Ireland Day 4 & A Reminder

Day 4 started out as another warm and sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. Our first stop on the tour was St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was beautiful, especially the stained glass windows.



So much detail in each one and there were hundreds. The floor had Celtic designs right in the stone and they just amazed me. Again, so much detail for the entire floor of the cathedral.

The next stop was Trinity College to see the Book of Kells.



I admit I didn't know much about them when I signed up for the tour and I didn't think I'd care either way if I saw them or not, but after learning more about the books and seeing actual pages written so many hundreds of years ago, I was floored. They had a video set up to show you just how they made the books themselves and then another video to show the writing of the books. There were intricate details that blew me away. Oh, what patience it must have taken to put those books together!
The video show the men using a needle to actually sew the spine of the book together. Some of them made tiny dots of color in the paper an equal distance apart to make the letters and fancy designs. I can't even TRACE a straight line!!!

The rest of the day was ours to spend in Dublin as we liked. My friends and I walked around, shopped, ate and shopped some more. I took pictures of the Ha'penny Bridge, which crosses the River Liffey. This one is a picture of the river from the Ha'penny Bridge:



And this is the Ha'penny Bridge from just down the walkway:



It's official name is the Wellington Bridge, but everyone calls it the Ha'penny Bridge because people crossing this footbridge used to have to pay a ha'penny (or half penny) toll to cross it!

I found 2 T-shirts to buy, but I only got one this time. It was green with Ireland written across it in Celtic designed letters. I was kicking myself for the rest of the week for not getting the other one, but I found it in the airport when I left. It said Where's My Pint? in Gaelic. Look for it in Dallas! Most likely you'll see it and me in the bar!

I closed the hotel bar, but I was actually sitting there with my Guinness reading. I'd brought 2 books with me and I was so close to finishing this one. It wasn't as good as I expected, but I was already invested in over 100 pages before I realized that so I finished it.

So ended Day 4.

REMINDER-I guest blogged on Wednesday (June 27) on Mary Alice Pritchard's blog about my time writing in my happy place, the Highlands of Scotland. If you haven't checked it out, do it today and then leave me a comment. Then you'll be entered in the drawing for a Scottish surprise and some books. Odds are good right now. I've only got 3 or 4 names.