Dubh Linn - Part II

Note: I'm realizing it's good I'm blogging as I go, because I'm already three days and two locales behind; I'm sure I would forget things if I put off writing it down until I'm back in the US!

On July 8th, after our early morning's adventures, my travel pals and I stored our bags at the hostel (we were flying to Bristol that night to head for Bath) and made our way to the Tourism Office on Suffolk St. to buy our Dublin Passes.  For  €35 (good for a single day), you get admission into all the main Dublin sights as well as discounts at popular restaurants.  Our first stop was Dublin Castle.  We took a guided tour and learned about the history of Dublin as well as Ireland's relationship with England.  It was rainy and cool, but not teeth chatteringly so.

The Courtyard

Our tour guide

The harp - the symbol of Ireland

A hall in the White House is modeled after this one!

The actual Dubh Linn (Irish for "black pool") where Dublin gets its name.

The Order of St. Patrick's room

The ceiling

 The flags of the Order

The medieval part of the castle

After our tour, we were famished, so we made our way to Bewley's for a late breakfast.  Our Dublin Pass got us free cakes, which we ate after our breakfast.  Barbara and Sidney has a full Irish breakfast, while I enjoyed pancakes with fresh cream and even fresher fruit!  Yum!  Post-cake, we found our way to poor Molly Malone and snapped some photos of her curvaceous self.

 Rubbing the ta-tas for good luck

Hey, girl, hey!

After Molly, we jaunted off to Christ Church Cathedral, which was included in our Dublin Pass and was just beautiful.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Just on the other side of the street and connected by a passage is the Dublinia museum, which talks about Dublin's medieval and Viking past.  It's a good museum for kids, especially because of this guy:

He's having a bit of tummy troubles and the motion activated narration/sound effects really lets you know it.  After some...interesting noises, he demands that you bring him more moss.

My friends and I giggled like 14 year old boys.

Following Dublinia, we were so tired from standing and walking, so we decided to head back to Temple Bar to sit and people watch.  Apparently a very big trend in Dublin lately is jorts with black hose/tights, the more ripped the better.  I'm sure you can gather what I think about that particular trend - ew.

Because we had a plane to catch, we eventually got up and collected our bags to make it to the bus and the airport to head to Bath!

Slán, Dublin!