Kristin Goes To Ireland: Jails and Uprisings and Shopping

Today we spent the day in Dublin, exploring the city. Dina, Tracie, and I had a visit with our driver, Ray, about some of the sights we needed to see in Dublin. Consequently, he talked with Donia changed the order of events for today. We started out at Kilmainham Jail, which was the main Dublin jail from 1788-1924. It has been preserved and opened to the public. It was someplace that I probably wouldn't have gone to if it was just me, but it turned out to be very cool. Literally....the only heat in the cells came from the fires in the kitchen and it probably got very cold. It was a bleak, desolate place full of despair. We saw where some of the rebels from the 1916 Uprising were executed by firing squad.

The political prisoner in this cell scratched the words "To Let" (for rent) above the door.

This is the main door for the prison. See those small squares on either side above the window? They held the public gallows for the public hangings.

We decided against going to the museum at the jail because we would have had to go in shifts, so we went to the park instead. St. Stephens Green is in the center of Dublin and is very beautiful....green and lush. The kids got to play for about 40 minutes. The other leaders and I checked out the local art that was on display on the outside of the park.

We had lunch at the Dubliner, which is apparently a fancy restaurant/hotel in downton Dublin. We had turkey and mashed potatoes. It was yummy!

After lunch we went to the National Museum of Archeology. They had some great exhibits on prehistoric and medieval Ireland. We had a small crisis while we were there, though. One of the kids from California lost his camera. I was sure he had set it down while he was shopping or using the bathroom, but I didn't know if we would ever see it again. Luckily a very kind British woman found it in the gift shop and turned it in.

We returned to Trinity College and walked through campus on our way to meet our guide Emeure. (Ee-mure). She talked to us about Trinity College (built by Queen Elizabeth and closed to Catholics until 1973) and then we walked across the River Liffey and shopped some on O'Connell Street. I accidentally bought some Waterford crystal. And Galway crystal. And Killarney crystal. My credit card was smoking by the time I was finished.

When we returned to the coach, Ray drove us past a statue of Oscar Wilde, St. Patricks Cathedral, and then out to the Presidential Park. The President's house looks very similar to the White House. There is a light burning in the upstairs window for all of the immigrants that have left Ireland.