Hello again, Blogonauts!

My fellow junketeers and I are off on a new adventure, this time to the Emerald Isle!

We arrived in Dublin early on Wednesday, and on our way to our lodging, our chatty cabby gave us an improptu tour of his family history, Irish national sports, his whiskey recommendations, and incidentally, the city itself.

Once we off-loaded our luggage, we headed out for a walking tour of our own. Dublin offers a delightful first impression: youthful, clean, filled with cafes, pubs, and more red-heads per capita (or red-capitas per head) than could be expected in most parts of the world.

Dublin is full of memorials to the struggle for Irish independence from its occupation by the British. We first wandered through St. Stephen's Park, which today is a demi-free-range-aviary with swans, magpies, crows, ducks and seagulls. The green space is dotted with statuary (often memorials), but is largely populated by Dubliners enjoying the elusive moments of good weather.

We next poked around the exhibits in the national archaeology museum. Similar museums in the US traditionally are filled with exhibits from the Old World (middle east, Egypt, parts of Europe). The Irish have instead focused on what has been discovered in their own backyards...often literally. Often "hoards" of coins, gold, or other valuables were left in bogs to thwart potential theft by maurauders. Sometimes these hoards were left un-recovered. Later, either harvesters of peat or modern-day farmers have found the sequestered treasure in the course of their normal work. These, plus items left by the Vikings and during the various purges of Catholics from Ireland (by the Protestant British) have been unearthed and later displayed here.

We then went by one of the most iconic locations in Dublin: Trinity College, which also houses the famous Book of Kells. As both an educational and a tourist establishment, Trinity is a buzzing beehive of bodies. While we were there, we dutifully visited the Book of Kells and Trinity's Old Library.

We meandered through the city to see Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral before letting our eyelids dictate our next adventure: jetlag-fueled dreamland.

Toby arrived on Thursday, and once our contingent was complete, we wandered around the city, wandering in and out of various churches, breweries, distilleries, and the Decorative Arts museum. We found some religious curiosities, a former windmill towering over a distillery and in Merrion Park, a statue of Oscar Wilde.

(You can see a few pictures snapped in Dublin under the accompanying "Photos" tab. The album has the same title as this blog entry: Relics & Oscar: Dublin on the Double.)

The next day, we were off to visit some of the spots inland from Dublin. But more on that in upcoming updates.

Blog To You Later!