Dublin

Sorry I didn't blog last night but by the time I had got home and dealt with the urgent business stuff it really was bed time. I had meant to look up the name of the ship as my Irish expert sent it to me, but I didn't so keep an eye on the comments. I just thought it was pretty and worth sharing again.

On Monday we plotted a route to take in all the most commonly suggested sights. We started at Dublinea. We had planned to start with Christ Church but if you do it the other way around you get to walk over the enclosed bridge which I fancied. Dublinea is currently undergoing a lot of work but the Viking section is not being worked on. I thought it was a neat little museum and the information was put across well. There are lots of interactive sections which I always like.

The best feature was probably the tower though. I do like my towers. This one has an awful lot of stairs. It's a modern square spiral, which makes it easier to climb in my opinion. From the top you get a panoramic view of the city. It is quite impressive. I love the backdrop of hills to one side. I think it is also the best view you can get of Christ Church. I was very pleased we came through the bridge. It has lovely stained glass windows. I think they may well inspire some new quilting patterns.

The cathederal is also a great source of quilting inspiration. The floor is fantastic. I don't know if I managed photograph all the tiles, but I certainly tried. The columns were very pretty. I also like the higher windows, they have lovely shapes. Pillar wise I have been spoilt recently by Prague. I think I might be on pillar overload. This is one of the few cathederals I have visited where there is good access to the crypt. I am a huge fan or crypts. This one has a tomb with an iceburg on it. It looks amazingly modern and yet isn't. There were also costumes there from the series the Tudors down there as some of the scenes were filmed in the cathederal. The crypt was used for tavern scenes and torture chambers.

From here we headed down the hill to Dublin castle. As we didn't want to wait for a guided tour we only looked around the chaple. I say only, but boy it's good. I hope I might be able to post a panorama of it, but as I used my phone I have no idea how well it will come out. It had the most amazing ceiling. I really hope my pictures come out well. The camera ran out of battery so we were relying on my phone. I think I liked it more than the cathederal. The ceiling was just like nothing I've seen before.

By the time we had pulled ourselves away from the chapel lunch was overdue. I wanted to get steak and chips. We quickly worked out that the tourist area is not the place to buy lunch. On the advice of some very nice Garda (I am told they are all very polite and helpful, I tend to believe) we ended up in Flannigans opposite the spike (I like it, sorry). It claims a warm Irish welcome, which I am not convinced it had. Mostly overworked really. However the food was very good and when there were problems they were dealt with quickly and politely. Price wise, it was about equivelent to London but the quality was much better. Irish cow is very nice. In fact all the meat we had was good. I was particularly liked the sundae. On the whole I don't like either chocolate or strawberry ice cream but these tasted exactly like astronaut ice cream. It was very odd having cold wet ice cream that tasted like the freeze dried stuff.

After lunch we headed for Trinity college. I hadn't wanted to pay 9 Euros to see the book of the Kells. Then I found out that it also gave us access to the long library. I am so glad it does, as actually the book of Kells was lovely. I hadn't appreciated the level of detail it had in it. They also have a fascinating video on bookbinding. I really want to have a go at it now. I wish it had been available as a dvd. The long library though was the most amazing place. So many books, and such beautiful architecture. I wish I could have stayed there longer, but there was a flight that I really had to get. The good news was there was no waiting around at the airport. The bad news was they had brought our flight forward an hour and we only just made it. On the whole BMI was very good to fly with. They did move the flight times a lot, and their in flight exchange rate is robbery, but they were great for luggage regulations. So that's your lot for now on Ireland. I will see if I can upload some more images if I get some time at home. I really loved this trip. I can't wait to come back. It also reminded me I need to get a plan to go to Scotland again too.