Dublin on Jet Lag

At long last, I'm getting around to blogging about our Irish road-trip!  Life has been so busy, but I've got some spare moments so I'll start with Day 1.  We arrived, exhausted, in Dublin on Sunday morning.  We'd had an overnight flight, so I had taken a sleeping pill on the plane, but that doesn't guarantee I sleep, just make it more likely.  I was able to doze on and off, but Heather didn't have the same luck (and she's usually able to sleep anytime).  Thankfully our Aer Lingus flight had in-seat entertainment so she could watch movies or listen to music.  We caught the shuttle to our hostel and were able to enjoy some breakfast (provided by the hostel) and drop off our bags before heading out to explore (we couldn't check in because it was too early).  We headed out to see Trinity College & their Library, St. Stephens Church, and Christ Church Cathedral.  Our hostel was very near Trinity College so we started there first.  After determining that you cannot gain access to the library with out paying to see the Book of Kells (which we didn't care that much to see), we decided (as was suggested to us) to come back a little after lunch to the tour as it was usually not as busy then.

Heather was definitely the navigator on this trip.  Obviously I am capable of figuring out where I'm going with a map, but it's certainly not my forte, and takes me quite awhile to do.  It was nice to just hand her the map and say, "ok how do we get there? "  We did manage to get to find Dublin Castle and Christ Church Cathedral, but we decided we'd rather not pay to go inside either of them.

Dublin Castle

Since it was a Sunday there were evening services that we could attend which would get us into the churches for free (I learned that trick on one of my previous European trips).  We decided we'd go to the service at St. Patrick's Cathedral, but had a few hours to kill before that happened.  A stop for coffee, we were in desperate need of caffeine by this point in the day, and then back to Trinity college for the tour.  It was 13€ for the tour and admission to the library, which seemed a bit steep, it was a great, albeit brief, tour.  The guides are all students at the college, and our guide was a soon to be graduate who majored in English Literature; he was quite funny which always make a tour more enjoyable.  The library was beautiful, but apparently the reason most people visit the library is because it houses the Book of Kells.  I'll admit I did not find it all the fascinating, or impressive, but it is neat to see how God preserves His Word down through the ages.  

With our tour finished we decided to head back to the hostel to check in and maybe get a quick power nap.  We then hurried back to St. Patrick's and although we were late they still let us in.   

 

 The choir was amazing and I wouldn't have enjoyed visiting near as much without them.  It just feels right to visit a church during a service and to hear a Gregorian chant or some type of song, sung by a choir, while taking in an old cathedral.  After the service, the rest of our evening was rather uneventful: a grocery store run, cooking dinner and then a wander along the river just chatting.

armor (noun)

1.  any covering worn as a defense against weapons.
2.  the outer, protective wrapping of metal, usually fine, braided steel wires, on a cable.

Read about Day 2 here.