Another Fun Day in Dublin

We took the LUAS (light rail train), which is basically outside our house, into Dublin this morning.  We are not up to driving into Dublin and there really isn't any reason to with the tram so handy to the house.

Our first objective was to go to the Irish Writers Center to see a 50 minute performance called "A Titter of Wit".  You can see the room it was presented in to the right here.  The audience had only 7 people in it.   The show consisted of songs, poems and scenes from Irish literature acted out by two actors.  They were really superb.

I snuck the picture below during the performance but got so mesmerized afterwards that I forgot to try to take any more.  The show was very funny and the Irish accents just lovely.

 Then we walked back through town to the National Museum of Archeology and History.  It was interesting but a little overwhelming.  We did enjoy the exhibit on the Vikings and how they set up shop here in Dublin. 

We also learned a lot about bogs and how they preserve things (like books and human bodies) for hundreds and thousands of years.  They have dug all sorts of stuff out of the bogs including a man who died 2500 years ago.  He still had skin and hair and whiskers.  Amazing.  Apparently there isn't enough oxygen in the bog to allow things to decay.

The museum starts at prehistoric times - about 10,000 years ago.  (See canoe dugout to the left.) and continues on from there through about 1800.  The building it was in was specially built to house the museum and it was spectacular all on its own.

National Museum of Archeology and History, Dublin

Then we went to Number 29 Georgian House.  It is a townhouse that has been beautifully restored to its 1800 splendor.  (Sorry, no pictures allowed.) They really made it come alive.  It was fascinating and our guide was very lively telling us all kinds of interesting things about the people who lived there.  The layout of the house reminded me greatly of the row house we lived in in England when I was eleven.  Brought back lots of nice memories.



Dublin has beautiful doors. We walked by many today on our way to various places.  Most are nicely maintained.  Parts of town like this, you can't really tell that your are in Ireland instead of England.

The train ride home was very crowded.  We got talking with numerous people, including a nice young woman who had spent a summer at Cape Cod.  What a small world it is sometimes.

Everyone here has been so friendly and everything has felt very personal and personable - not mass produced tourist stuff.   Very nice.

Tomorrow some friends arrive to spend the next week with us.  I imagine we will see more of the significant sites in Dublin (Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, etc) while they are here.  We have been trying to seeing what you might call the "second tier" attractions.  I'm not at all sure I will be able to find the time to do the blogging but we can hope.