Day in Dublin and Dalkey

Well, I was very excited for Dublin and it turned out to be a lovely day! After standing outside our lodging to and waiving down the bus for Dublin (and one of them laughing at us because he was apparently closed) we were off to Dublin!

Today was such a whirlwind! When we arrived in Dublin, we met Steve and Ashton who was to give us the architectural tour. We started our tour in Trinity College. Such a beautiful campus! I wouldn't mind picking up a book and sitting outside on that campus. Although it is probably raining a lot for them so they don't get to enjoy it. We passed by the place where the Book of Kells is kept but didn't get to go in. Hopefully if I make it to Dublin this weekend I definitely have to see it! After Trinity we walked around the city, basically in a big inner and outer square. We learned about the Georgian Style window's and about the parliament building and even about how the postal bins have the symbol of King Edward VII when the British were in charge but were painted green when Ireland gained it's independence. (Yes... I took a picture of a postal bin). The cool thing I found within Dublin is we walked into two separate large parks that are in the middle of the city but you don't even feel like they're in the city because the trees surrounding them are tall and the landscaping is so enveloping and beautiful! They are little sanctuary's within the city. When we finished our walking tour we finally got to go to the National Museum of Ireland! Unfortunately, we only had one hour and a 1/2 to go around the museum and it just wasn't enough! I did get to see one of the bog bodies that I've read about! It was pretty fascinating!

After the museum, Steve, wanted to take us to this small harbor town called Dalkey. It was an important site in Medieval times because Dublin harbor was too shallow to allow some of the larger ships in so the cargo would be brought to Dalkey and travel by land to Dublin. Here we visited Dalkey Castle & Heritage Center. It's the remnants of a "castle" but really it's more like a fortified house. It was interesting, they had little re-enactors and we all had a good laugh and I took some beautiful pictures. We also picked up Steve's little 8 year old son Alex. He is a riot! Smart as can be and not afraid to say anything!

From Dalkey Castle we took a hike up Killiney Hill with some of the most scenic views of the east coast of Ireland! I got some beautiful pictures! The hike was long and for a Coloradan, not tough at all, but some of the other girls were a bit tired after wards! We walked down the hill ending ant Killiney Beach and climbing over some HUGE rocks on the beach before making it to the train to take us back to Dublin. Needless to say, for being tired from the hard day of fieldwork yesterday, we were all tired again from walking and hiking, but the view was totally worth it! Can't wait to show you all pictures! I better turn in for the night, one more day of field work this week before I can "take a break". Although, there is a haymaking festival in Trim on Sunday and I have to buy keepsakes sometime in between!

Love to all!!