Day 4: Museums

Tuesday was the last day we were planning on spending in Dublin, so we attempted to get the remainder of our sight-seeing completed today.

We ate breakfast at a coffee shop close to our hotel.
We headed straight to Trinity College in order to see the Book of Kells.
However, when we got up to the cash register to pay our entrance fee, there was a sign that the book was not on display that day. Since we had so many other things to see, we decided not to go to see the other things in that museum -- the Book of Kells is the big draw!

Supposedly the Hyde Gallery also exists on campus. We could see it on the map but we were unable to find it. We did walk through some campus buildings while looking for it. Finally, we gave up.

We walked to the National Gallery, where pictures were not allowed. Next, we went to the National Museum, which was fascinating. One of the more humorous episodes of the trip occurred here. On display were several different relative-well-preserved corpses of individuals found in bogs and other places around Ireland. One man still had visible hair! A school group of children who had to be around 5 or 6 years old was there on a field trip, and they shrieked when they saw this man because he looked like Elvis. We were astonished that these young children even knew who Elvis was!

After a brief stop in the museum's cafe for a cookie, we went to the National Library. The building was quite impressive, and we walked through an exhibition on W.B. Yeats.

Trying to find one of the museums:
Our next stop was the Chester Beatty Library.
It may not look impressive from the outside, but the inside is another story! Before looking at the collections, however, we sat down for a late lunch in the museum's restaurant, Silk Road Cafe. We were so hungry and the food was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture until we were almost done eating!Then, we toured the exhibits, which more than made up for missing the Book of Kells. There were many illuminated manuscripts to see.

Our ultimate afternoon destination was the Guinness Storehouse, but we made a few stops along the way.

One stop was Christ Church Cathedral.

In the baptistery:
In the crypt, in front of a carving:
I believe a saint's heart is enclosed in this reliquary:
We next wanted to go to St. Audoen's Church, as it is quite old. However, it was closed to visitors for the season.

An outside shot:Hoping to find another entrance:
We continued on our way to the Guinness Storehouse.

Getting closer:
In line to buy tickets:
In the background, you can see the materials needed to queue people in a snaking-orderly manner. Since we were traveling in the off-season, this was unnecessary -- we could pretty much walk right up to the cashier.

The exhibits themselves were pretty interesting; we both enjoyed watching a video of a master cooper making a barrel. I am standing in front of a large waterfall, which signified how important water was in the process:
At the end of the self-guided tour, you arrive at the Gravity Bar, on top of the building, providing 360 degree views of Dublin. It took us a few minutes to find seats.
We had the elevator all to ourselves when we were leaving the facility:
Walking back towards Dublin Center, we stopped at a pub, ostensibly to get the taste of Guinness out of our mouths (I know, I know -- I tried but it was just too bitter for me!)

The outside of the pub:
I think this is the most unhealthy food I have eaten in a decade:
Opening the sauces:I ordered a Bulmers Cider...
...and Brian had another Guinness! After saying how he didn't really like it, apparently the taste started to grow on him:After the pub, we walked around some more, searching for a place for dinner. We really wanted to eat at the Irish Film Institute's cafe, as we'd heard good things about it. By the time we got there, it was packed and a waitress was extremely rude to us (the only unpleasant exchange of the trip!) so we left and wandered around some more. Nothing struck us, and we had almost made it back to our hotel, so we stopped at a pizza place and had pizza.

Waiting for the food to be ready:
On the second level, eating:This was probably our most disappointing meal of the trip, but we still had fun!