We started off the day pretty strong with a long walk to The Christ Church Cathedral. It is an amazing building with lots of Gothic Details. The tour was engaging mostly because of our guide Daren. He told a lot of pun jokes but they were funny enough to let slide...Martha-Kelly would have thought I was giving the tour with all the puns. We got to go up to the bell tower and pull the ropes to ring the bell. It was super cool. The spiral staircase was the original rock staircase. You should have seen Dad (78) crawling through the opening to get on the roof. It was funny. Don’t worry, I helped him up, mom raised me right. The crypt was interesting, not so much for who was buried their but for the movies and relics down there. We saw the last costume ever worn by Peter O’Toole for the show the Tudors.

Then we went across the street to the Viking Museum (Dublinia). It was a self guided tour and while it had good information, it felt less authentic then everything else we have seen. I did find it interesting that the Vikings targeted Monasteries, not because of religious ideology, but because they kept a lot of the valuables of the town there and they were weakly defended. Nancy said like shooting fish in a barrel. I also particularly liked the miniature scale version of Dublin in Medieval times. It was very thorough and the detail was fun.

We then drove over to the Ireland Museum of Modern Art. First we had lunch in the café, which was delicious. Then we saw the exhibits. I found them fascinating. Nancy didn’t seem like it. Dad was interested but it’s not his type of art. He showed us an artist he has commissioned (Lynn Bogguess) as an example of the art he likes. I thought his work was beautiful, impressionist, and reminded me of Tellico or Tybee Island. It was a rather small couple of exhibits which was disappointing to me but seemed about right for Nancy and Dad.

Later, we walked to the National Museum and had a look around. But the exhibits were so darkly lit (to protect the relics) that it was hard to enjoy. Also, every wall was covered in paragraphs of content making the experience rather laborious, if you were interested.

One thing I have been surprised about in Dublin is the security. Every door has one of those pull down doors like you see on Restaurants in New York. It makes a lot of sense for these to exist here as the violence over the years is notorious and talked about at almost every museum in some way or another.

I am disappointed by the litter all around Dublin. The people are super friendly and amazing and the history is extremely rich. The trash just doesn’t fit the rest of the place. On that note, seriously, everyone here is so relaxed and happy and nice. It’s refreshing, no one seems particularly rushed...even waitresses and waiters or taxi drivers. It’s such a difference from the fast and furious pace we set for ourselves back in the states. I think we could all learn something about patience and just enjoying moments.

Tonight, we went to see Riverdance at the Gaiety Theatre. It was a VIP experience for sure. But first, as we walked in Nancy decided to miss the last step and went sprawling down on the floor. She maybe twisted her ankle a bit but she is fine. The manager was so nice and checked on her at intermission to make sure she was okay. With the VIP experience we got to meet a few of the dancers. One was from Ohio so I talked to him a second. He was very nice. We then got to see Riverdance which is so much more amazing then you might think. How they move their feet that fast is beyond me. The muscles literally move up their legs. One of the dancers we met had just one the world dance competition...literally the best dancer in the world. Crazy. I know Martha-Kelly would have liked it because a lot was ballet and the rest was tap (well, a form of tap). After the show we met the two principle dancers. They were exhausted and streaming with sweat but they were so friendly and approachable. I know it is their job but it just seems like everyone is nicer in Ireland. We did get our pictures with them and that was cool.

Then we had a delicious dinner at Bafle’s. I had a chicken breast and Nancy and Dad had steak. Very very good and high end. The waitress was so nice and she told us how she went to school in South Carolina because “I could and why wouldn’t I”.