BigWeather's Blog

Woke up around 6:30am, showered, got ready for the day’s adventure, and had a very light breakfast (basically just croissants and water) at the hotel. We were outside just before 8:30am to wait for our pick-up by EastWest for our tour of the Snæfellsnes peninsula (henceforth known as “the peninsula”).

The van arrived at just before 8:45am. We piled on to the back of the bus and, after several stops to pick up other people, headed east then north out of Reykjavik. It turns out that sitting in the very back may not have been the best idea as whenever we’d hit a bump we’d bounce fairly high and it could be quite jarring. The bus driver was an older gentleman, and quite direct in his communication and wasn’t afraid to drop the occasional curse word or have a bit of lewdness in his stories.

Michelle and I grew pretty acquainted with two of the people in the row in front of us. One was a gentleman named Thor who grew up on the peninsula and was now employed giving tours. Though his day off he was riding this one to get a sense of how other tours operated. Traveling with him was his buddy from Hamburg, Germany. Sadly we don’t remember his name but he was into metal and dressed appropriately (black clothing including a black leather jacket, tattered jeans, and of course tatoos). Thor had moved to Hamburg for a few years and got to know this guy. Eventually Thor decided to move back to Iceland but needed this guy to help quarantine or move or whatever his pets. As payment he came to Iceland with Thor and was enjoying the sights.

As we drove out of the city the rain became more insistent and the clouds clung to the low mountain peaks to our right. About 10:15am we stopped in Borgarnes at a rest stop (not much different from our own highway gas stations with attached food / groceries) for a bathroom break as well as to buy snacks or whatever. We used the restroom and bought some cookies before setting out again around 10:30am. Borgarnes would be the last major town we’d see, from then on it was mostly rural — either not settled or with some small villages supported by fishing and some ranching.

Around 11:30am we stopped at a small mineral spring just off the road. Our guide parked the bus and we all dutifully piled out. He encouraged us to try the water, noting that it tastes like (big shock here) sparkling water. Though I’ve never been a fan of it I cupped my hands and captured a small amount, giving it a tentative sip. Yep, sparkling water. Blech. Still, interesting and I’m glad I tried it!

We set out for our next stop, the beach at Ytri Tunga, arriving around 11:50am. The beach was beautiful, filled with interesting things like water-rounded pebbles, sea grass, stands of kelp, oh and cute seals!

We were given some time to wander around and enjoy on our own. After the seals we checked out the picked-clean skeleton of a beached whale. Leaving the beach we noticed a rainbow to the north west at the foot of the mountains.

Our next stop, at about 12:30pm, was lunch at a small ranch and restaurant named Lýsuhóll just off the ring road that encircles the peninsula. The food varied day to day but Michelle and I ate some salad and some pasta with tomato sauce. There was some seafood on offer but I passed.

Haven eaten we boarded the bus about 1:30pm and drove a short distance (only about ten minutes) to the small Búðir Church. The first church was built in 1703 but declining population eventually led to the parish being abolished in 1816. The ladies of the parish fought for a new church but the church refused though they did get royal assent. They eventually build the church in 1848 with a quote on the door ring that it was built “without the support of the spiritual fathers”! If that wasn’t enough, they also painted the church black in defiance. Over the years this small black church surrounded by lush, treeless hills and an unforgiving gray sea has become a place for destination weddings and tourists like us!

After about ten minutes of checking out the small landmark we hopped back on the buss for the ten mile or so drive to Arnarstapi, our next stop. Arnarstapi is a picturesque town right on the south coast of the peninsula with a nice harbor. First point of interest was a statue called Bárður Saga Snæfellsás that depicted a half human and half ogre named Bardur. We then walked closer to the cliff top and spotted birds (cormorants, perhaps?) perched atop the sea stacks of volcanic origin.

From there we walked a path that took us past several interesting formations: an amazing sea arch named Gatklettur, sea stacks, and the like. While a very raw and misty day it was still very impressive! I wish we had had better weather but Thor assured us that he enjoyed it much more with mist and the like as it made it feel more mysterious.

To the left of the path (so, the land side) could see the village, a collection of charming houses perched a bit away from the cliffs’ edge with a road down to the harbor. In the distance beyond could be seen a series of waterfalls plunging over the cliffs and into the sea below.

