United Kingdom - Day 13

We have a full day here in Dublin. We got up and had breakfast and then hit the coach with our local specialist. She was funny and informative. We drove around Dublin and she showed us the main town  square. There were artists setting up all around the square who would sell their paintings or sculptures or whatever. Also, they had a statue of Oscar Wilde (who was born and lived in Dublin) sitting on a rock - random, but cool. 

We made a stop to see St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. It was founded in 1191 and is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland. It's 141 foot spire makes it the tallest church (not cathedral) in Ireland and the largest.

Then, we continued our drive through Dublin on our way to the Guiness Storehouse.

This is a crazy big building. Apparently, it is in the shape of a huge Guiness glass of beer, but you really can't tell that from the inside or outside of the building. 

We took a self-guided tour of the building (on several floors). They had information about the Guiness family, the lease (for 99 years) on the building that we were in, information about how they make the beer and why Guiness is different from other beers.

On display was the Guiness Harp, which serves as it's emblem, dates back to 1702. I guess a blind harpist played it. They had a digital type harp as well. Cole really got into playing that one. Silly boy!

Our tour ended up on the top floor - they call it the Gravity Bar. it is a floor to ceiling glass, circular room that offers 360 degree views over the skyline of Dublin. They also give you a complementary glass of Guiness. (We had Diet Cokes.)

After our Guiness Storehouse tour, we had an optional experience of traveling to an ancient monastery called Glendalough. It was about a 40 minute drive, but the drive was gorgeous! Ireland has such beautiful scenery. Our local specialist talked to us the entire drive, telling us about the history of this part of the country, traditions and the story behind the monastery. 

Cole missed most of what the local specialist was telling us because he fell asleep on the ride - he is one tired boy! Reagan decided to catch some pics of him as he woke up :)

Glendalough is set on the most beautiful hillside and valley ever. It is just beautiful! No wonder the monks wanted to reside here to worship. There were remnants of their homes, ruins of a church (with a baptismal font outside), a castle tower and a cemetery. 

Our local specialist told us about all of the buildings. I'm so glad we have these people to educate us. Certainly, just looking around and reading the signs would give us some information about this amazing place, but having a local describe their buildings, their rituals and customs, the significance of certain things.... it was just so wonderful.

After our local specialist gave us all of her information, we had some free time to walk around the estate. It was just stunning - little streams and brooks, beautiful and lush grounds, and historic ruins. There were some gift shops, but we chose to skip those in favor of a trip to the restroom and a scoop of ice cream from a vendor on the property. 

There was a lady playing bagpipes with her eyes closed. It was very nice music. All of us sort of enjoyed it as we walked by, but Cole seemed very taken with this lady. He wanted some money to give her and she opened her eyes right up when he approached with some cash. He is such a nice soul and he feels what others feel sometimes. I love that about him. 

After we drove back from Glendalough, we were dropped off right next to Trinity University in Dublin. We waited in line to get to the library which contained the Book of Kells. It is basically the four gospels contained in the Bible and was copied by hand by monks. There are four books, but only two of them are displayed at a time.

There was an entire exhibit before we saw the actual books that spoke about the history of the Book of Kells, what materials were used to write the books and how long it took. We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the room where the books were. In addition, the light was very low and it was sort of hard to see in there.

After we saw the Book of Kells, we went into this HUGE library. In that library, they had a "facsimile copy" of the Book of Kells. We were able to take a picture of that one - just enough so we could remember what the actual Book of Kells looked like.

Apparently, every book ever published in Ireland has a copy deposited in this library. Certainly, we couldn't see every book; I'm sure that they have other rooms, basement and storage areas for the books. However, the ones that we could see were amazing! So cool to see shelves upon shelves of these books.

