8-9 July: Dublin (evening flight and first day)

We decided to take advantage of Steve having 12 July off from work (for the Northern Ireland holiday for the Battle of the Boyne) and go to Dublin for 5 nights. We flew out on Friday evening and back this morning (Wed 13 Jul). Steve took a little teasing at work for us splurging on airline tickets for what would have been a 3-4 hour drive. But we were glad to be able to arrive Friday evening and stay Tuesday night without Steve having to take Wednesday off. The flights were just 30 minutes. None of us had ever been in such empty planes: there were only 7 passengers on the flight to Dublin and just 4 of us coming back, even though the planes seated 68 and 32, respectively. The customs officer in Dublin told us that often there was only one passenger on the flight!

After arriving Friday night, we took a bus to the hotel, got a quick sandwich for supper, and went to sleep to be ready to get an early start Saturday. On Saturday morning, we walked along the river and through Temple Bar. We then went to Dublinia, a museum about the Viking and Medieval periods in Dublin's history. M loved Dublinia! He took notes for himself, especially about the Viking runic alphabet.

Dublinia is next door to Christ Church, a Gothic church that occupies the same site as the first church in Dublin (c. 1070). I was excited to learn that Christ Church has been used for filming some of the church scenes in "The Tudors" and the wedding costumes worn by Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Henry VIII) and Annabelle Wallis (Jane Seymour) were on display!

We walked back to Temple Bar for lunch and stumbled upon the open air book market. I was tempted to shop the books, but Steve reminded me of the baggage weight limits and I contented myself with photos of books to add to my "to read" list.

Continuing the day's theme, we walked to the National Museum's History and Archeology. M always loves the kids' activity sheets available at European museums and the National Museum's Viking sheet was no exception. His favorite activity was to draw a Viking shield. Finding his favorite object, though, was difficult and Steve and I rested on a bench while he checked back to narrow down the list.

Click here to view these pictures larger

And, to close, here's a shout out to my favorite radio station BBC R2, which just finished playing an "oldies" set that included the Stones' "Paint it Black," America's "Horse with No Name," and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I love that the radio stations here don't stick to a single genre or format. I am discovering, or in today's case, rediscovering lots of great music.