Live from Dublin, It's Saturday Night!

So I had been in Dublin for two days when 80 got here mid-afternoon Friday on a bus from Cork.

After she arrives we drop her gear with mine at our location of choice. We're staying at Four Courts Hostel, a cheerfully irreverent "little" place directly across from Four Courts, just a block from the Temple Bar district. It's a sprawling multi-story complex, with funky murals of travelers and little green men on the walls, a leprechaun named Seamus that guards the left luggage room, and decent rates for hostel beds (breakfast and linens included), even for a weekend, in the notoriously pricey isles.

Dublin has treated me well the two days I was here before 80 arrived, and with the exception of the confusing and MAPLESS bus system (grr) I know my way around pretty well.

After we deposited our stuff, we hopped the 31B bus (we had hoped to use the DART, but it's being "upgraded".) out to Howth, a tiny fishing town in the cliffs on a nearly-island peninsula north east of Dublin. From there we walked to the summit and then enjoyed the hiking trails among the glorious rocky cliffs. Very typical Irish scenery and a pleasant place for a late afternoon meal, which we had in a tree, since it was just wet enough to discourage us from sitting on the ground among the grass and heather. As dark fell we caught the bus back to town and walked around the Temple Bar district a bit before heading for bed and a full following day. 80 says: 26 hours will make anyone tired. I say: it's true; she slept the sleep of the dead. I had a helluva time waking her the next morning. (No washcloths were harmed in the making of this blog).

We awoke late this morning (Saturday) and did a little shopping, then headed down to Christ Church and St. Patrick's cathedrals. We had a lovely time and got to see some really amazing artifacts, including the plate set that King William III gave to Christ Church to celebrate his victory at the Battle of the Boyne, and the grave of Jonathan Swift, who served as Dean of St. Patrick's for many years, and is buried in the cathedral's floor.

After we left St. Patrick's, we headed for St. Stephen's Green, a lovely little park south of Trinity College, and had a nice packed lunch. Then we walked our way from there up bustling Grafton Street, watching the buskers and window shopping as we wound our way towards Trinity College.

We gained access to the campus through the west entrance into the incredibly peaceful and quiet square of Trinity College. The many stone buildings of the academic center are placed so closely together, and the entrance so small in the middle of a building itself, that the ring creates an architectural sound suppression system that smothers all the city noise. You don't realize just how amazingly oppressive the sound level is in a city until it is suddenly and startlingly removed, and that passage is one of my favorite places in all of my travels in Europe now.

At Trinity we spent an hour in the library exhibit for the Book of Kells, "Turning Darkness into Light", an entire exhibit devoted to the illuminated manuscripts and their origins and methods of creation. It was a fascinating place and we had to be nearly shoved out of the building when they closed at 5. On the way out we lingered briefly in the Long Hall for a moment, enthralled by the amazing collection of books and the wonderful 'old book smell' that we both love so much. I have always found that to be one of the most appealing non-food related scents, and since the Long Hall's many shelves were completely filled with over 200,000 volumes by 1860, its hallowed spaces are permeated by the smell of aged knowledge and timeless classics.

After Trinity College we headed back and grabbed a quick nap to restore our weary bodies (walking and trying to stay warm in the misty, windy streets took more out of us than we expected), then headed back out for dinner (Chinese fast food - totally non-Irish, but we were both craving it) and now we've stopped here (Chill-Out Cafe)to conduct a little bank business and update before we go out for a round of drinks at a traditional pub, then head for bed, since 80 has a very early bus to catch.