Today we had a true Irish day: rain! Joe tried to convince me it was a fine, soft rain. Nope. It was rain. Big drops. And wind!! I broke down and bought an umbrella to try to stay a bit drier. We foraged out into the weather to head over to the National Museum because Joe and Max wanted to see the bog people who had died and been preserved in a bog!
Unfortunately the bog people were not on display this summer. The boys were very disheartened by this, but they trudged on through the rain. They had closed the entire second floor, so it was a quick trip.
Next we were heading to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library.
Finally we made it into Trinity College and the line to see the Celtic Book of Kells. They are restoring the Old Library and have pulled many of the books to fireproof and protect them due to the age and condition of these books. I loved the library. Very cool experience. When Joe and I saw it 20-some years ago there were no tickets, no lines, no one around. Very different experience today!
After this we headed back to the room and had some lunch before resting up for our ghost bus tour that evening. We knew it would be a late night since we didn’t start until 9:30.
Joe and I have done this tour before and loved it. There’s some history shared and some scares along the way too! Highly recommend this tour if you find yourself in Dublin!
After a nap I headed out to shop and found the original Guinness Storehouse so of course I called Joe to come over!
Now we were delayed on our tour because they had to switch out buses. No big deal, it just made it darker for us. Almost everyone on the bus was from the Midwest! We saw the Doctor’s College that started the idea of body snatches and supposedly inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Our guide said there was a female writer who penned a very similar story earlier that may have inspired the story as well. We think it was called Camilla by Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu, and it predates Dracula by 25 years. They really tried to scare us but it was all in good fun!
Now right outside these gates Seamus made a discovery that excited him. Lorian Studios, one of his favorite game makers, had a studio there! He was way more excited about this! I don’t have a photo though!
Kennedy Family Travels 