Dublin

I think we were all very excited to head into Dublin for our last four days of the tour. After seeing the country I wondered what the big city would be like. It turned out to be everything that I did not expect. It was very easy to find your way around and so much was within walking distance from our hotel. We had a fair amount of free time in the afternoons and evenings, so everyone could investigate the city on their own. Our hotel, The Harcourt, was on a street that also housed two entrances to colleges, the police station and numerous clubs - which explained why there were ear plugs in our rooms! Luckily we didn't spend a lot of time there!

The ride into Dublin was great. Beautiful green pastures filled with cows and sheep and I was reminded of the Adirondacks. From what Tom had said the landscape is part of the spiritual life of the country. I don't remember specifically which he had referred to as "St. Bridget's Pastures", but the legend goes - St. Bridget was approached for land and she responded "I will give you as much land as my cloak will cover". When she laid out her cloak it covered 5,000 acres.

On the bus, as we traveled around, we listened to people that are significant to Ireland - U2, Thin Lizzy (or Tin Lizzy, as the Irish pronounce it - they can't pronounce the "th" sound because there is nothing like it in their vocabulary!), Van Morrison, Boon Town rats, and many locals that I wasn't familiar with, but loved. We also listened to traditional Irish music and The Brendan Voyage with the Symphony Orchestra and the Uilleann Pipes (pronounced Illyun - a traditional Irish instrument that is played with the elbow - "Uilleann = elbow).  I guess the Irish don't like Bono as much as we do in the States because Tom told us a joke that is common in Ireland -

 " What is the difference between God and Bono? God doesn't think he's Bono"! I love Bono....

Ragamuffin @ the Temple bar - awesome!!!

Little Vikings on a tour!

The spire - made it easy to get your bearings in the city.

The whole time we were in Dublin we had sunshine and it warmed up - perfect weather for walking around the city. We took a bus tour through the city, went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College and ended the day with a tour of Guinness!