Dublin 3/9/2009

Trinity College

Joy with Molly Malone - otherwise known as “the tart with the cart”. 

 It was a long wet bus ride to Dublin, but the sun was shining when we arrived. Our apartment (or studio really) for three nights is nicely located just near St Stephens Green, said to be one of the nicest city gardens in the world. It has beautiful flowers and plants, an attractive lake, a waterfall and cute bridges, so I think it might be.


There was a lot to see in Dublin, so it was a hectic 3 days for us. The highlights were finally seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College, visiting the gaol and the General Post Office to find out more about the 1916 revolution and seeing the wonderful collection of horded bronze age objects (recovered from the bogs) at the National Archaeological Museum. We also visited Temple Bar one evening, went around the City of Dublin Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery, toured a Georgian house and did a tour of Trinity College which, according to our charming student guide, is one of the four great universities of the UK, along with Cambridge, Oxford and St Andrews. Another lovely thing we did was to go to evensong at Christchurch Cathedral.

People watching in the streets also proved to be profitable occupation. We have never seen such “interesting” cross section of society going by. It was also interesting to discover the place names and the looks of people that are so common in Australia.


Fantastic sculptures abound - literary figures like James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, as well as many revolutionary heroes. 



Weather wise, it was spring, autumn and winter in the one day again - actually more like in one hour.


So, now it’s good bye to Ireland. Three things we liked about Ireland - the green, the living history, the Irish characters we saw and met. Three things we didn’t like - the weather, the toilets and the expense.