Dublin is Doublin'

Dublin is an awesome city. I am really really having a good time here. we took the hop on (clap clap) hop off (clap clap...oops, wrong song) bus today, and the bus drivers are the tour guides, and they are all really funny. I am telling you, there is humor infused in this country. I think they have to lighten the mood because the great patriotic thing to say here is 'be willing to die for Ireland' instead of 'be willing to live for Ireland'. haha. it is the land of martyrs. we rode through the entire tour, hopping off at Christchurch, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Guiness factory, and Trinity college.

I have some nice pictures of both cathedrals. both of them are protestant. this is ironic 1) because Dublin is mostly Catholic, 2) because St Patrick was Catholic. the driver said that they didnt have any catholic cathedrals because no archbishop has ever asked the pope to have one here. apparently the archbishop could ask to have christchurch revoked, so it could be catholic, but they just haven't gotten around to it.

the Guiness Factory was really fun too. it didnt smell all hoppy like most breweries. and they had a nice self-guided tour to tell you how they make it. Arthur Guiness founded the company back in 1759 and he signed a 9000 year lease for the site of the brewery! that is confidence right there. so far so good for the company. Benjamin Guiness paid for the renovation of St Patrick's Cathedral and in general Guiness has been good to Dublin. the driver told us jokingly that they drink 3 million pints of guiness a week in Dublin, not because they like it, but because they feel they owe the Guiness family back for all they have done. it is a civic duty! we got a sample, and a free pint of Guiness at the factory. it is an incredibly smooth beer. but, woe alas, I do not like it. I wish I did. it would be really cool to drink guiness in ireland, but I just can't do it. the Jameson Distillery is here too, and they have whisky tasters. you get picked from the audience to try a bunch of different whiskies, but, I don't think I am going to that. we will see if I have time.

after the factory we went back to the bus and got off at trinity college to see the Book of Kells. it was a fun exhibit because it told all about how illuminated manuscripts were made, and they had blown up photos of the intricate pictures in the book. even the designs of the first letters of every paragraph were amazing and so complex. must have taken forever to make the book. there were four scribes and three illustrators working on it when it was created. I guess if you are a monk, you dont really have much else to fill your time with, so why not make beautiful copies of the bible?

after the Book of Kells you are led into the Long Room in the Trinity Library. Oh. My. God. this room is unbelievable! not only is it, indeed long, but it is two stories of old old old leatherbound books! with ladders everywhere to reach the upper most books. it is classic! it is quintessential library. coolest thing ever. (wow, after typing that I realized I am the biggest nerd ever. geez, I think libraries are cool. ugh)

as I have said before, one of the best things about Dublin is that all the souvenir shops have the same price for everything. the tourism center actually even has things for less. thank you tourism center. I love you. any souvenirs I buy in Ireland are coming from that place. so much cool stuff the only thing stopping me from buying everything is my oh so limited space in my suitcase. I did however, buy a guiness t-shirt. I know, I am awesome!

the weather has been amazing here! the sun doesnt feel like it is burning off your skin, and there is always a cool breeze. I have heard there may be storms coming in soon though. like tomorrow. and it will bring us back to temperatures in the 60s, down from the 70s of this last week. I know you are all pitying me for sure. haha.
it is also weird being so northern on the globe. the sun doesn't set until around 10:30 here. and in scotland it will be even later. the bad part is that with all this extra daylight, the stores and restaurants don't stay open any later. it doesn't seem like anything is ever open. they are big into business hours here, and then everything shuts down.

the world cup starts tonight. our bus driver told us that Ireland was really disappointed not to make it into the world cup, and it hurts them deeply that they may have to root for England. he told us that Ireland has adopted the Ivory Coast as its team because their flag is just like the Irish flag, except the order of the colors are reversed. I think that is an excellent reason to cheer on a team. I can't wait to go to a pub this week and watch the games. England plays tomorrow.

I wish I could get pictures up for you all, but the computers available to me just wont have any of that. depressing I know. if I can get pictures in Scotland then you will all be innundated with ireland pictures for my first couple days in Edinburgh. haha. or I may just edit these past entries and insert pictures. I will keep you posted.

I am doing a day trip to Galway tomorrow, and get home late. so probably no post tomorrow. sorry. Sunday I do a day tour of the countryside and we get to see mountains and lakes and it is the area that Braveheart and King Arthur were shot. so, getting some breathtaking photos there...not that you will get to see them though. silly computers.