Dublin, Ireland

Jet lag was hard on us.  The day we arrived in Dublin, it was about 9am.  We hadn't slept much on the plane but the hotel wasn't quite ready when we arrived. We decided to try to stay awake. We took a hop on/ hop off tour.  We both went through phases of fatigue.  Here was Landon's ;-)

One of the days we visited Trinity College. We had an young alumni give us a tour.

Afterwards, we saw "The Book of Kells".  Wikipedia says it "is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland, or indeed may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created ca. 800 AD."  This picture is of the library above the display of the Book of Kells. More ancient books.

I enjoyed mailing some postcards...

... and generally enjoying how little things look different. Like trash cans :-) Landon thought I was a big dork, but it was fun for me!

We stopped at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

 

We also walked a lot.  There was a lot of neat and old looking buildings, churches...

... and walls.

I sampled Irish lamb stew. Gee - do you think I could get some more lamb?! Consensus = yucky lamb but good stew. 

We took public transportation.  Landon said he always enjoyed doing that on the mission.

We visited Kilmainham Goal.  It was sobering.  I'd like to think that such a place didn't exist and people were just good so there wouldn't have to be prisons.  It's hard to understand how people can believe that isolation for prisoners could bring about change for good.  It sounds like torture.  Throughout this trip, I just kept realizing how wonderful my life is and how good I have it.  It was sad to learn that when the Irish Potato Famine happened, many people committed crimes just so they could get fed.  It was horrible living conditions...

We wandered the streets and saw Dublin's Disney Store, street performers, and walked through a park.

But the real reason we came to Dublin was for Landon's lecture at the Mayo Alumni's Urology conference.  I got to attend it and he gave a very professional, organized, and eloquent speech.