Sept 25th

In Dublin's fair city, where the .......
What a fun day we had romping all over Dublin. We started with a visit to the Book of Kells in Trinity College. The Book of Kells is an ornately illustrated bible, produced by Celtic monks around AD 800 but there was an entire exhibition of earlier and similar writings. And Trinity college is one of Ireland's oldest universities (founded 1592). It was well worth the visit. Then on to Dublin castle which is really more like a house today than a castle. We took a tour and though the rooms are ornate, the history was the most interesting to me. The castle started as a Danish Viking fortress in the 930's and then went back into the hands of the Irish in 1014. The Normans took over in 1169 and then in 1204 the King of England built a stronger castle on the site. So it's seen it's share of occupiers! From the castle we went on to St Patrick's Cathedral and finally stopped at the General Post office, the site of the 1916 Easter rising which eventually gave way to the Irish free state as we know it today.