Dublin

The past few days I have been exploring Dublin. Overall it is a nice city though there are a lot of people here right now and it really gets worse in the evenings when everyone is off work. I took the free walking tour of Dublin the other day and then afterwords I went and saw the Book of Kells and the Old Library.

I really enjoyed the Old Library there was so many books there. It is just walls and walls of books some I am sure could be quite interesting if they would only let me read them. In the library there was an exhibition on medicine and how people thought things where caused and what would treat them. This was also quite neat and the artifacts that they had on display I felt were informative.

Molly Malone or the Tart with the Cart as the Dubliniers call her

I also went to the Museum of Archaeology and got to see "bog man". These were people who were most likely sacrificed to insure a kings rein, or so they say. They were placed into the bogs throughout Ireland and due to the make up of the bogs this allowed for in many cases very good preservation of the bodies and goods around them. The displays they had here were thought provoking about the ancient cultures.

In another area of the museum they had some Viking relics. Many of them came from Dublin itself. This was because in the 80's when a building was being built they found an almost intact settlement along the river. They took what they could but something happened and the site was not preserved and now a council building sits above where the Viking once were, destroying any remaining evidence and information about the site.

While walking around Dublin there are lots of statues and some are of people but some are memorials to those who died throughout Ireland's past. One of these is a famine memorial down near the river, right next to the replica of a coffin ship the Jeanie Johnson. This ship was the only one not to lose any passengers on the way over.

I have enjoyed my stay here in Dublin and I plan on walking around some more and trying to see some areas that are more Irish on my last day in Ireland tomorrow, that way I can have a nice relaxing day before my trip home.

Jeanie Johnston