Ireland Week. . . Part 3

I mentioned in my previous post that when we got back from our long day to the west coast of Ireland we crashed. Well, we did, but not after having some cheese and wine with A and G. A was heading to London the next day, so it was kind of our goodbye. Goodbye for now that is.

We slept well that night!


The next morning we woke up, and decided a day in the city was in order! Ireland is only around 4 million people total (about the same size as the state of MN) and almost half of them live in Dublin. Dublin is a beautiful, European city, and we really enjoyed taking in the sites. We took the Luas (the public transportation) into downtown Dublin.



We walked along the beautiful brick streets, and then grabbed lunch and sat in a park, and people watched. Dublin has great people watching!


We then decided to take a tour of Christ's Church. Christ's Church is a beautiful church in Dublin. It was built long before the US was rediscovered by Europeans. It's always amazing to travel to other countries whose history goes back way before that of our own. It makes me realize how new our country is. Christ's Church is also the location that Handel's Messiah was first performed after Handel had the piece commissioned by the king. It was a beautiful church.












After visiting Christ's Church, we did more walking around the city. In Dublin, and in many European (and probably US cities) there are people called buskers who perform and things for money. It was fun to see them.

(Yes, this is not a statue. . . It's a real man. Kind of scared me when I walked by and he moved)















We then met my cousin at Trinity College. Trinity is a world famous University where many famous people attended. (Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, just to name a few) My cousin just received her Master's Degree from Trinity, and she was nice enough to show us around.

The most famous part of Trinity College is the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells contain the four gospels of the New Testament, and was transcribed by Celtic Monks ca 800. Taher and I went into a dark room where the Book of Kells is held under thick glass, and pictures are absolutely forbidden. So wasn't I surprised when we uploaded all the pictures from our trip and I saw Taher had taken a picture of this.

After touring Trinity College, we decided to go on one more tour. Ireland is know for making Guiness and Jameson, and both places give tours and explain how the world famous alcohol is made. We decided to check out the Jameson tour.

It was a really great tour. We learned about how whiskey is made, and we learned why Jameson tastes better than many whiskeys. . . Apparently it's all in the triple distillation process. (See, I was paying attention) :-D

At the end of the tour, our tour guide asked for volunteers to taste test three different kinds of Whiskey. Taher and my cousin were selected as taste testers. I was very fine that I wasn't selected, as I don't drink whiskey. At all.

Taher and my cousin both selected properly, and were given certifications as official whiskey tasters. Nice! :-D

After our long day of walking (no wonder those Europeans are so thin!) we decided to get a table outside and enjoy a pint. One of my favorite things about traveling is taking in the people and the culture of where we are.

I can't wait to show you some of my candids of the Irish people tomorrow.