Dublin

We splurged on a Dublin hotel right in the heart of city--the Callaghan--and we were glad we did.

We walked everywhere, admiring the gorgeous buildings and absorbing the fascinating history of the city.

Our first stop was Trinity College, which has educated the Irish elite since 1592.

We visited the Trinity College Library...

and its most famous book, the medieval manuscript Book of Kells.

In the bookstore, I thought of my mother as I saw 500-piece puzzles with photos of the library for sale. If she were alive, that is what I would buy her.

We wandered the campus a bit.

We then met our guide for a walking tour of Dublin.

We walked past government buildings built in Georgian style...

through farmer's markets...

and Temple Bar, the arts area of the city, with restaurants and arts organizations.

We ate dinner at the top-rated Eden...

where each course was carefully designed and garnished.

It was Halloween, and the passersby were dressed in hats and costumes.

We stayed for a musical tour by two Celtic musicians.

Even in the off-season, there were tourist traps galore, including a store devoted solely to Irish kitsch.

Next morning, we took a taxi to Kilmainham Gaol, where some of the patriots of the Irish Revolution were jailed and martyred.

The Gaol was a formidable structure, though it had been a model of enlightened prison planning in its time.

Our guide was passionate about the injustices which had been done there.

We walked three miles from the Gaol back downtown, catching local color along the way.

The stores were decorated for Halloween, a holiday that began in Britain as All Hallows Eve, migrated to America, and went back home again.

We passed sturdy Irish cathedrals on our trek...

and some provocative handbills.

Unlike Germany, where nationalist sentiment is muted, in Ireland flags fly everywhere.

We stopped at massive Dublin Castle...

where the statue of Justice, without a blindfold and holding a sword, provoked the following comment during English rule, "There she stands, above her station, with her face to the palace and her arse to the nation."

We love quirky museums, and the Chester Beatty library, near Dublin Castle, was a delight. It was the collection by a wealthy man of ancient texts of the world's major religions. There were early copies of the Christian gospels, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita. There was associated art--Tibetan mandalas, Mughal religious prints. The Library was chosen as the European Museum of the Year for 2002.

Finally, we walked down the main Dublin thoroughfare, O'Connor Street, with its monuments and crowds.

It was time to go home.