Meandering Snapdragon: O'Hearn's Storm Dublin

On June 18th I embarked on a very long day. I worked the morning away down on a ship in New Orleans, caught a ride to the Louis Armstrong airport in and flew to T.F Green. There wasn't a whole lot of time - just enough to unpack, do some laundry, re-pack and run hurried errands before driving up to Boston the next afternoon to catch a trans-Atlantic flight with my sister and brother-in-law. Hurried? Absolutely - I had to buy two new pairs of shoes and jeans that morning! Very much worth the rush.

My family is part Irish or at least, my sister married an Irish guy and my cousins have some Irish blood in 'em. The beginning of this Irish tale begins in Dublin.

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Blessed with a fair amount of legroom on the flight, we landed at 10 am ready to begin a day of romping about Dublin - at least, I did.

We all bought "Dublin passes" (the EU is fabulous for tourists) that were good for 2 days and I had a loooong list of things to get through.

We weren't able to see all I wanted but those who have traveled with me or listened to me talk about it (so pretty much everyone) knows that I always want to see EVERYTHING and am good at moving my butt in order to do so.

Fed, watered and bags dropped off, it was time to see where we were and where we wanted to go. Kate and Keith learned firsthand that for a frequent traveler I am not the best navigator. Pretty terrible, in fact and cities are the worst. The way I see it is, if I walk about enough I'll find my way and see some cool things along the way! We managed St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch before finding Trinity College and the Book of Kells.

Outside St. Patrick's Cathedral

Founded in 1191 but often rounded up to the "13th Century", the Cathedral has an estimated 700 people buried there! Likely the only one we're all familiar with is Jonathan Swift who wrote Gulliver's Travels. Certainly this cathedral is one of my favorites for architecture, splendor, and history.

My other favorite? Wells Cathedral in England. In 2007 while on the way to Torquay we stopped in Wells for an hour or two; it will always be memorable because the drive (no names here) managed to break the rental cars' side mirror.

Stunning campus at Trinity and a lovely day, too!

Kate and Keith. Maybe considering another degree in good ol Dublin? You never know!

Sadly, the Book of Kells was not included with the pass, but we did find some family members sitting around outside!

Turning around after taking this photo I saw a man wearing a Seward, AK sweatshirt...of course it was our cousin (who else has an AK sweatshirt?) and he said he heard me gabbing away (naturally it was me - who else could it have been?)

After meeting up with the Liskey's we went over to the National Museum (specifically archaeology!) and learned about Vikings and weaponry...pretty much the best museum ever. Similar to most of Europe and even the UK, the national museums are free and excellent in quality - check out Ireland's national museums where you can easily spend a couple rainy days.

Keith outside the museum (we were waiting on a little cousin to finish browsing in the gift shop - her favorite new past-time).

Very cool floor in the gift shop/entry way, it depicts the astrological star signs. I found my brother-in-law's clan, too - O'Hearn was originally 'Ahearn' (I bought him a bookmark even though I'm the crazy reader in the family).

This is where it started getting tough - jet lag was settling in on us but my sister most of all. We were barely able to rouse ourselves for dinner! Thankfully we did and found a great pub in Temple Bar. Sister and I tried Magners for the first time after we affronted the nice Irish man by asking for the English Strongbow and it was deemed a success. Of course we indulged in dessert, a full belly is the best guarantee to sleep well.

When I go back to Dublin, regardless of how oddly expensive it is, Temple Bar is on the list for live music and good food.

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Oh, Ireland. The home of that delightful dark amber liquid, Guinness. Our first stop of the day and the one we are most looking forward to. Later we hope to reach Jameson as well as the old gaol, Kilmainham.

Instead of getting turned about in the old city of Dublin or wasting precious time walking, we hopped on one of the double-decker red sightseeing buses and listened to a tour as we wound through the city toward St. James' Gate. Dublin is a beautiful Georgian city (which itself comes from the Palladian architecture style and its Greek and Roman revival) that, after the Act of Union with Great Britain in 1801 saw a sharp decline in upkeep and popularity. We did not make our way to this part of the city on our own so it is a great thing that we decided on the bus rather than a taxi; I know Marriott has a well appointed property there and I have heard from old co-workers that the Dublin properties are among the best - so we'll add those to the list of potential accommodation for the future.

This piece of art is a sculpture representation of Guinness in the world, modeled after their draft pint. I'd post photos from all around the piece but let's be reasonable.

Guinness is awesome. The shop is large and full of fun stuff, the brewery is multiple floors of old, new, the smell of beer and the upper floor bar has 360 degree views AND a complimentary pint! We were unable to grab a seat around the room - it being a Saturday and popular for tourists (eugh, tourists) - but walking around, it was fun to ponder what lay before us in the city. The best thing we all took away from there, I think I can easily say for all three of us, were the pint glasses. Two glasses in each box that they engrave right in front of you!! Oh, plus the recipe cards that all include Guinness as a main ingredient - I regularly make two so it seems time to expand my repertoire.

I am sad to say that for all my looking, plotting and planning (and hoping) we were unable to see the goal. The queue was massive and none of us wanted to wait, really. Instead we went in to the museum (no queue there) and then popped over to Jameson for a taste and gander. Sadly, again, we were unable to join a tour as we had to rush on over to the airport to pick up our parental units - very backward, really. When the kids rent the car and pick up the parents, times are-a-changing.