Kia ora! Hello!

This was already a super quick trip in and out, but with a delayed flight to Dublin it was made even shorter. As frustrating as it was, not much could be done other than try to make the most of what time we had.

With one full day to explore we purchased a Hop On Hop Off ticket to get us around efficiently and learn a bit about the place. We had hopes of squeezing in a trip to Howth but the train line was down, so instead we booked ourselves a ticket to the Kilmainham Gaol.

At the beginning of the tour we hopped off at Trinity College and viewed the Book of Kells exhibition and the Old Library. It was a rather interesting exhibition but viewing the shorts of how books were bound back in the day took me away, it's a real work of art! Then there was the Long Room in the Old Library.... even though 20,000/200,000 (all I remember is it is a lot!) books have been removed from the shelves to be cleaned and cared for to ensure they are preserved, it was still beautiful to see.

We got a wee bit distracted down Grafton St and then there was traffic so we had to bail on our afternoon tour, instead taking up the offer of a free pint of Guinness at Nancy Hands Pub due to our Hop On Hop Off tickets.

Side note - The pub is named after Nancy who owned the pub during a period where the industry was filled by only men. During the famine the pubs had to shut, however through a hole in the wall she continued to serve beer to which earned her the name Nancy Hands as her hands were all you saw.

*Oscar Wilde's statue was impressive, rather interesting position but they used different types of materials throughout which was cool.

*Grafton St, although we never saw Eddy (sad face) there were heaps of buskers to entertain you.

*Trinity College is free but there are tours and exhibitions which I'd recommend.

*The Spire, is an incredibly tall pointy sculpture on the main street - I missed the story behind that one but the height of it is impressive.

*Rotunda Hospital, was the first maternity hospital in Europe which has a round building next to it. This was built as a theatre to help generate income to support the hospital which has proven to be rather successful.

*Guinness Storehouse, the size of that complex!!!!

*The Churches you see everywhere are pretty neat, I love viewing the old churches and their architecture.

Now off to meet Harriet who recently moved to London, for her birthday weekend in Edinburgh. Let the celebrations begin!!

Haere rā! Goodbye!