In Dublin's Fair City....

"We hit the town"

After getting settled in the hotel, we thought we'd take a look at the city and see the sights before coming back to change and go out for the evening. We never made it back to change...

We wandered down the main drag and, with our trusty tourist map in hand, found Trinity College and went in to view the Book of Kells. The display was well set out - enormous reproductions of pages all back-lit with interesting explanations and the history of the book and its contemporaries. When you actually get to see the book itself though, none of the reproductions can really do it justice. The gold and the colours are so vibrant. An incredible piece of history, and an amazing testament to the patience of the scribes (probably four they say) who created it.

We then headed for the National Museum of Ireland - the archaeology department in Kildare Street. Though we only had an hour before closing time, we did get a chance to wander round the main exhibits and in particular the section on the mummified bodies found in the peat bogs. Broth gross and fascinating at the same time, Cathy particularly noticed the amazing colour of the 'leather'. I reckon she fancied a handbag out of one of them. We weren't in there that long and only got to see about half the exhibits. Lunch (yes, it was nearly six) was in order. We found a super little Thai/Chinese style 'express' (read 'Chinese McDonalds) restaurant and ate. A quick beer before going back to the hotel seemed like a good idea too. We found a strange bar on the banks of the Liffy. The bars in the pedestrianised Temple Bar area were all noisy, packed and - to be honest - filled with 18-25 year olds. Our bar, however, was quiet, dingy, and had the smallest toilets you could imagine.