Morning has come, and with it very little sleep, as you can tell by our faces. It was only 6 hours, but it was a long 6 hours. It's actually pretty hard to fly overseas from the east coast because the flight times are shorter. With both dinner and breakfast, you get about 4 hours max of lights out and there are still noises and dings and people bustling about.
BUT...our first views of Ireland out the plane window!
Look at these beautiful patchwork farms right by the airport. We were so excited to begin this voyage!
At the airport we encountered our first snafu...part of the package we purchased from Costco included a private driver from the airport to our hotel. We were told that driver would be waiting for us in arrivals holding a sign with our name on it. Well, there wasn't. We waited around for a time, searched everywhere possible, waited some more, tried to call the Costco number and got someone in Spain who had no idea what we were talking about, so it was a bit frustrating. It was eventually clear that no one was coming for us, so we finally headed out to get a taxi!
Our taxi drove us into Dublin proper, and dropped us off right at our Hotel entrance. We couldn't check in just yet, so we sat for a bit trying to gather our jetlagged thoughts before heading out into the city to explore. Our first stop was Trinity College, where the Book of Kells is housed. It's a super famous set of Latin manuscripts containing the four Gospels of the New Testament.
You walk in and up the stairs, and there's this crazy library of floor to ceiling really old books.
Each little alcove had a giant ladder that slid along the rails so the top books could be accessed. It's hard to tell, but the books on the bottom shelves were some of them 18 inches tall.
We followed the crowds into the room where the Book of Kells was on display. It is incredible as an artifact well preserved, but very small, and honestly a bit hard to see with all the people.
Really, it was so perfect to be wandering around Dublin, Ireland...it was overcast today, and there are castles and giant churches everywhere, and lots of pubs! Our next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral, famous for many reasons, one being the seat of Jonathan Swift's burial and where he served in the office of Dean.
It was a beautiful cathedral, kind of strange to imagine going to church there on Sundays. It's enormous, and drafty, but with beautiful architecture and stained glass.
What was perhaps the strangest thing we encountered is the tombs literally IN the church. People buried right under the floor, and memorialized with plaques and engraven stone on the floor, where everybody walks. People buried in the walls...our understanding is that you could be buried right inside the church if you had enough money, standing, or influence. Jonathan Swift's bust marks his tomb there in the church. Others had portraits, and poems, and scripture. It just seemed a strange place for burials, but I suppose if being buried on sacred ground is important, then there's not anywhere more sacred than INSIDE the church itself! The small graveyard outside the church must have been the less influential bunch.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Dublin, trying to postpone going to the hotel to CRASH. We mostly headed the way back to the hotel, and ended up stopping at a fish and chips place, which was delicious. Food is getting a bit trickier for me...things sound good and then they just don't or they don't sit well afterwards, but this really hit the spot. We walked along the River Liffey and stopped at a little donut shop for a treat. Then it was just time to be done. I'm astounded we made it all day without falling over! There were certainly a few times I wanted to! Tomorrow it's off to Northern Ireland after we get our rental car!
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