We left Arnarstapi around 3pm and headed to our next destination, Djúpalónssandur beach. Along the 10 mile (20 minute) drive we passed Lóndrangar, a pair of basalt volcanic towers. As the weather was iffy and we were a bit behind schedule we didn’t stop. Imposing, though!

We arrived at Djúpalónssandur beach at 3:20 and had about thirty-five minutes to explore. I walked down a natural cut in the cliff face down to the gorgeous black sand beach. As it was quite steep and a bit slippery Michelle opted to stay atop at the overlook. Luckily there was a handrail of a sort constructed with nylon roping.

Once on the beach the black sand was quite remarkable. Scattered about were also many rusted parts from British fishing trawler that wrecked in March, 1948. Once inhabited with over sixty fishing boats the area is uninhabited today. Four things to remain from those days, however — four stones, ranging in weight from 23kg to 154kg. These were used back in the day to test potential crew for fishing boats. It was necessary to lift at least the third heaviest stone, at 54kg, to hip height in order to qualify.

I continued to walk around the beach and then up the path back to the overlook to meet Michelle. Along the way were beautiful rock formations like a sea stack and some volcanic rock scattered about the top of the cliff.

Climbing back onto the bus we settled in for an hour’s drive to the next major sight. Along the way, however, we passed a couple of interesting things. First was Saxhóll Crater, a crater offering decent views from the top when the weather cooperates. It lay west of Snæfellsjökull, the ancient volcano that the explorers descended into the hollow Earth in Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Next we passed the very tall (1,352ft) Hellissandur longwave radio mast. Finally, a really nice waterfall off in the distance.

We arrived at our second to last major stop, Kirkjufellsfoss, around 5pm. The rain (more like very angry drizzle) had really picked up by the time we arrived and Michelle was feeling worse and worse so I braved the elements myself to get a few photos and walk about a bit. Kirkjufellsfoss is a series of pretty smaller falls in front of a very distinct mountain, Kirkjufell, that was featured as “Arrowhead Mountain” in the series Game of Thrones. Normally very beautiful this wasn’t its best day. When traveling, though, you have to take the days you’re given and it was still quite spectacular.

There was a moderately sloped path going down from the top of the upper falls to the bottom of the (much smaller and more like a rapids) lower falls. It was lined with black rubber matting which normally would be a blessing but in its rain-slicked form made it a bit more dicey. Regardless, got down, enjoyed the view, and made it back up in short order. Shame the weather wasn’t cooperating but my brother later painted this place for me with much better conditions!

We drove a bit more east then turned south toward the center of the peninsula for our last stop. We arrived at about 5:55pm at a “hidden unnamed waterfall” but either the driver was telling a tall tale or it has since been named — Selvallafoss. Regardless, it was beautiful. Michelle stayed in the van for this one as well as she wasn’t feeling great.

I got out and walked a bit, enjoying views of a distant lake. In a country with so few trees the sight distances are incredible! Soon I came to a really narrow, muddy, slippery trail that went behind the waterfall. Safety be damned, I had to try! It was a bit treacherous but luckily I (and my phone!) made it back in one piece.

It was a quick stop, only about 15 minutes, and we were back on our way. It being late September the light was fading fast and it was getting dark when we made it back to that gas station in Borgarnes for another pit stop at around 7:15pm and well dark when we returned to the Grandi hotel at 8:45pm.

As it was so late most eateries were closed. We opted to eat leftover Flatey pizza which was… fine. Michelle continued not feeling well so we were in bed by midnight.

We woke up around 8:30am and tried to figure out the shower. Somehow we got the right temperature water coming out of the right nozzle (it had a rain shower head and a handheld in addition to the normal tub spigot) and, not wanting to mess anything up, left the water running during the brief time (a minute or two at most) between our two showers. Headed downstairs for breakfast at 9:30am and ate some scrambled eggs (not awesome), meats and cheeses (not bad), bacon (decent!), bread (nice hard crust), and tea and coffee (amazing!). We were back in the room at 10am and relaxed and blogged until about 11:30am.

It being nearly lunch we figured we should probably do something more substantial with the day. We headed east towards the center of Reykjavik through a mostly residential area. We stopped at a gift shop or two but didn’t buy anything. Just past the center of town we came upon the road with the rainbow painted on it. At the far end of the road was the very impressive Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland’s center of the Lutheran faith. It looked as if the road was the rainbow Bifrost bridge leading to a very Asgardian-looking building.

