Hop on, Hop off

 Saturday:
      As you might have gauged from the title, Alana, Kevin, and I did a bus tour over the weekend. Arcadia had been kind enough to get us a two day pass for the Dublin Bus Tour, which is like all the other bus tours that you see scattered in major American and European cities. We got on at Dame Street after figuring out how to use our Leap Card (Leap Cards are the Dublin bus passes, and Arcadia gave us those two, and we just have to top them off with money). Dame Street is really the beginning of the Temple Bar area, where there are lots of pubs and shops. It is very touristy, and has some of the most expensive food and drink in the city. At night we have been told it can get really rowdy with tons of drunk people and hen and stag parties (the European version of bachelorette and bachelor parties), but during the day it is fine. From there the bus took us past Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and we road it till we got to Phoenix Park. The Park is huge, twice the size of New York's Central Park and also houses the Dublin Zoo. We walked around it for a while, there were some monuments, and people out on the grass playing baseball and throwing frizbees. It was a sunny, beautiful day, which is actually pretty rare. Due to my unsurprising dire need to go to the bathroom (Dublin has something it would seem against public toilets) we got back on the bus and took it down to Parkgate Street, which has some pubs. After I used the facilities we settled down and got a drink and watched some rugby that was being shown on the television.
      Since it was getting late we were forced to get off the bus near the river and we walked along it back to Dame Street, where we decided to look for a pub that some woman had told us about. It was getting late enough that we were all rather hungry, so we went to Fleet Street and found Oliver St. John Grogarty. It was so packed with people and we were directed to their adjacent restaurant which was slightly less crowded. We could still hear the live music and get the wonderful atmosphere, but we were away from the pub hopping tours that pack the bars on the weekends. The food was good, decently traditional, if a bit touristy. From there was went home and called it a night, promising to finish up the ride the next day.

Kilmainham Gaol (Jail), which played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the prison by the British and in 1923 by the Irish Free State.

Phoenix Park, Its 11 km perimeter wall encloses 1,750 acres, and is one of the largest walled city parks in Europe. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the seventeenth century has been home to a herd of wild Fallow deer

The Wellington Monument  is a 203 ft tall obelisk commemorating the victories of Arthur Welelsley, the 1st Duke of Wellington. In case you do not know who that is, the Duke of Wellington led the battle against Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.

A beautiful lake in the park.

The lovely Lifey River

Oliver St. John Grogarty. It might have been a bit touristy, but it was a lot of fun.

Sunday:
     On Sunday morning I woke up planning to go on my daily run, but looked out the window to find that it was raining. Deciding to skip my run I showered and got ready for church. Right down the street from us is the Church of Mary Immaculate and I walked down there for their 9 o'clock mass--thankfully the rain had stopped. The church is massive on the outside with a huge green dome and the inside was stunning. Once mass started I was actually surprised that it was more or less exactly like the U.S Catholic masses that I have attended, which was actually comforting. It was a bit strange though as someone parked their baby's stroller in the aisle and another person brought their dog in, but other than that it was fine.
      Later that day Alana and I went out to finish the bus tour. Kevin elected to stay behind because he had to write a paper for his class the next day. We got on right where we had gotten off and it took us down O'Connell Street where the huge spire is. The bus took us around that side of the Liffey River which we had not really explored yet, and eventually took us back across the river to Trinity College. On Saturday morning while Alana and Kevin were still asleep I had walked down to Dame Street and the city centre and explored the little shops and streets. Following a crowd in I had walked around Trinity College, which is amazingly beautiful and I am anxious to get back there sometime soon. Hopping off the bus at Dame Street once again, Alana and I made our way back to the flat. Happy that the tour had allowed us to see the city and really get a feel for what is there for us to explore further.

Trinity College

Trinity College  was founded in 1592 as the "mother" of a new university, modeled after the Oxford and Cambridge Universities. It is the oldest university in Ireland

St. George's Market near Dame Street.

A bridge that goes across the Liffey River.

The Spire, which every Dubliner apparently hates and finds very ugly. It is the tallest sculpture in the world and was built as part of a redesign of the area.

The Garden of Remembrance is in the background. It is dedicated to all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom.