Dublin From A Tourist´s Point Of View

From the day I arrived in Dublin I´ve been doin it how the locals do it. Going to hole in the wall pubs, shopping in European stores, not seeing the monuments and touristic parts of the city-until yesterday. Joan and I actually woke up before eleven for a change and decided to take the city tour. These city tours are pretty brilliant because they drop you off at a location and another bus comes every 10 minutes so you can stay as long as you want and be sure to have another bus coming to get you whenever you want. The tour ends at 5 but your ticket is good for 24 hours.

We skipped a few stops (there are 23 total) because we had passed a couple of those places before or just weren´t interested. The first place we stopped was Christ Church Cathedral, it is a gorgeous church, breath taking really, but Joan and I refused to pay €8 a person so we peeked in and it was very beautiful on the inside as well. We skipped the bus and walked over to St.Patrick´s Cathedral. This was even more beautiful but it was undergoing renovations. We didn´t pay here either and saw as much as we could before the ticket line started. Next was the Guinness Store House. This was huge and a beer lovers dream. The tour wasn´t to long and at the end you get a free pint of Guinness Beer. Not my favorite so Joan drank 2.

The next place was the Kilmainham Gaol Prison in Dublin.
"This is one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Europe. It covered some of the most heroic and tragic events in Ireland´s emergence as a modern nation from the 1780s to the 1920s."
(OPW Dublin)

This Gaol housed some famous characters in history such as Joseph Plunkett and his wife Grace Gifford, Robert Emmett and Charles Stewart Parnell. It was so interesting to see the jail cells and the history that these people left for us to witness. Some films were shot at this prison such as the original Italian Job and Boondock Saints.

There were more places to see but we hadn´t eaten all day and the tour was almost over and we just wanted dinner so we went to an American favorite, T.G.I. Fridays. It was ridiculously expensive here but worth it to listen to American music and enjoy some of my favorite foods once again. We walked around town and being as it was Sunday, most of everything was closing down. We walked around the River Liffey and and decided to take the Liffey Cruise very soon.

We wanted to get up early again today but this small bed is taking its toll on our backs. We´re sleeping but not that well, so around 8 a.m. Joan moved to the floor and I enjoyed the space and made an executive decision for us to stay in and get rest instead of going to town early.

It is now 2 p.m. and I am still in bed, Joan is studying and has been for awhile so soon we will go into the city center, go to the cinema, shop around, go to the National Library and finally find out if I´m related in the infamous Molly Malone of Dublin.

Enjoy the states
I´ll be sending a package there soon......
Miss you all!

C.M.