We stopped in a Café Babalú, a charming cafe with comfort food for Michelle — tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I had a grilled ham and cheese with corn chips (basically corn tortilla chips) and a chocolate croissant. All around very yummy. While we were there two American fellows came in to chat with the owner and the three sat at an adjacent table. The owner was also from America but had lived here awhile and it was a treat listening (discreetly!) to him describe the crazy intricacies of the Icelandic language. A noun has many different forms, for example “horse” has different forms depending on whether something is being done with it, for it, on it, etc. He joked (at least I hope he was joking!) that though nouns are gendered if there are five or more the gender is dropped so everyone orders five of everything.

Michelle went to the bathroom as we were getting ready to leave and came back and told me I had to go to the bathroom. I went in and it was something else — Star Wars characters all over the walls, above the toilet was made to look like a porthole to space with TIE Fighters battling X-Wings and the whole time a Star Wars ambient music / sound effect track was playing. On the way out I complimented the owner on the amazing bathroom.

After stopping in another gift shop or two we came upon Hallgrímskirkja, the aforementioned Lutheran church. In front was a statue of Leif Erikson (first European to discover the Americas). Behind was a giant concrete church, absolutely towering over the landscape atop a hill. There were also three art installations of vague male figures facing suits of armor. Inside the church was very sparse but impressive, evoking the interior of medieval European cathedrals. It also had the most “metal” organ I’d ever seen. We bought a magnet in the gift shop as well as a ticket for one to the top of the church (Michelle didn’t want to go up).

While Michelle sat in a pew I took the elevator up to a level behind the clocks. There were a few informational pieces about the history of religion in Iceland that were fascinating. Basically Iceland is unique among European countries in that from the get-go it was Christian — there was no pushing out / conversion of an existing non-Christian population. When the Norse arrived in the early 9th century there were already a couple of anchorites, Irish monks that had sailed farther afield to find even more solitude. The Norse themselves were a 50/50 mix of pagan (mostly Norse) and Christian (at that time Roman Catholic) and many of their slaves were Christian as well. Iceland tried to make a go of having both pagan and Christian and even considered splitting into two but at the first Althing it was proposed by the speaker at the time that by law everyone should just be baptized going forward and that’ll fix it. Crazy that the pagans agreed, but whatever. Iceland remained Roman Catholic until 1540 or so when the Kingdom of Denmark (which included Iceland at the time) decreed that the religion would going forward be Lutheran.

After a short climb of steps I arrived at the top of the tower. I didn’t notice the bells at first but when it rang 2pm I sure did! Loud! Once that was over I went around the tower and enjoyed the 360 degree view of Reykjavik. I headed down and sat briefly with Michelle before we headed out, this time turning north towards the harbour.

First, though, I just had to try what was considered the best hot dog stand in Reykjavik. I ordered a traditional, basically a long hot dog of unknown meat source (again, traditional!). It was in a bun atop some semi-sweet relish and some fried onions (think Durkee Onions). Atop the hot dog itself was a mustard that was on the sweet side. Yummy!

Once finally downhill (stopping only to see a French hospital built for French cod fisherman around 1900) to the harbor we saw the “Sun Voyager”, an impressive modern metal sculpture that evokes both Viking ships and, somehow, whale bones. Took a few pictures and left as a tour bus was puking out tourists. Walked west for a bit in an increasing rain that even included a bit of sleet. We arrived at an impressive glass building perched on the harbor called Harpa. In addition to shops it served as a performing arts center and conference center. On this day it served as a place to go to the restroom and dry off a bit.

As the rain showed no sign of abating we pulled our rain coats’ hoods even tighter and braved on to the west past the harbor. There was a neat series of plaques about the harbor and the role it played in Iceland’s independence (1918) and Britain’s takeover in 1940 (to prevent the Germans from capturing it first). There was also a mini skate park with a very garish basketball court (well, half of a court).

Eventually we made it to the room at about 4pm and napped for a couple of hours before heading to Flatey, a Neapolitan pizza joint. We each got a mushroom and meatball pizza (with the intent of taking home leftovers for dinner on Wednesday should time be of the essence) and I got another one of those delicious Fanta-like Applesin sodas. Returned to the hotel about 7:30pm and asked them to call our room if the Northern Lights presented themselves (you can see them from town, though it isn’t ideal). Originally they wrote down room 546 instead of 446 but I caught it — 546 wouldn’t have appreciated a middle-of-the-night call!

