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Started off exploring Dublinia, which is a museum dedicated to life in the old days, back when the Vikings had laid claim to Dublin.  They had all kinds of exhibits showing what life was like back in the 12^th through 16^th centuries.

Next it was off to the Guinness Storehouse for lunch and a tour.  The Guinness Storehouse is what used to be the main plant for Guinness, but it’s been moved to a more modern facility, and the storehouse is now just a tourist attraction.  It seems Irish law says you can’t have tours in a working brewery (at least someone said that while we were there.)  On the 7^th floor of the building they have a bar called the “Gravity Bar”, which offers 360º view of the city of Dublin, it’s a fantastic view of the city, gives you real appreciation for how many old buildings there truly are in the city.

After that we went over to see Trinity College, which houses the “Book of Kells”.  Having almost no historical education, I had never heard of it before, but according to Wikipedia it is “A masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination.  It is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.”  Being the heathen that I am, my opinion is that it’s “pretty”.

We were also told that this was Dublin’s Culture Night, where many historical places in the city open their doors for free from 6pm till 11pm.  So we took advantage of that and looked at some of the offerings.  The first thing we found was “RoboArt”, a exhibition at Trinity College of robotics as art.  The most impressive one to me was the “RuBot”, a robot that solves a Rubik’s cube that anyone can mess up and the robot will solve it.  It solved it in 33 seconds from me messing it up.  Then we visited the General Post Office, which is a historic building with an exhibit in the basement of old government items, like the official seal of Ireland and the wooden lock box it was housed in.  And the lesser and greater swords of Ireland, not sure of their historic significance.  Then we went over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Churches seemed to be a big part of this tour.

“Life on the Liffey”

Word of the Day—Taoiseach, or “prime minister”.

First thing today, we went to Dublinia, a museum of Irish history.  I found this museum fascinating—lots of exhibits of Old Ireland and the Vikings.  We saw exhibits of medieval Irish life, apothecary’s cures, and the Black Death.  We were taken into a room to see the model of medieval Dublin, then ushered into the exhibits about the Vikings.  We saw coin making, pagan altars, weaving, slave trading, and even the bones of a woman who may have been buried in time of plague.

Next we saw elegant Georgian-era Dublin Castle which was built on the site of an older castle, right next to the city walls.  The castle is built on the Viking site of the Dov Linh, or Black Pool.  I liked the castle, it’s quite elegantly done in Georgian style which is less fussy than the Victorian.  After Dublin Castle, we saw the Guinness Factory and took the brewing tour.  I gave Guinness one more try and have concluded the stuff is awful—sour, bitter, and syruppy thick.  I found the factory and the brewing to be interesting, but I’m afraid I’m done with Mr. Guinness’s beer!  We had a nice lunch at the brewery before the tour, and while Guinness is terrible to drink, it makes good stew. 

We then went to Trinity College, which is stunning.  We saw the Book of Kells—I never knew it was in two folios instead of one big book, that surprised me!  The artwork is really stunning, especially in how small the details are!  Then we went upstairs and saw the Long Gallery which inspired the library in Harry Potter.  I talked to a nice guard there, who when he found out I was a librarian, said “Ah!  Welcome to heaven, I’m St. Peter, I’m afraid ye’ve died and gone to heaven!”  He even allowed me to touch a book written by Sir Francis Drake.  We also saw the oldest harp in Ireland which is so old it can no longer play.  After the Long Gallery, we did a bit of shopping, and I had one last look at the Gallery and the Book for good measure.

We had the good fortune of having arrived on Culture Night in Dublin, so things were open later than usual.  We got to see a robotics art show which David enjoyed.  We grabbed a good dinner at a very good Chinese restaurant, then wandered Dublin for a bit again.  The guard at Trinity recommended we go see the Dublin archives, but that wasn’t to our tastes, so we then went to see St. Patrick’s Church which had some truly amazing monuments—one family’s monument was about two stories high and ornate as all hell!  It reminded me a bit of Westminster abbey, and was really lovely.  Then we scurried off to bed to prepare for an early morning.