We hope that you have as great of a day as we have. (Remember we are 5 hours ahead on the clock).
Today was as easy, but busy, day. We slept in until 7:00 a.m. At 9:30 we had a Dublin city tour. Many of us had walked up the River Liffey for several blocks before our evening supper and entertainment yesterday.
There was several of the usual sites - government buildings, etc. We also were on O'Connell Street - the main street. Here besides the statue of the revolutionary O'Connell, there is the new Millennium Spike, the Post Office still with bullet damage from the Easter Riots a few years ago when the Irish were fighting for their independence. The O'Connell statue also had bullet wounds - with some of the bronze figures on it with obvious bullet holes.
We drove by the rows of Georgian Houses, each with a differently painted bright door. On the corner of the square (formerly access only to those who owned the Georgian houses) was a statue of Oscar Wilde reclining on a boulder.
Our last stop for the bus tour was at Trinity College, founded in 1592. Here we viewed the Book of Knells - the oldest known printed copy of the Bible, hand printed and illustrated in 800 AD. The book was in the bottom floor of the library. I am sure you have seen photographs of the library - very long corridor, with shelves over two stories high - containing books of very old age.
From here we walked back downtown and around O'Connell Street, a divided street of 3 lanes each side and many statues in the middle.
We spent most of the afternoon walking around the main downtown area.
Close to 5:00 pm we took an optional tour to the Guinness Storehouse. This was their original brewery, now converted to a tour / sales store / dinner / etc. We took the walking tour of the former brewery and brewing process. We then as a group went to the top (7th floor) where there is the Gravity Bar. a brief description would be a round / circular room, about 50 feet in diameter. The walls were glass windows, 360 degrees around, with a fabulous view of Dublin. We then had dinner in one of their dinning rooms.
This is a brief summary of another interesting day of our travels.
The Wayward Traveler and his exhausted companions.
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