Blogged for a couple of hours and called it a night, needed to get rest prior to the tour of the Snæfellsnes on our last full day of vacation.

We woke up around 6am and finished packing before heading down for breakfast at around 7:30am. As we weren’t going on a tour we indulged a bit more and I took a gamble on some coffee. We then headed back up to our room where I (very reluctantly) had to toss the remaining donut I had failed to eat the night before. Not without first taking a picture, though!

We headed downstairs to the lobby at 8:35am for our 8:45am pickup to find the drive already waiting for us. We piled into his van only to have three other folk ask if they could go to the airport as well as they were late for their flight. The driver said it was up to us, they have an 11am flight and are otherwise screwed, so we figured why not. The ride to the airport was uneventful with talk about Dublin and Garth while the three men in back chatted amongst themselves. The city had a very different feel on a quiet workday compared to the madness of Garth Weekend. It’s a shame we didn’t get to enjoy more of the normalcy. We were dropped off around 9:15am and, as he collected 15E from the other three our 20E + 10E tip worked out cheaper than what we initially planned so we were fine.

We were greeted by a guy with a thick Irish accent that was unlike most of the others we had encountered. This one sounded like it was straight out of Boston. He said “The patches?” and I asked him to repeat himself a couple of times before Michelle took pity on me and said informed me that he’s saying “Departures?”. Haha.

We had to wait in line with others at the alleged Icelandair counter hoping it was the correct line. We occupied the time chatting with a student of Washington State University in Spokane. Finally at around 9:45am the Icelandair agents showed up and we were able to check our baggage. Security wasn’t too bad other than forgetting to remove the Kindle from the backpack and them having to rescan everything.

After a very long walk to the gates — with only some car ads using Irish heroes as entertainment — we were unceremoniously dropped in the duty-free area that reeked of perfume. That seriously should be illegal, it’s a miracle it didn’t set either of our noses off.

After a two hour wait we were finally ready to board by walking downstairs and out onto the tarmac then up the portable stairs to the plane. It was slightly delayed from the scheduled 12:15pm departure but not too much. I spent the flight tagging photos for the blog (current me thanks past me for doing that!). The only unpleasantness is a tall guy in front of me kept leaning his seat back but as he as nearly my height I understood. It sucked, though, but the flight wasn’t too long. We landed around 2:30pm Iceland time (one hour before Irish time).

The process of passport control and customs was seamless. The luggage arrived a little wet (due to rain) but wasn’t too bad. We exited the airport and hopped aboard a FlyBus we had pre-booked for the forty-five minute ride to Reykjavik. Along the way saw a lot of neat volcanic terrain and cool fog banks as well as the angry ocean to our left. During the ride we learned that our Northern Lights cruise for the evening was cancelled due to the rain.

After a transfer to a smaller bus at Reykjavik’s bus station we were dropped off at our hotel around 5pm. We checked in and, after an hour’s rest until 6pm, went out in search of food. We didn’t want to go far so stayed in the harbor area, deciding on the Grandi Foodhall, basically a food court. Michelle had spinach ravioli and water and I had “volk”, a pita with lamb, lettuce, and cucumbers. We also shared fries topped with parmesan and aoli — yummy! To drink I tried a “Appelsin”, basically a Fanta Orange — very tasty, if a bit sweet and in the small bottles Europe seems to offer.

Michelle went back to the room while I went to the Elding office and rescheduled the cancelled cruise for Wednesday. The office was nice, a bit bigger than many of the other “buildings” scattered around the harbor, many basically shipping containers with roofs. I returned to the room around 8pm, offloaded pics, and relaxed a bit before sleep around 10pm.

We woke up early, about 6am, in order to get downstairs for a quick, light breakfast of pastries prior to our tour for the day. Our guide, Damien, arrived at 7:45am with a black touring van. As it was just the three of us that would be plenty of room! Being the talker in the family I took the front passenger seat (to his left) while Michelle was a seat just behind.

As we headed north through Dublin towards our destination he told us all about that part of the city, including the Spire, a tall stainless steel spire that replaced an earlier monument to Nelson, Nelson’s Pillar. The pillar was bombed by former IRA members in 1966 with a controlled demolition nearly a week later.

After a pleasant drive of just over a half hour we arrived at our first destination, Bru na Boinne, at about 9am. Pardon the lack of accents on Bru na Boinne as I haven’t a clue how to pull that off on my computer. It is an archaeological site of immense importance in a bend of the River Boyne. Now a UNESCO site, this area has three large Stone Age (Neolithic) tomb complexes, two in excellent shape. Only six hundred people a day are allowed to visit in order to limit the impact of tourism. The visitors’ center was beautiful and contained some really neat exhibits to set the scene.