After we were done in the library, we had a bit more free time. We walked down the street in Dublin and found a small cafe. We grabbed some muffins and hot cocoa (Cole and Reagan's favorite) and just sat and relaxed for a few minutes. It seems crazy, but we are mad busy when we are on this tour. We go from one thing to the next, trying to fit in as much as possible. We have taken advantage of every "optional experience" they offer because we don't want to miss anything. It was nice, however, to sit for a few minutes.

Later, the coach returned and drove us to our hotel where we got ready and went to a dinner and show in Dublin. The food was good, the music and dancing were great. One of the main singers used to play Jean Val Jean in a theater production of Les Miserables. So, he sang the song Bring Him Home. That's one of Steve's and my favorite songs, so we really enjoyed that.

They had a comedian who was self depricatingly funny. We bought one of the music CDs and the comedian gave us one of his CDs. Love it.

After the show, we headed back to our hotel and hit the sack after another very full day. Up early tomorrow to leave Dublin.

United Kingdom - Day 12

We were up late last night visiting with our friends, but it was so worth it. We had a great time! We were up early to put our bags outside our doors and to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Then, we boarded our coach and went to downtown Chester.

The architecture here is beautiful - traditional Tudor buildings and cobblestone or brick streets with a large, grand, gold clock in the middle of the town. 

Brooke took us on a walking tour through the center of the town and out to where there were some Roman ruins. There was an amphitheater and a church (The Church of the St. John) that was partially standing. It must have been beautiful in it's time.

Brooke then left us and it was up to us to walk back to the coach. There was a beautiful riverwalk that wound through the town. We walked along the river and saw buildings and houseboats and entertainment areas and bridges. What a pretty town. There is also - right where we came into town, a statue of an elephant, representing the friendship between the Chester Zoo with the people of Chester. So cute!

Reagan and I lost Steve and Cole for a bit, but we wound up all back at the coach, so, we were good. Steve had gone into a Boots store (like a drugstore) to get some items, but he and Cole made it back right on time.

What a beautiful city - this is definitely one of our favorites.

I just love these two - can I tell you?

After that, we drove for our lunch stop to a town with the longest city name in the world. Crazy!!! 

We drove into Wales and then got ready for the 3 hour ferry ride over to Ireland. We had been told to bring motion sickness pills. (That's what Steve bought in Boots). Cole, Steve and I took the pills about 30 minutes before we hit the ferry. For this ferry, the bus drove onto the ferry and then we got off the bus and took the stairs to the main part of the ferry. It was an 8 level ferry with a movie theater, several restaurants, a bar, a sunroom/atrium type place, a kids' play area, giftshops and more! Crazy!!! They had free wifi and we ate and walked around a bit and took pics. 

After we had eaten and looked around, we still had half of our journey, but wham....those motion sickness pills kicked in and Steve crashed, Cole crashed and I was super tired. Reagan, who hadn't taken the pills, was wide awake and bustling around the ferry talking to our tour mates and shopping in the gift shop. I stayed awake, but had Cole sleeping with his head on my lap and Steve sleeping in the booth next to us. Funny. After all of that, the ship was really pretty stable - I'm not sure we even needed the pills. Our tour mates, and Reagan, would make fun of us as they walked by. Oh well - like I said... we were up late last night :) 

Once we arrived in Ireland, we had to go back down to the main level and get back on our coach. We were headed off the ramp of the ferry and into the parking lot when the immigration officials came onto our coach and checked everyone's passports. That's fine - we have them.

Then, we drove into Ireland and we had dinner at this interesting place called EPIC. It is a museum about immigration and people who made their home in Ireland. They had exhibits about famous Irish men and women.

They had exhibits about people who came to Ireland and about those who left Ireland, what they did, where they went, how they lived, etc. It was really cool!

After our tour, we had dinner at a little cafe that was inside the "mall" part of EPIC. They closed down just for our group and we had a lovely dinner.

Then, we headed to our hotel in Dublin and hit the sack after another long, but wonderful, day.

Tomorrow, we see more of Dublin with a local specialist.