Dublin

We began planning our trip in January but, much to our surprise, all the rooms at the Grand Canal Hotel in Dublin, the departure point for our first tour, were already booked for the end of August. We searched for special events that might be happening in the city and looked up Irish holidays, but there didn't seem to be any reason for the lack of available hotel rooms. It wasn't until we were actually sitting at the gate for our flight from Dulles International Airport that the mystery was finally solved. The waiting area was full of people wearing t-shirts supporting either Notre Dame or Navy - mostly Notre Dame. In a couple of days, the Aer Lingus College Football Classic would be held at Aviva Stadium which happened to be just a couple of blocks from the Grand Canal Hotel.

Everyone was in a festive mood, and the city was festooned with banners and decorations to welcome the game attendees. I took a picture of these teddy bears sitting in a shop window.

We stayed in the neighborhood of Ballsbridge just outside downtown Dublin. It was a pleasant area with huge old Georgian style houses.

One of the first things we did to orient ourselves to the city was to visit the Little Museum of Dublin. Located in a lovely old house, the museum is bursting with everyday objects that Dubliners have donated. We were entertained by a woman who gave an enthusiastic talk about life in the city over the years. I particularly enjoyed the U2 room. The crystal statue is a replica of a Joshua Tree. A statue was given to the group's manager and each group member in March, 2000, but, unfortunately, the statues were so fragile that only this one survived the trip home.

St. Stephen's Green sits across the street from the Little Museum. The park was full of people enjoying the beautiful weather.

The docent at the museum had told us that during the 1916 Easter Rising, a ceasefire was called each day so that the parkkeeper could feed the ducks. I expected to see the descendants of those pampered ducks in the park, but they seem to have been displaced by sea gulls.

One dreary, wet morning we braved a streetcar ride to Trinity College to visit the Book of Kells.

Described as "Ireland's greatest cultural treasure" on the website, the book, which was painstakingly created by monks around 800 AD, contains the 4 Gospels. It is displayed in a special climate-controlled case in an exhibit in the building known as the Old Library.

The pages open to display are changed about every 8 weeks. You are not allowed to take pictures of the actual book, so I copied these photos from the internet. If you are very lucky you might see pages like those in the picture on the right below, but the pages we saw were not nearly as awe-inspiring. Nonetheless, the book was in remarkably good condition, and I was quite impressed with it.

Entrance to the extraordinary Long Room of the Old Library itself is included in the price of the Book of Kells tickets.You may recognize it as the setting of the Library of Streeling University on planet Trantor in the "Foundation" series on Apple TV. Unfortunately, at the time of our visit almost all of the 200,000 books had been removed from the shelves as part of a renovation and preservation project. The busts and the famous Brian Boru harp, which dates back to the 14th or 15th century remained in place.

From Trinity College, it's a short walk to historic Dublin Castle. The original structure dated back to 1204, and for hundreds of years it was the administrative center for English rule over the country and the home of the Viceroy of Ireland. It was destroyed by fire in 1684 and re-built as a Georgian palace. After the Irish War of Independence, the building was handed over to Michael Collins, and since then, it has been the site for many important national events.

A statue of a lionness, created by Davide Rivalta, stalks the immense courtyard. It is, of course, a popular spot for picture-taking.

We wandered on to the castle gardens - an expanse of lawn and flowers and sculputre enclosed by a stone wall.

This somewhat surprising pink statue was actually creating by 3D printing. It was on display as part of a special exhibition called "On a Pedestal". The work is called "David and Goliath" and it was designed by Jam Sutton.

I really enjoyed our days in Dublin. The Irish people we met all seemed so relaxed and content. Our hotel had a breakfast buffet supervised by a pleasant old woman who constantly offered toast, but who would want boring old toast when the selection of food on offer included incredibly delicious scones and other breads. The food we ate in the neighborhood restaurants was mostly enjoyable, the wait staff always seemed eager to please, and I must agree that the Guiness in Ireland is indeed better than it is in America. Ireland was making a great impression on me.