Mike & Holly - Ireland (and a few other places)

It's our last day in Dublin and our feet are feeling the journey. The weather knows we're leaving too as today was the first cloudy day since we arrived. Our first stop was Ireland's Archeology Museum. A fascinating museum with a lot of artifacts that came from 3000+ yr old sites that we had seen in person during our travels. The most interesting things were the bog mummies on display. For the most part, they were murdered as sacrifices. But they were mostly well-off people - not slaves. So they might have been political competition. As you can see from the photos, even some hair styles have survived. Bogs are very effective in preserving bodies. Creepy!! After, we stopped at the National Museum of Art which had a decent collection of art. Not the biggest museum, but enough to be if interest.  Here are a few of our favorites. After lunch at a cafe we finished off the afternoon with a tour of the Trinity College Library where they house the Book of Kells. Historians think it...

​At a delicious lunch of fish & chips we discovered another great local beer - Dublin’s Five Lamps lager. We explored a bit more before going to the Emigration Museum. It was really fascinating to hear the stories and the museum was very interactive and well done. And had this interesting sculpture. It’s also amazing how many of our American leaders have Irish in their ancestry.  After a rest at our hotel (our feet were done in!) we ventured out again to a friend’s favorite pub - The Palace. And a great dinner in Fallon & Byrne’s wine cellar. Yum!

​As we do with all major European cities we travel to - We started off with the Rick Steves walk. This one was quite extensive - We felt like we’d walked all around Dublin and really only went 1.5km from our hotel.  The walk started with a stroll through Stephen’s Green which is Dublin’s Central Park (Or Golden Gate). The Easter Rising which was Ireland’s rebellion against England (for their own independence) was the theme of the day. Lots of monuments/statues in the park commemorating the key players. Then we strolled down Grafton street which is a shopping area with lots of tourists and “Irish Idol” wannabes.  There was a nice statue tribute to Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. Then we went over to Trinity College. Founded (by QE1) in 1592 to push the Protestant agenda. It is considered very prestigious.  Then we were back on the streets seeing things like Molly Malone statue Homeless Jesus art in front of Christ Church Cathedral Naked Handel conducting (Handel’s Messiah) An...

​ We set out early since our first sight, Bru na Boinne, was 40 min away. The area is a collection of three burial sites dating back to Neolithic times. In fact, the three sites contain 60% of all Neolithic art in all of Europe. The first burial site was surrounded by smaller burial sites. The largest was 250 ft wide and about 1 story tall. It was used for thousands of years with small villages built on top. In fact, towards the end of it's use it had a Norman fortress built on top. It’s hard to get a photo of it all together. The second of the the three sites allowed us to enter the burial chamber, which was really cool. The guide said nothing had been changed and it looked exactly the same as it did 3000+ years ago when it was used. At one point he turned the lights off and, as you might expect, it was pitch black and creepy. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pics inside the chamber. The size of these chambers is a real testimonial to the engineering skills of the people. B...

A bit of a slog but we made it to Trim. The inn where we stayed was a maternity hospital in its previous life.  We stopped for a pint at Sally’s - A lot of young guys and not the most welcoming feeling (very unusual for our time here). We pushed on - picking up some carrots at the ALDIs and then doing a stroll around the town of Trim. Trim is built around the Trim Castle - The largest Norman castle in Ireland - Literally across the street from where we’re staying. I was very charmed by how quaint Trim is… Of course on our stroll we saw many ruins - they’re everywhere in this town. A cathedral from 1206… There’s a tomb in it that is known as “the jealous man and woman” because they’re not touching. The other interesting thing is that people believe these two can cure warts. The rub a pin (or something) on the wart and then leave it on the tomb. As the pin rusts the wart will go away. We also explored a medieval hospital. And crossed the oldest working bridge in Ireland. And stopped ...