Zzickle's
Trip to Ireland

7/29/04, Thursday

My first views of Ireland as we landed at Shannon International, where I had a 1.5 hr wait before taking off again for Dublin.

7/30/04, Friday

No photos today - spent the day planning for the weekend.

7/31-8/2, Saturday thru Monday

The first Monday of August is a holiday in Ireland, so we rented a car and spent the weekend sightseeing. Photos and journal are posted separately.

/ SATURDAY / SUNDAY / MONDAY /

8/3/04, Tuesday

No photos today - stayed in, worked on all the photos taken over the weekend, made a list of things to see and do around downtown Dublin.

8/4/04, Wednesday

Rode the bus into Dublin City Center today and visited the National Museum of Archaeology & History (artifacts from prehistoric Ireland through Ireland's independence from England) and the National Museum of Natural History (lots of taxidermy and a few fossils). I looked around and didn't see any signs that said 'No Photos', so I took two of the Giant Irish Deer skeletons at the front of the Natural History museum, at which point I found out that photos *aren't* allowed. After much hunting, I finally found a few small signs stating so - one over in the stairwell leading to the second floor, and another on the door that I came in, which I didn't see because I was too busy trying to avoid a family with small children and strollers. They should make their signs easier to spot. Oh, well.

Eventually, I discovered the shopping areas of Grafton street, where vehicles aren't allowed, although apparently horse carriages are... I wandered around there for a while, but didn't really see anything that I HAD to buy, so eventually I made my way back up to O'Connell street and caught the bus back to UCD.

8/5/04, Thursday

Went to the Dublin Zoo today. It's not a very large zoo, and I'm not sure it was worth the €10 to get in, but it was an okay way to spend a morning.

(Zoo photos posted separately HERE.)

From the zoo, I walked through Phoenix Park, past a very tall monument to *something* (I didn't cross the street to find out what), and back along the River Liffey toward the city center.

As I was walking along the river, I saw the Christ Church Cathedral and decided to do one of the "Walks Around Medieval Dublin" that I had a pamphlet for. Since it was late afternoon, I decided to do the shortest of the 3 walks, which took me past the Cathedral, and around to St. Audoen's Church, the only medieval church (retaining any original features) that is still in use within the city of Dublin.

Right next to St. Audoen's Church is a section of the original city wall, built in 1240 AD, according to the plaque above the arch walkway leading up to the church.

The walk led me back around to the Christ Church Cathedral, at which point I decided not to do the other routes today and headed for Trinity College to catch the bus back to UCD.

8/6/04, Friday

No photos today - washed laundry in the morning, then worked on photos/webpages and visited the computer lab to check email and upload Ireland stuff to my website (through 8/1/04).

8/7/04, Saturday

Visited the Dublin Horse Show today with Sarah. This show is apparently on par with going to Wimbledon, at least for people who enjoy watching stadium jumping.

(Photos of horses jumping things are HERE.)

On the way back from the horse show, we found some blackberry bushes (on public property). Luckily, I had a sandwich bag in my backpack, and we were able to collect at least 8 cups worth of berries. The cobbler that we made the next day was delicious!

8/8/04, Sunday

No photos today - we didn't return to the horse show because it was rainy all morning. It was still drizzly when Sarah and I ventured out to do some grocery shopping so that we would have the ingredients to make a cobbler from the berries we'd picked the night before. We ended up making a big dinner with lamb, asparagus, carrots and potatoes, homemade croissants, and of course, the blackberry cobbler (with vanilla ice cream) for desert. Yum!

8/9/04, Monday

Worked on these pages for awhile in the morning, then took the bus into City Center. Did some shopping, then wandered up the river to finish the other two "Walks Around Medieval Dublin". I walked around Dublin Castle, took a photo of the Record tower next to the chapel, then entered the Dubh-linn Garden, which, according to the tour pamphlet, "is all that remains of the historic 'black pool', which gave Dublin its name. The monastery, probably suppressed by the Vikings in the 9th century, was located somewhere on the bank of this pool." The pool no longer exists, but there was a pretty fountain there.

The rest of the walking tours were up and down streets that used to have medieval markets along them. I ended the day with a photo of a 'surviving medieval lane' alongside the Christ Church Cathedral, and then it was back to UCD to pack for the flight home.