About 9:30am we bade our guide farewell and walked along a very beautiful path over the River Boyne and to a small area where we were separated into two groups by the color of our wristband (purple, the best color) and boarded one of two busses. Our bus’ first destination was Knowth.

Knowth was constructed around 5000 years ago (3200BC) and consists of a large mound (forty feet high with a diameter of 220 feet) and nearly twenty smaller mounds of various sizes surrounding it. Inside the tomb two passages, both aligned east-west, penetrate to nearly the center but don’t connect. We didn’t get to go into these, however.

Our guide, Chavelle, provided an excellent orientation for about fifteen or twenty minutes. She mentioned that the tomb is surrounded by over a hundred kerbstones, many of which have megalithic art. In fact, Knowth alone contains more than a third of megalithic art found in Western Europe! The designs were mostly spirals and other line art and absolutely beautiful. The tomb was built over at least three generations with different types of stone coming from many miles away, some as far away as the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin. The amount of effort and time required definitely pointed to the tombs being a burial place for the leaders of the community.

Her presentation over we were let loose for about thirty minutes. I climbed a stairway to the top of the tomb and was greeted by an amazing view of the entire River Boyne valley. It fell into disrepair for nearly two millenia until the late Iron Age when a hill fort was unknowingly built atop it. As it was an important area many sites are scattered throughout the region, some of them visible from atop Knowth. As it was a beautiful morning visibility was great!

After descending the stairs I met back with Michelle and we looked at some of the smaller mounds and a recreation of a wood henge, an area where logs were stood upright in a circular pattern. Archaeologists know one was there and the positions based on finding the holes in which the logs were placed.

I asked our guide whether goats and sheep were used to keep the grass short at the top of the mound. Turns out they would damage the mound too much, instead a very expensive robotic mower called “The Spider” is used. We all met back at a small visitors’ center at 10:45am and watched a short fifteen minute AV presentation before boarding our busses at 11am. A short drive later we were at Newgrange with a new guide (either Emma or Emily, I can’t remember).

Though also a Stone Age portal tomb built around 3200BC Newgrange felt distinct from Knowth. While bigger (the same height but nearly 280 feet in diameter) it lacks the satellite mounds but is surrounded by twelve standing-stones (likely added much later during the Bronze Age). Also a facade of white quartz stones was restored to their (likely) original position around the perimeter of the mound.

Newgrange was not just a tomb but also a ritual center. There is a passage and above the entrance a smaller square “window”. Unlike Knowth, we got to go within. It was quite narrow, and at one point I had to turn sideways (as my shoulders were too wide) and duck (as it was about four feet tall) — I thought I was going to get stuck! The passage proceeded for about sixty feet and ended with a chamber. The chamber had three alcoves, each with a basin stone. One of the basin stones was cracked in more modern times but the other two were intact. These basins supported the cremated remains of (presumably) the rulers of this society.

Newgrange is also remarkable in its construction because on the winter solstice the rising sun shines through the aforementioned window and penetrates all the way to the chamber sixty feet within. Remarkable what our ancestors were able to work out and accomplish. Though we weren’t there at the solstice we were in for a treat. Our guide turned off the lights and, while we waited in pitch darkness, a shaft of light worked its way down the passage. Though not the real thing, nor as bright, it was transcendental. We could feel a connection to a people that, having just started to settle down with the domestication of wheat, could focus on building such remarkable spiritual centers.

There were some fantastic carvings — spirals and triangles and such. There was also some more modern grafitti spanning the tomb’s modern discovery in 1699 through the late 1800s when conservation began in earnest. The discovery in 1699 was a bit of a miracle — the farmer had sent some people out to dig for stones in the hill on his property and by luck they hit the passage entrance immediately. Most amazing to me is the high (eighteen foot) stone roof that narrows as it ascends (like a beehive). This marvel has never leaked in nearly 5000 years (though the dirt atop certainly helped there as well). One of the other visitors asked about a little bit of green that appeared here and there. Sadly, it was a result of visitors like us bringing in moisture via our breath.

After exiting we walked around a bit more and headed back to the bus at 11:45am. Back at the visitors’ center at noon we met back up with Damien. He told us that he was able to be there a few years back during the solstice. I can’t imagine how cool that must’ve been!

