compromise as it still didn't give total Irish independence. Fighting then ensued. What's interesting about the statue and post office is that you can still see the bullet holes from the fighting. I was a little sad I wasn't make it back here today to get better photos as the only pictures I got were from the coach. We drove past Christchurch Cathedral and then made a quick stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The grounds here are really lovely. There's a garden with a fountain and alongside the walls are little enclaves dedicated to famous Irish authors. We drove through Phoenix Park, which is about 7 miles long. We stopped at the visitors center which had a small museum and a castle, which was really a tower house. Our final destination was Trinity College. I was excited because this is where the Book of Kells is housed. I headed towards the Book of Kells with Eddy, who would be my companion for the day. I had mentioned to him a bit earlier in the tour that I was disappointed that the Guinness Storehouse Tour and Dinner wasn't being offered to us as an optional excursion. I had really wanted to do that one. Eddy told me that his son, Jason, was currently living in Dublin and was going to pick him up this afternoon to take him to the Guinness Storehouse. Eddy invited me to come along. Sadly, only four people ended up going to see the Book of Kells. It cost €8 for admittance. Eddy, Mary and Peter (an older married couple from Australia), and myself ended up going in. The first area was very interesting; it showed how the book was made. Different areas showed how the paper was made (vellum), how the paints were made, how it was written, and how it was bound. There were large illuminated copies of some of the pages as well. Some of the areas even had demonstration videos you could watch. I found the one on the binding of the book to be the most interesting. Later you moved into the room where the book was held. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed here. In this room there was a large table in the middle that was glass enclosed. It contained 2 of the 4 Gospels from the Book of Kells. One was opened to display pages with amazing artwork, the other opened to pages with more text. Even the text was ornate. I couldn't believe that I was actually looking at the Book of Kells. It was just one of those moments on the tour for me, I hate the word surreal but it's the word I'd have to use. There were two other ancient texts here as well. They were smaller in size and less elaborate but still beautiful. From here you were moved into the Long Room of the library. There are a series of tables in the middle of the room that run nearly the length of the room. These tables are also glass enclosed. They contained old texts and first editions of famous novels. It was pretty impressive. Eddy and I didn't stay long here because we had to make sure we were back at the hotel by 1:30 to meet his son. You exit through the normal gift shop. I purchased a postcard of the Chi Rho page and a small booklet about the Book of Kells. After this, Eddy and I walked down Grafton Street. I was trying to find Lush, a store that sells natural soaps and shampoos. I wanted to get a specific soap for my roommate and these stores aren't available where I live. I had the address, 116 Grafton. Grafton St is a pedestrianized shopping street. As we were walking down it, I had looked over to my left and found some numbers, they kept going up, but by the time we got to the end of the street we were only in the 40's. It was starting to drizzle a bit and we were getting crunched for time so I had given up the search and we headed back down the street. About halfway back down the street I looked to my left again, this time it was the other side of the street, and saw that the numbers were going up! Turns out that in Dublin the numbers go up on one side of the street and continue going up on the other instead of alternating from side to side like I'm used to in the states. Now that we knew this, we soon found Lush, just to the right of the entrance to Grafton. I felt silly that we had walked so far and the store was actually so close to where we entered Grafton. The store was pretty small so the smell of all the scents was fairly overwhelming and I hurriedly found what I was looking for. Eddy and I then made the "10 minute walk" back to the hotel. Our tour director, Doug, must run instead of walk because everytime he would let us know how long the walk was someplace it always took much longer. When we got back to the hotel I had enough time to run upstairs to my room, use the restroom, and grab my raincoat. Eddy had warned me a few times that morning that his son wasn't very talkative so I wouldn't be offended. Jason picked us up and took us to the Guinness Brewery and the Storehouse. We went inside and Jason paid for all of us (€14 each) to get in. Your "ticket" is actually this clear object that looks like a paperweight. It has the Guinness logo on it and inside of it is a drop of Guinness. On the underside is a black rubber ring that you pull off and turn in at the end of the tour for a pint of Guinness. The Storehouse is a museum that goes up like 10 floors or so. As you wind your way up the stairs to each floor you learn about how Guinness is made. The most interesting thing that I learned was the the founder, Arthur Guinness, purchased a 9000 year lease on the land that the vast majority of the brewery is still on for £45 a year. This lease was purchased back in the 1740's! About halfway through you're offered a sample of Guinness North Star. It's a special brew that is only available in Ireland. It actually wasn't that bad, probably because it wasn't as thick as regular Guinness. The very top floor of the Storehouse is the location of the Gravity Bar. The room has floor-to-ceiling glass windows with fantastic views of Dublin. I took some photos of the view and passed on the pint of Guinness. On our way out, I pulled out my camera to take a picture of the Guinness sign . An American couple was standing outside and offered to take my picture under the sign if I would take theirs. I declined the photo of myself but still took one for them. I took a photo and then took a photo of Eddy and Jason with Eddy's camera. We drove back to Jason's apartment, which was actually adjacent to our hotel, to drop off his car. Then we walked to a nearby cafe for some lunch. I had a slice of pepperoni pizza. It was ok, but the pepperoni tasted nothing like the pepperoni back home. Our pepperoni tastes much better, in my opinion. Then Eddy and I walked back to the hotel. He was going to rest and freshen up and then spend more time with Jason. I ended up heading back out to the city and walked around on my own four another hour or so. It was dark when I got back to the hotel. I showered and repacked my suitcase. I probably did too much walking today as my foot was starting to throb so I called it a night, skipping dinner as I just wasn't very hungry.





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