After another breakfast at the hostel, Meg and I continued on our tourist streak and went to Dublinia-a Viking museum. It was another very well organized museum with lots of cool information and exhibits to explore. I learned that Vikings never wore horned hats, but rather those were part of a ceremonial process from a time before the Vikings. I learned about their trading, plundering, religious views, markets and ways of life and really enjoyed my time in the museum. At the end, I learned about the archaeological process by which people discover information from the past. Well done, Dublinia!
Meg and I got an early lunch after the museum and Café Brick House where we got scrambled eggs and I got Bailey’s cheesecake. I got a strange look when I asked for both, but the cheesecake definitely hit the spot. SO delicious.
We walked back to the Dublin Castle again to get a better look at the gardens around it. The garden is very simple, yet very beautiful. It made for some great photographs and was one of the prettiest scenes in Dublin with the differing architecture behind it and the cool white granite making up the garden structures.
After the garden tour, I went to the Chester Beatty Museum. I’m still not entirely sure what the collections consisted of, but I do know that the collections were some of the most intricately painted and designed folios I’ve ever seen. A very nice museum worker told us that the paintings were painted with molten 24 karat gold with a brush that can only be made with the hair from the chin of a Siamese cat. I got to use a magnifying glass to look at the detail, sometimes as small as written Farsi on the gem of a necklace about the size of a pin head. While I still can’t really place the folios in context, they were extremely beautiful and I’m so glad I went to that museum! At the top of the museum, there was a garden and we could get a great view of the garden below!
Meg and I walked from the museum through Grafton Shopping area to St. Stephen’s Green. The Grafton Street consisted of street performers and high end shopping. It was alive with people milling around and was very fun to walk through. There was such a striking contrast between the frenzy of Grafton St. and the serenity of St. Stephen’s Green. We walked under Fusilier’s Arch and immediately everything was quiet and calm. There was a beautiful pond with swans and then beautiful gardens more centrally located. We sat down for a while to just relax and appreciate the calmness amidst our busy weekend.
Next on our tourist checklist, we walked in the rain again, (thanks Dublin!) to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was slightly out of the way but well worth the walk. It was a gorgeous cathedral and very impressive. We huddled under a tree waiting for the rain to stop, and managed to snap some pictures in front of the cathedral.
We continued walking and went back to Christ Church Cathedral to go inside. The church was so peaceful and I got to go into the crypt beneath. It had been converted into a mini museum and smelled very moldy and old. After wandering around that cathedral, we got an early meal at the Copper Alley Bistro (one of the best meals I’ve had since here: garlic mashed potatoes and chicken!) and then headed back to the airport for our evening flight. The travel back was relatively uneventful and it felt so nice to get into bed after the extremely tiring, but AMAZING, weekend!
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