Our last destination was Monasterboice, an early Christian monastic settlement from the late 400s AD (so contemporary with the Fall of Rome (476AD)). Amazing! What drew me to Monasterboice is the excellent high crosses and Celtic crosses as well as the remains of a round tower.

The round tower was built around 1000AD and is about 80 feet tall but lacks the conical top typical of similar settlements. Damien stressed that the tower very likely wasn’t used as protection against Vikings and the like but rather for storage and as a lookout.

The high crosses dated a bit earlier, likely the 900s AD. The tallest, at over sixteen feet, is considered the finest high cross in Ireland. It has carvings of both the Old and New Testaments. While a bit worn due to over a millennium exposed to the elements the details are still visible. Damien stressed that while the high crosses are beautiful art they were first and foremost meant to teach to a mostly illiterate populace. As such it was brightly painted with easily discernable figures from the Bible. One particularly neat detail was Christ in the center of the cross with people facing him on one side and others facing away from him — with a figure with a pitchfork behind them.

On the way back Damien showed us where the former President of Ireland lived and the pub where he’d often entertain world leaders. We also talked a bit about The Troubles. Damien had a unique perspective on that period (that I won’t go into as that’s his personal information) and it was really special to have his insight on the time and the following peace. He is very optimistic for the future of Ireland and noted that the youth are very willing to leave the past behind. A fascinating thing he mentioned was that one can tell even today where car bombs went off in Belfast as the damaged stone buildings were replaced with modern glass edifices.

We arrived back at the hotel just before 2pm and, after freshening up a tiny bit, headed out for lunch at the Irish Potato Cake Company. Michelle had potato soup with bread but the soup was onion-y and the bread was seed-y so she didn’t enjoy it much. She also had some lemon “cheesecake” that was a bit strange. I, however, really enjoyed my meal. I had three bacon and cheese and three Guiness beef potato cakes. They were wonderful, but I definitely favored the bacon and cheese. I also had some of the “cheesecake”. It was OK. We finished up by sharing tea from a pot with a cute cozy atop.

We crossed over Ha’penny Bridge to Forbidden Planet to do some shopping. We got a couple of small things then some water at Starbucks (yeah, they are everywhere — except Italy) and went to a couple of tourist stores hoping to find an Irish solar dancer (to no avail). We swung by The Rolling Donut for three donuts (two Coffee Lovers and one glazed) on the way back to the hotel by 5:30pm.

After lazing around until 7:45pm we headed down to the basement of the hotel for our 8pm dinner show Celtic Nights. We were seated at a table with others not too far from stage left. Dinner was really good. Michelle had tomato soup and brown bread, chicken (without wine gravy and onions), and some kind of parsnip mash that she enjoyed. I had fresh fruit, Irish Guinness beef stew with mashed potatoes and some kind of crunchy substance — onions? — atop. It was great. Dessert was an assortment of mini-cakes that was decent but didn’t meet the high standard of the main course.

Shortly after we finished dinner four musicians came on stage — one with bass, another guitar, another fiddle, and the last doing pipes and flute. They played a variety of Irish traditional songs — from “Molly Malone”, “The Fields of Athenry”, etc. to very touching ones about the Irish fight for independence, including a very affecting one, “Grace”, about one of the heroes (Joseph Plunkett) being allowed to marry just moments before facing the firing squad.

At regular intervals two female and two male Irish traditional dancers came out to dance to beautiful instrumentals. They were great. The musicians, particularly the lead singer, also interacted with the crowd regularly — asking where people were from and even incorporating one guys “yeaaaaah!’ into the chorus of one of their songs.

The show wrapped up around 10:30pm. While it is a shame we had to rely on a hotel dinner show to finally get traditional music and dancing it was very good and we were grateful we did it. We headed upstairs and I offloaded pics and packed and laid in bed around midnight.

We were quite slow getting out our first of two full days in Dublin. We had breakfast around 8:30am but then went back to the room and lazed about until nearly 11:30am. Finally headed out and toward Trinity College for our first destination of the day.

