More of Dublin and back to Cork

Monday, June 22, we woke up, grabbed some Starbucks, and started our day. We went by Christ Church Cathedral. It was really beautiful. The catacombs were the most interesting part. I liked looking at all the old memorials, tombs, and old ancient stuff. They had a mummified cat and rat that we found in the organ pipes.
Then we walked down to another cathedral that was really beautiful. I think it was the oldest cathedral in the city. The greatest thing about all these cathedrals is that they still hold services. I can't imagine going to chuch in a place like this. It would be a different experience all together.

We walked a little father down and there we were -- Guinness. Incredible. And I don't even like beer. The Guinness Storehouse is Ireland's #1 tourist attraction. And they have made it really cool. There are over 7 stories of really neat stuff. We stopped at the tasting bar and again at the cafe for Bailey's and Guinness muffins. And at the end of the tour, at the top of the building, is the Sky Bar. It is a huge round glass bar far above the rest of the brewery that gives you incredible views of the city. And they give you a free pint of Guinness while you're up there. It's pretty incredible.

After we did the Guinness tour, we caught a hop-on hop-off bus and took a tour of the city. We saw some really cool stuff and learned a lot of things we didn't know. Check out our pictures on facebook to see some pretty cool stuff. The great thing about places like Dublin is that they are so old and full of history, there is so much to do and look at and learn about. And everyone that lives there is so excited to share their heritage with anyone who wants to learn. I like that a lot.

We ate dinner and walked around a little bit more. And then we headed back to the hotel room because all that running around had us pretty much worn out.

Tuesday, June 23 was our two year anniversary. Since the 2nd anniversary is the cotton anniversary, Andrew and I sported our new 100% cotton coats around Dublin. We took the tour bus to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was really pretty and peaceful. We learned a lot and saw some really cool old flags.

Then we stopped by Houston Station and checked the train times and prices so we could start planning our trip to Cork the next day.

After that we stopped at the History Museum. They have a really great Irish and British military exhibit. It's a shame we weren't allowed to take pictures there because there were so many cool things that I know my nephew would have loved to see -- tanks and cars, uniforms, guns, knives, and secret weapons. I wish we had an exhibit like that back home. It was free too. They also had an exhibit called the "Dead Zoo" of stuffed animals, birds, fish, even things from space like a meteorite and a moon rock. It was all really interesting. I liked the dinosaur skeleton.

We walked around down by Grafton St. some more looking for really cool things to bring back to people but didn't find what we were looking for. Then we went out to eat at a place that was supposed to have pretty good pizza. But whoever said that lied. It wasn't very good at all and really overpriced. That's the thing about food over here -- it's all extremely expensive. And not very good. I haven't had anything yet that was worth what we've paid for it.

We did go out for some ice cream after dinner though and that was really good. I got a raspberry sorbet with raspberry sauce and Andrew got pralines and creme.

We went back to the hotel then and confirmed our train tickets, packed, and went to bed early since we had to get up early to catch the 8:00a train.

Wednesday, June 24, we woke up early, checked out, and hauled all our stuff down to Heuston Station where we caught the 8:00a train to Cork. At Mallow we had to get off and change trains because something had happened to the engine of our train and it wasn't working anymore. But we still got into Cork around 11:00 and it wasn't a very far walk to the apartment.

We had lunch, caught up, and used the internet to update our facebook photo album from the last couple of days. Then we took a city bus to one of the parks, walked across the river, and up to the old city jail. We took a tour of it and learned some interesting things. It was neat to be able to see the inside of it. It's hard to believe the things people got put in jail for back then -- people served several months for public intoxication or for stealing food or cloth. And a lot of the poor would break the law just so they could get arrested and put in jail because as awful as the conditions were in there, it was worse outside those walls. At least in there you were guaranteed a roof, food, and even just a little bit of warmth. It was kind of sad to hear the stories of the people that passed through that place and then just disappeared.

We came back around dinner time and had an incredible dinner that Sophia prepared: pork chops, asparagus, salad, rolls, olives, and feta cheese. Then we took a walk around town and got some ice cream. I think the strawberry shortcake ice cream that I got just might be the best thing I have ever tasted. It was so good. We will most definitely be getting more before we leave.