History 101

On Sunday, me, Jordyn, Katie went on a historic walking tour of Dublin.  The tour was free, and was a school sponsored event so we met up with some of our other friends while we were there.  At first I was a little bit skeptical of the tour, because our tour guide literally went through a full on history of Ireland (and Dublin) while we were standing at an island in the road.  Right behind us some Jamaican street performers were blasting some rasta music and doing some vigorous stretching for what I can only assume is an awesome routine.  However, I couldn't even really hear the tour guide.

We then walked into St. Stephen's Green.  It is a "park" in our sense of the words, and it is across from our beloved St. Stephen's Green Shopping Center.  The park was beautiful.  It was nice to walk around and take pictures.  Of course our tour guide stopped at a statue of James Joyce that was engraved with a line from his work about St. Stephen's Green and started analyzing it. That was about the time I started analyzing how freezing my toes were.  In Buffalo, you know its going to be super cold, so you bundle up, get into your car, and then sprint into the building.  Here, you look at the temperature, see its 40 degrees, think its warm, and then walk around all day losing feeling in your fingers and toes.  

Entrance to St. Stephen's Green

House of the Taoiseach 

Trinity

Trinity

Beautiful Scenery




We then trecked on throughout Dublin.  We got to see the Prime Minister's house.  In Ireland, the Prime Minister is actually called the Taoiseach which is the Irish word.  Another note, do NOT call Irish "Gaelic"  it is politically correct to say Irish.  See, I'm already learning things!

One of the nicest places was Trinity College.  Trinity College is full of old beautiful buildings and pretty fields, but it is in the middle of the city center.  Interestingly, I would not have been able to go to Trinity if I applied 50 years ago, because it was a Protestant only university until 40 years ago.

The Tour ended at Dublin Castle, where they have a geneology center and you can trace your ancestors.  We were all pretty frozen at that point.  Jordyn, Katie, and our friends Lauren, Katie, Kyle, and Kirsten did some quick shopping (shopping is great for warming up in my opinion).  They kept shopping, while Jordyn Katie and I took the bus home and stopped at the groccery store Tesco to stock up on food for lunches.  I got a huge jar of Nutella. Mmmmmmmmmmm.  And some more cider. Cider here is delicious.


All in all it was a lovely day!  ps sorry the pictures are all out order. Technologically challenged.