Day 36, August 3, 2012

Well, our time in Ireland is rapidly drawing to a close after five short weeks. Actually, it has been a good long trip and we're thankful to have the opportunity to take such an extended trip. We like to go beyond a rushed trip merely hitting the tourist spots. When we have this kind of time, we can relax a bit and get to meet common, everyday people. It's been a joy in that regard.

We had one day left on our hop on, hop off bus passes so we decided to see some more local sights. Grace had a sore wrist that required medical attention so Nancy stayed with her. The doctors are of the opinion that there is nothing broken. Most likely, it's a sprain. The rest of our party took the bus.

Our first spot was Dublin Castle. There doesn't seem to be much of the original castle remaining so we decided to just view it from the outside. Next, we went in the Chester Beatty Library which is famous for it's collection of New Testament papyri that date back to the second century. They are the oldest New Testament documents in any language. It was amazing to see copies that were made not long after they were originally written.

From there, we went to two cathedrals that, surprisingly, are only a couple blocks apart.  The first one, Christ Church Cathedral, was founded in the 11th century. A Norman, Strongbow, was part of the first English involvement in Ireland toward the end of the twelth century as his reputed tomb is in the cathedral.

We next walked over to St. Patrick's Park before entering St. Patrick's Cathedral. The park is the site of an ancient well where St. Patrick baptized people in the third century. The ccathedral has the tomb of Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels and other notable literary works. He was the Dean of St. Patrick'ss for many years.

After viewing the cathedrals, we totally switched gears and toured the Guinness Storehouse. It's one of the most popular tours in Dublin. It was a self-guided tour on seven floors. It told the story of how Guinness stout is made and the history of the brewery.

We finished the tour, boarded th bus, and eventually made it back to the guesthouse by mid-afternoon to check on Nancy and Grace.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant that was recommended to us, F X Buckley's. It's a well-known steakhouse in Dublin and the food was quite good. Some of us finished off our meal with a desser known as "Eton Mess". It too was quite good.