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Dublin - Day 9
14 years ago
So today we got off to an eccentric start. That in and of itself was entertaining.
Last night marked the first full night's sleep I've had since we flew over. This was awesome, as I really friggin' needed it by this point.
Enormous bed is enormous, not that I'm complaining, but when you can't find the edge, it gets a bit unnerving.
Anyways!
We started our day with a tram tour, ending at a stop called Jervis. Now, right across from the tram stop, I saw an interesting sign...
National Leprechaun Museum
Well, who wouldn't wonder what went on in there?
Naturally, being a folklore junky, I had to investigate. For about 10 euros, you get a rather entertaining romp through the folklore and storytelling tradition of Ireland.
Our guide was a spunky little thing with a great sense of humour, and she just brought the whole place to life for us.
There were several themed rooms, including one called 'The Giant's Room' where (go figure) everything is enormous in scale. I have an amazing photo of my husband on a huge chair with a huge teacup, which is now my new favorite picture of him. It's on Facebook, for those who care to look, and he'll likely kill me when he discovers this. >.>
Tora, it was SO worth it!
We got to hear a few interesting stories from the young lady running the tour, which was quite a treat, as she was quite a skilled storyteller.
I learned today that leprechauns are always depicted in old stories as wearing red hats, something I hadn't known prior.
I also learned that Walt Disney apparently spent several months in Ireland hunting leprechauns. I'm not shitting you, the man was apparently obsessed, and was legitimately hunting leprechauns. That made me laugh so hard!
After the Leprechaun Museum (yes I still feel odd typing that) we went to Dublinia, which is a look at the Viking and Medieval development of Dublin as a whole. It tied in with Christ Church Cathedral, which was on the whole a lot more interesting.
On a random note, apparently Dublin is pretty strange in that it has three cathedrals in the city's limits. I'm not sure what the average is, per se, but that's a lot of cathedrals.
Christ Church was beautiful, even from the perspective of heathen agnosticism I hail from. Even though I may not be a chuchgoer, I can certainly appreciate the effort and artistry present in a cathedral.
Also, there's a tidbit about the Cathedral that intrigued me quite a bit. Apparently once one of the Archbishops (Saint Laurence O'Toole) died, his heart was deemed a healing artifact and remains in the cathedral. It's encased in an iron heart (the <3, not the thumpy type) and is held in a small chapel on site in an iron cage of sorts. This definitely appealed to my sense of the macabre, and yes, I even took a picture of it.
We had a lovely supper at a nearby pub (which had the absolute best seafood chowder I've ever eaten!) and came back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we're tackling a Botanical Garden and the Dublin Writer's Museum, possibly Moore's street as well.
The crypt was also pretty fun,
Last night marked the first full night's sleep I've had since we flew over. This was awesome, as I really friggin' needed it by this point.
Enormous bed is enormous, not that I'm complaining, but when you can't find the edge, it gets a bit unnerving.
Anyways!
We started our day with a tram tour, ending at a stop called Jervis. Now, right across from the tram stop, I saw an interesting sign...
National Leprechaun Museum
Well, who wouldn't wonder what went on in there?
Naturally, being a folklore junky, I had to investigate. For about 10 euros, you get a rather entertaining romp through the folklore and storytelling tradition of Ireland.
Our guide was a spunky little thing with a great sense of humour, and she just brought the whole place to life for us.
There were several themed rooms, including one called 'The Giant's Room' where (go figure) everything is enormous in scale. I have an amazing photo of my husband on a huge chair with a huge teacup, which is now my new favorite picture of him. It's on Facebook, for those who care to look, and he'll likely kill me when he discovers this. >.>
Tora, it was SO worth it!
We got to hear a few interesting stories from the young lady running the tour, which was quite a treat, as she was quite a skilled storyteller.
I learned today that leprechauns are always depicted in old stories as wearing red hats, something I hadn't known prior.
I also learned that Walt Disney apparently spent several months in Ireland hunting leprechauns. I'm not shitting you, the man was apparently obsessed, and was legitimately hunting leprechauns. That made me laugh so hard!
After the Leprechaun Museum (yes I still feel odd typing that) we went to Dublinia, which is a look at the Viking and Medieval development of Dublin as a whole. It tied in with Christ Church Cathedral, which was on the whole a lot more interesting.
On a random note, apparently Dublin is pretty strange in that it has three cathedrals in the city's limits. I'm not sure what the average is, per se, but that's a lot of cathedrals.
Christ Church was beautiful, even from the perspective of heathen agnosticism I hail from. Even though I may not be a chuchgoer, I can certainly appreciate the effort and artistry present in a cathedral.
Also, there's a tidbit about the Cathedral that intrigued me quite a bit. Apparently once one of the Archbishops (Saint Laurence O'Toole) died, his heart was deemed a healing artifact and remains in the cathedral. It's encased in an iron heart (the <3, not the thumpy type) and is held in a small chapel on site in an iron cage of sorts. This definitely appealed to my sense of the macabre, and yes, I even took a picture of it.
We had a lovely supper at a nearby pub (which had the absolute best seafood chowder I've ever eaten!) and came back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we're tackling a Botanical Garden and the Dublin Writer's Museum, possibly Moore's street as well.
The crypt was also pretty fun,
But this sounds like a hell of a trip!