The road trip begins……

After a quick breakfast in the hotel, back on the HOHO bus for another day touring Dublin. Its been raining most of the time, not hard but a steady rain just enough to keep the hoods up and the cameras covered. Still, we’re in Ireland where people don’t look at you funny when you say hello or push by you without a glance or acknowledgment. Life is a little more personable here and although everyone is hurrying to their jobs, they’re still very friendly.

Our tour today picks up at Trinity College, home to the Book of Durrow and the more well known, Book of Kells. The Book of Darrow is the oldest illustrated pocket gospel book in existence, predating the Book of Kells by almost a century. Written sometime around 650-700AD, the book has many illustrations but due to its size these are limited.

The Book of Kells, on the other hand, was created around 800AD and is a masterwork of Insular illumination.  Originally the book consisted of 340 “folios” but was re-bound numerous times and now consists of four volumes of which 2 are on display at Trinity college every day. The illustrations and lavish text are as much a work of art as they are the word of the Gospel.

And as for the gospel, next stop was St. Patrick’s cathedral and a guided tour.  St. Patrick’s, declared a “church” not cathedral because Crist Church Cathedral is  the official “diocese” of Dublin, both are identified as part of the Church of Ireland and as such, Protestant.

The tour was informative and at times entertaining. One of the displays is the “Door of Reconciliation”.  The door is about 520 years old and use to protect St. Patrick’s Chapter House. Then one day in 1492, it became famous. You see, two families, the Ormonds and the Kildares, were having a bit of a feud when one member blamed for the fighting, Black James, ran into the Chapter house to hide. Followed closely by archers who swore to make him look like a porcupine, Mr. James had nowhere to go.

Enter the Earl of Kildare and wanting to put an end to the fighting, he proposed something quite unusual. Asking James to come out was a non-starter, James thought he would just be slaughtered so he refused. The Duke decided that he needed to show good faith so he had his men cut a hole in the door and told James he would stick his arm through the hole so they could shake on a truce. If he lied, James could simply cut off his arm. Well, it worked. James was convinced and the Duke, later known as lefty, was at peace with the Ormonds.  True story.

Only so much gospel one can take and then you have to eat. Finished our tour and headed down to Brazen Head, Dublin’s oldest pub, serving hangovers since 1198. Good pub food and a chance to dry out a bit before heading to Guinness Brewery for the tour and a pint.

Collette & Sue

Lori & Russ

Entry into the Brazen Head pub

The river Lifey

Russ & a suit of armor (Russ is on the left)

Now just what we needed, lots of food, a couple of pints so off to a brewery! I think my plan to lose a few pounds while travelling is not going to work.

The Guinness brewery tour is a self-guided tour through their original brewing facility. As enter, the original lease, for 9,000 years with an annual fee of 45GBP per year, is located under glass in the floor. Pretty good bargaining by Arthur Guinness back in 1759! Art leased the 4-acre property and began expanding his already running brewery. Brewing beer wasn’t the only thing on Art’s mind, Ain 1791 he married Olivia Whitmore (who had a 1,000GBP dowry) and proceeded to expand his hobbies. Olivia had 21 children during their marriage of which 10 survived. Yeah I know, that’s a lot of ……kids. Not even close to the record. A young man named Feodor Vassilyev, a Russian peasant, married and no joke, had 69 children with his first wife, 67 were said to have survived. He then re-married and had an additional 18 children with wife #2. Feodor fathered a total of 87 children! This was back in the 1700’s, thank God we grew up with TV!

Chris, Sue, Russ & Lori

Wow, really got off track there. Since Collette and I had done the tour several times, we ascended to the Gravity Bar at the top of the building for some great views of Dublin and a wee pint of Guinness. And that my friends is the end of Day 2……

Next on the tour was our drive to Blarney via Tipperary (a long way) and a small town called, “Cahir”. Did the photo op thing in Tip and then moved on to Cahir for Lunch at the Shamrock Café. We had lunch there on our first trip to Ireland and decided it was good enough for a pint and a steak & Guinness pie. If you’re wondering why Cahir, they have a wonderful castle right in the middle of town. Quite famous in its own right but most recently it was used in the movie, “Excalibur”. Fun castle but no where to plant a kiss so on to Blarney.

Blarney was our destination for the night so I dropped everyone off at the castle and went to our hotel, Muskerry Arms Inn to check in. Quaint little pub with a nice fireplace, good pints and the usual pub grub. After unloading the van, I walked over to the castle to meet up with the clan when there was quite a ruckus coming from the castle grounds. It was Chris and he was steaming mad. Apparently the castle management didn’t appreciate or allow “tongues” which Chris said then it was no proper kiss! Last time I ever serve as tour guide!

Time for dinner, drinks and a good nights sleep before heading off to the Cliffs of Moher and Clifden.

Cheers, mate.