Our Trip to Ireland

We arrived in Ireland in the evening time and had arranged for a cabby to pick us up at the airport after having obtained our keys from the Baggot Court Town House. It was strange getting into a car that was driven from the right hand side and going quickly through the dark streets and onto the freeway on the right hand side of the road.

Tricia: I almost got out of the car.

As always, Tricia arranged for us to stay at a great place for a nice price. Our room was walking distance from all the sights we wanted to see in Dublin and we began each day with a hot breakfast of sunny side up eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, toast and half a tomato.

Tricia: I made Cory eat my eggs, I'm not a sunny side up egg kind of gal.

First on our list of sights was Trinity College where we were to see the Book of Kells. To our surprise the Book of Kells was not on display, but we were able to see in its place a museum quality copy of the book.

Tricia: Yep, the one thing I wanted to see, wasn't even there. It was still pretty cool to see.

While we were walking around in the museum we spotted a man that was taking copious notes in a small book. It was obvious that he was more than a casual observer or an interested traveler by the amount of note taking he was doing. As I walked by I saw a small monogram on his courier sachel: National Geographic Society.

Trinity College itself was interesting to walk around. While Tricia looked around the souvenier shop I took Jeffrey out with me to get some photos of the place.

Tricia: We also saw the oldest harp in Ireland, the one that is the symbol of Ireland. It was pretty cool. We also saw a copy of the 1916 Proclamation that began the Easter rising.

Since our trip was during the Christmas season we were able to see many of the street decorations that the Irish put up. We spent much of our time passing through the shopping districts to get to our destinations and some time there to shop ourselves.

We did take the tour bus for one day to get around. This is Tricia waiting for the bus to pick us up for the first time. While on the bus the drivers gave us narratives of the city and its history, a lot of which centered around Irelands pursuit of freedom from the British.

Jeffrey has been a wonderful traveler on all of our adventures. We have some friends with several children that have traveled Europe and loved it. We know others with kids who lament that they have not seen what they inteded to when coming to Germany. We have learned that we should not let Jeffrey hold us back from doing fun and memorable things for the sake of having his afternoon nap in his own bed.

Tricia: Of course it helps that he'll sleep with us just as easy as anything else. It's just funny that he has more stamps in his passport than I ever had and he won't remember any of them!

If this portion of Kilmainham Gaol looks familiar to you, it may because you have seen it in one of several movies that have been filmed here, or maybe you were at the U2 concert that played here.

Our tour took us through much of the jail and we were introduced to several of the cells that held the prisioners of the Easter Rising of 1916. I wish that I could have had my tripod with me to get some better shots in the low lighting conditions.

Tricia: The Gaol was my favorite thing, creepy as it may sound. I learned lots of Irish songs that I've sung at competitions and to actually see the places where they took place was pretty cool. It was also amazing to know that it had happened so recently.

Jeffrey spent most of his day looking over my shoulders, which allowed him a higher view of Dublin. We did go back to our room on several occasions to give him a break, but otherwise he was quite happy to be with us. We kept him warm by dressing him in the German strumpf hosen we had packed. Strumpf hosen are a pair of warm tights worn under the pants to give an added layer of heat collection.

Tricia: I wore some too! Brrrrr! It was chilly in Ireland.

Saint Patricks Cathedral was great for taking photos in. When you enter during the hours that a mass is not taking place, the cathedral is treated like a museum with a small charge at the door, but then photographs and flashes are welcome. I had a blast here working in such a rich environment of light and shadow intertwined.

Tricia: That Eagle lecturn is unique to Ireland (or so the brochure said) we actually attended a service later in Christ Church Cathedral and they had one too.

Most of the streets that we walked on were full of people shopping, going to work and doing daily business. While on the move we found and entered several book stores where I bought a book of Irish Poetry and a copy of Bram Stokers "Dracula." I had no idea that he was Irish.

The Christ Church Cathedral was much like that of Saint Patrick; treated like a museum when not in mass with photographs welcome. This was another highlight of the trip for me to be able to photograph in such a fun place.

We did return one evening to listen to the Even Song.

Tricia: The choirs at St. Patrick's and Christ Church are world renown and in competition with each other. We only went to the Evensong service at one of them so we can't compare, but it was an amazing experience.