Fall Break in Ireland Part 1: Dublin

October 26, 2013

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The last few weeks have been a whirlwind and we have quite a lot of catching up to do!

We had the week of October 14th off of school because Kurban Bayramı. David and I traveled with two of our friends to Ireland. (Because of where the holiday fell last year, we only had a few days off instead of a whole week!)

We flew into the capital city of Dublin on Sunday. While we were waiting for our luggage, the first person who talked to David thought he was a national and asked how long he was home for! Gotta love David’s red hair! (David does have some Irish heritage, though it’s far back.)

Our first night, we walked around the city and got some food. The walking bridges and canals were so pretty!

Our hostel was close to Trinity College. David and Brittany ran through it one morning (they’re training for a marathon), and we all went later to see the Book of Kells. It was a stately looking campus. There was an interesting mix of students and tourists:

Here’s the Sphere Within Sphere sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro that sits outside the college’s current student library:

The Book of Kells exhibit was very cool. The Book of Kells is part of the New Testament that was handwritten by monks sometime around the year 800. The pages were beautiful. No photography was allowed, but you can see images online.

After we saw the Book of Kells, we went to The Old Library. This is the main chamber of the Long Room:

It’s easy to get around Dublin and see a lot by foot. Here’s some of the colored doors Dublin is famous for:

We loved, loved, loved the food in Ireland. It was a nice change of palate and all so delicious. We ate a ton of fish and chips, Irish stew, and chicken wings.

One afternoon, we were all super hungry and tried to find a place for a late lunch. We stumbled upon the cutest little café called Brother Hubbard and were so pleasantly surprised!