Trinity College has a beautiful old library called, appropriately enough, “The Old Library”. Within is the Book of Kells, a book from the 800s that I’ve always wanted to see. Once there we purchased tickets at 18.50 a pop using a QR code but our slot wouldn’t be until 1:30pm. With some time to kill we walked down Dawson Street toward St. Stephen’s Green, a beautiful park in south central Dublin from 1880. We enjoyed walking along the small lake (with tons of ducks and other birds) and standing on the stone bridge shown in the movie “Leap Year”. During the Easter Rising of 1916 some of the Irish Citizen’s Army took up a defensive position in the park but that was a mistake as the British were able to fire down onto them from a neighboring hotel. Eventually the defenders retreated but before that fighting was halted for a bit so that the ducks could be fed. Placards in the park described some of the events of that time.

After the park we at at Milano on Dawson Street. We had a American pizza (basically pepperoni and cheese) in the Romana style (basically thin crust). Michelle continued walking toward Trinity College while I took a quick detour to check out Kehoes Pub, in use since the Victorian times and with many of the original fixtures.

After freshening up we queued up for our 1:30pm entrance to the Book of Kells and The Old Library’s Long Room. There was an exhibit at the start filled with wonderful information about monastic life in 800s Ireland, other books like the Book of Kells, how the book was made (spoiler: over a hundred cows “participated” by contributing their hides), and the content of the book. What was really interesting is that there appear to be at least three illustrators at work with various specialties (lettering, animals & people, etc.).

Once through the exhibit area we entered a small side room that was mostly dark and contained the actual Book of Kells in a glass cube enclosure. On the one hand, wow, a 1200 year old book! On the other hand, it was a little underwhelming in that it is open to only two pages (being a book). Someone expressed disappointment that the two pages were more words than illustration and he just replied that for every one that wants an illustration on display there’s another that wants words. I’m just glad we got to see it — on days when they turn to another place in the book the area is shut down for quite some time as many precautions must be taken to not damage the book.

Once leaving the little room we went up a flight of stairs into the very impressive Long Room of The Old Library. Completed in 1861 it was very impressive. Though originally one story it was later expanded to two due to the need to house more collections of books. Running along the length were busts of famous authors, philosophers, and the like. Each alcove contained books from floor to ceiling with ladders to access the high ones. There were beautiful spiral staircases providing access to the second floor but these were closed to tourists.

In the center of the room were some artifacts important to Ireland including the equivalent of our Declaration of Independence and a medieval harp, the oldest example in Ireland and the model for the harp that appears on their Euro and in other official places. Though it is called “Brian Boru’s Harp” it isn’t — he lived in the 11th century but the harp is either 14th or 15th century. Still old, and very beautiful.

We descended a set of stairs that led through a gift shop. Buying our obligatory magnet we emerged into the pleasant Dublin afternoon. We went into a store selling Irish wool and other goods. Michelle found a new change purse and billfold (her existing ones being a bit frayed). While there a lady and girl go to the side of the counter and the guy at the register turns to his co-worker (and by the looks of it, manager) and says “let me introduce you to the most important woman in the world, me mum.” It was really sweet.

As Michelle still wasn’t feeling great we decided to swing by the hotel room via the O’Connell Street bridge. I bought some Maltesers, the European version of Whoppers (malted milk balls). I lingered a little bit to ensure she was situated and headed back out into the town around 3:30pm. I first swung by the Games Workshop and Gamers World. Sadly, much like Forbidden Planet, just the stuff you find at home. I was amused to see a Harry Potter Cluedo (as Clue is known as overseas). I then headed across the Millennium Bridge and into the Temple Bar, turning west towards Dublin Castle.

Dublin Castle was built during the time of the first Norman presence in Ireland so, like King John’s Castle in Limerick, built in the late 1100s and early 1200s. As this castle served as a working capital / palace for nearly a thousand years it, unlike King John’s, has undergone extensive modification (read: boringification). The only bits that remain from the original castle are two towers and one of those was under scaffolding being renovated. There was a pretty park adjacent to the castle as well as the Chester Beatty. But museums weren’t on my list today, onwards I went!

Continuing to the west-northwest I came upon Christ Church Cathedral. The first cathedral on the site was actually built by the Vikings in the early 1000s. The Normans rebuilt it in stone in the late 1100s under the direction of the leader named Strongbow (ok, best name ever). I just took a few pictures, though. If I’m being honest I’m a bit churched out from past trips and the pictures on Google Maps didn’t inspire me to go in. They did have some crypts you could go into as well as a mummified cat and rat found in an organ, but… ick. There were metal flagstones in the sidewalk showing Viking artifacts to highlight that this part of Dublin was the site of the Viking settlement (and draw the tourist into Dublinia, a Viking “audo-visual experience”, no doubt). Regardless, I resisted.

