Ireland

Today we flew from Glasgow to Dublin, Ireland.  We got up at 5:30 to catch our 8:20 flight. We returned the car without a full tank, despite other intentions.  We did not see a gas station on the way to the airport.  Where do they hide them in Scotland?  We saw an electronics store at the airport and found a new charger for Amy's phone.  It is a nice international charger that will work all over the world.  We'll put it to the test!  At breakfast we saw the buzz on TV about the royal baby.

Ireland, unlike the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) uses the Euro, despite both being in the European Union.  So we have put away our pounds and have been using Euros.  Amy was able to get 100 Euros cash before leaving, so we have been able to pay for a few cash-only items, such as our bus tickets.  I will also need Euros in The Netherlands.

We landed in Dublin late morning.  The flight took just under and hour on a small turbo prop plane.  We had a very smooth flight especially considering our travel over water.  It has been hot here as it has in Scotland and England.  No sweaters or raincoats needed.  We took a bus from the airport to downtown to our hotel.  We took the scenic route to the hotel that included retracing some/many of our steps.  The hotel did not have our room ready as it was way before check-in time, but they stored our bags and we headed to see some things.

The first major site was to see the Book of Kells, located in an old library at Trinity College.  The Book of Kells is an elaborately illuminated Latin Gospel from about 800 AD.  It is impressive to see the amount of effort that went into making this book.  I am particular interested in the decorative interlace and mathematical connections.  There was a long line to see it and the exhibit area was pretty crowded, but we got to see everything on display.  We then had a nice lunch at a cafeteria on campus.

Most museums are closed on Mondays in Dublin, so we went to the Guinness Storehouse for their brewery tour experience.  I was underwhelmed by the tour.  It was not free, it was self paced, it was not in a working building, and it was dark for no apparent reason.  It did tell the story of beer making, but definitely nowhere near as good as the Sam Adams tour.  The tasting room, on the other hand, was excellent!  We each had an average of one pint of Guinness on the 7th floor Gravity Bar with 360 degree panoramic views of the city.

A gate to the factory.

The brewery commemorates the important contributions of an employee to the field of statistics.

A view from the Gravity Bar.

It was getting late so we headed back to the hotel.  I had found some yarn shops that I thought Amy would like.  We passed through some areas that seemed a little seedy, but eventually got to the yarn shop.  We had a nice time visiting with the owner and Amy purchased some yarn.  Just two blocks away from the yarn shop was St. Patrick's cathedral.  It was fun to see.  We found another yarn shop, but not much of interest, so we headed for the hotel.  We also stopped by a small bakery for a sweet treat and another place for a frozen treat.  Traffic here is nuts.  I am thankful not to be driving, as are most others in Dublin including Amy!

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Hot and tired from traveling, we decided to get some food from a local market and make sandwiches, hang out, watch some TV, charge our electronics, and do some blogging.  The hotel is HOT.  We have no air conditioning, because it never gets this warm.  I was able to get ice from the hotel bar, so we at least have cold drinks.  We also have a fan.

Amy was excited to hear the news about the royal baby.  That is all that the news stations here are talking about.  Lots of buzz in London and Buckingham and Kensington, places we have just visited.  It was interesting to see them on TV having just been there.