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We started our day's touring the day before - flying from JFK Airport in New
York City to Dublin, Ireland, on Aer Lingus, the Irish national airline.
When we got our reservations I asked if they cared how long our layover in
Dublin was, and the airline said as long as we left the same day we arrived
it counted as a layover and we could check our baggage straight through to
Edinburgh. How could we pass up a day's touring in Dublin, one of my favorite
cities?
The Ha'penny Bridge - named because it cost a half-penny toll to
cross - spans the Liffey at Temple Bar
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Our flight arrived on time around six in the morning, and we quickly
hopped on a double-decker bus into downtown Dublin. |
The Famine Memorial along the Liffey provided a good opportunity to
begin to introduce the Scouts to Irish history. |
St. Stephens Green Shopping Centre has the earliest-opening public
toilets in Dublin - thank goodness... |
We walked through St. Stephens Green, a beautiful public park in the
middle of Dublin, on the way to Trinity College and the Book of
Kells. |
Our first stop in Dublin was the Book of Kells, which we visited as
soon as the exhibit opened. The Book of Kells is an illuminated
manuscript of the four Gospels, done by monks at Iona and Kells
around the year 800CE. No pictures are allowed, but the tour ends at
the Long Room of Trinity College Library where photography is
permitted. The Library was established in 1562, and since 1801 one
copy of every book published in the UK had to be deposited in the
Library, so it contains a huge collection of rare books. |
It's a short walk from Trinity College to the National Museum, where
the Scouts wanted to see the Bog Bodies - incredibly well-preserved
mummies recovered from Irish peat bogs. Scientists
believe they were human sacrifices from 2,000 years ago or more. The
NOVA series on PBS had several programs on bog bodies -
The Perfect Corpse in 2006 and Ghosts
of Murdered Kings in 2014, the latter of which prompted our
Scouts to decide to see the bodies on our tour in 2014. |
We had lunch at a Chinese Buffet in the Stephens Green Centre - good
food, and a great view. |
The afternoon concluded with a ride around Dublin on an open-top
double-decker tour bus. Then, back to the airport to fly to
Edinburgh. |
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