An Absolutely Amazing Day In Dublin!

Hiya! Today was fantastic! We headed out to Dublin by the Bus Eirann (sort of like a Greyhound bus...except it has an Irish setter on it)...it took about an hour...got to see lovely countryside along the way. We went to the main post office on O Connell Street to ship some boxes...it was a much easier process than what we experienced in Glasgow (only took 15 minutes as opposed to 2 hours waiting in a queue...that's a line by the way). We then picked up the city tour bus (our tickets were good for 24 hours) and got dropped off at Trinity College.   WOW! Can I just say it was so amazing to be walking the grounds of such a prestigious and historical college (it was set into being by Queen Elizabeth...that's the first by the way). We headed to the old library where they have The Book of Kells displayed. Again...let me say WOW! I don't have words to describe what it felt like to view some of the original pages of those manuscripts. The Book of Kells was created by Columban monks on the remote Scottish isle of Iona in the 560's...the pages are intricately made (colorful celtic drawings cover the pages on vellum). It was fantastic to see! THEN we got to stroll thru the halls of archival books...OH MY GOODNESS! rows and rows and rows and floors of old old old old books. AND we got to see the "declaration of independance" for the Republic of Ireland...along with the oldest harp in Ireland. I was at a loss for words as I viewed this stuff.   After we gathered ourselves we walked thru the streets and over to the Guinness Brewery. We got to go thru an exhibit that showed how they make the ale...and THEN we got to have a free pint of the dark stout up in the Gravity Bar at the top of the building (it overlooks the city...spectacular panaramic view of Dublin). That was amazing...to be drinking a pint of Guinness (for free) in Dublin...OH YEAH! The bartender even made a little shamrock on the head of my pint as he poured it. How cool!!   We took a taxi to the Temple Bar district where we found ourselves (at 6pm) in the midst of revelers and street performers. We went into the famous Temple Bar pub and had a pint of Harp (it's a lager) and sat and listened to traditional Irish music being played live. I'm telling you...being Irish, this is like heaven here! My mom was had tears in her eyes as we shared our pint and clapped along with the pub songs. I can honestly say that if we were to do nothing else...it was worth it to be here with my mom sharing these memories like this.   We caught our bus back to Trim at 8:30pm and now we're back at our B&B. It was an absolutely amazing day in Dublin...one to remember for a lifetime!   Tomorrow we will explore the castle ruins of Trim Castle and then head up by car to Cavan. Until my next email...Slainte!!! (that means cheers!)Lisa