So onwards I went, turning due south towards Dublin’s other (and slightly younger at 1191) cathedral, St. Patrick’s. Two cathedrals in one city?! Yep, and it was quite an issue for awhile until a complicated agreement was hammered out in 1300. Even today, Christ Church is the cathedral for the arch-diocese (being the first established) but St. Patrick’s is the “national cathedral of Ireland.” Regardless, pretty church indeed but, like Christ Church, not a ton to compel me to enter. The park adjacent to it, like Dublin Castle’s, was amazing — so lush and green. Reminded me of the grass you’d see up in the northeastern US.

Turned east and headed to Grafton Street, the main shopping artery of Dublin. Well, mostly tourists shopping, this is where they went when not in Temple Bar drinking. Due to Garth being in town a fair number of cowboy hats. It was kind of unsettling, seeing so many people in cowboy hats and boots in frickin’ Dublin, Ireland. I stopped by the LEGO store. Unbelievably, there was a line to get in. I really just wanted a little something Irish in LEGO and the usher in front suggested building a minifig with an Irish football jersey. Sounded good. Except the line for that was enormous so oh well. Thought about just buying a single green 2×3 brick but decided they’d probably look at me like I was bonkers. They did have a few Ireland-specific builds on display — a stadium, the giant cooling towers, and a neat diorama with a Viking and a musician. So I took some pictures and scooted out.

The main reason for visiting Grafton Street was just off of the main drag was a statue to Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, a band popular worldwide in the 70s (they did the songs “The Boys are Back in Town” and “Jailbreak”). I’ve never been a huge fan (a little too straightforward “bar rock” for me) but I have to give respect to all the bassist / singers out there!

Having done with Grafton Street I turned northeast to see the Molly Malone statue. Though I wasn’t that familiar with the song (my family being more Gordon Lightfoot than traditional Irish songs) it was on the way and fairly well known so why not. All along the way I’d pop into little tourist shops hoping to find a “solar dancer”, maybe a Leprechaun or something, but nope, none to be found.

Afterwards went east along the south side of the river Liffey (and passing the beautiful Custom House — completed in 1791 — on the north bank of the river) through what looked to be more of a business district. Crossed the bridge just west of the Famine Memorial. It is impossible not to be moved by the gaunt figures cast in corroded metal — the dog with ribs jutting out, the man with his daughter slung over his back, others carrying their belongings in a small sack, etc. For someone who wouldn’t be here were it not for the famine driving my maternal ancestors to America it was particularly impactful. Over a quarter of the Irish died or moved. The famine disproportionally affected what is today the Republic of Ireland despite the blight affecting what is today Northern Ireland and Scotland. Though initially a natural disaster make no mistake it was exacerbated by humanity (or lack thereof).

Headed a bit farther down the quay past EPIC, the museum of Irish Emigration, and, from the Sean O’Casey bridge, took photos of Jeanie Johnston, a replica of a 19th century ship that took Irish emigrants to the United States during the famine years.

As it was getting dark I headed back to the hotel along the north bank (stopping by the Famine Memorial one more time). I stopped to take some pictures of the O’Connell Monument, built to honor a hero of Ireland on the street where some of the heaviest fighting took place during the Easter Rising in 1916. Unfortunately, The Rolling Donut was out of the Coffee Lovers — I so was going to pick one up. Arrived back at the room at around 7pm after walking about five miles. We decided rather than brave Temple Bar on a Saturday night and not really feeling like braving, well, anything, we went to the restaurant in our hotel to get a bite to eat and hopefully see some live music (to begin at 8:30pm). So, about 8pm we got our meal. Michelle started with potato soup which was excellent and we both had burgers with fries. Not bad. As it was not quite 8:30pm and neither of us drink I felt guilty lingering until the music so ordered a chocolate fudge cake with raspberry topping. It was excellent!

The music, however, was not… It was a guy my age (or perhaps a little younger) playing an electrified acoustic guitar. I’m sure he was skilled enough but he played just covers of American songs (and even America’s “rocks and plants and things” — laziest lyric ever). The woman at the table next to us started dancing what must have been the most awkward dance since Seinfeld’s Elaine’s dance. It was bad.

Headed back to the room and did offloading of pictures and a little blogging before heading to bed early in anticipation of an early pick up the next morning.