Walking around Dublin Town

Interior of the National Gallery, of course I couldn't take any pictures of the actual rooms with the paintings...this is as close as it gets.
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I woke up at 815 AM after snoozing my 800 am alarm once.  I had a ton planned for the day and there was no tie to waste.  The plan: city tour by bus, Trinity College, Natural History Museum, St. Stephen's Green, and the Stag's Head pub.

Breakfast is complimentary: bread with jam, orange juice, milk, and coffee.  I ate/drank all but coffee.  I was surprised to see a lady, probably British, give her daughter, probably 7 yrs old, a cup of coffee at her request.  Kind of young to be drinking coffee huh?

National History Museum had many animals on display. They didn't allow photography also. I think it's because the furs photobleach.
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I checked out the city tour's stops and decided that I wasn't interested enough to pay 14 Euros to do it.  I set out to Trinity College by foot.  It was about amile away so i got there very quickly.  I walked around campus and even in a lecture hall just to take a peak...nothing extraordinary.  Nice, college-like, not very different from any other college.  "Let's Go" mentioned seeing the Book of Kells but it looked like just a bookstore and it hadn't opened so I passed on.  I headed for the National History Museum.

Hanging out at St. Stephen's Green.
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But I was intercepted by a large banner reading "free admission" like a moth to a really sexy other moth!  It was the National Gallery.  It was much like the National Gallery in London but it had many paintings by Yeats.  It was cool to see and I was glad I stopped by.  It wasn't as impressive...not enough to yank a donation out of me.  I continued my wlak to my original destination.

The Natural History Musuem was pretty neat.  They had skeletons (replicas) of huge deer.  They must have been at least 6' fall, 9' including antlers.  They didn't allow pictures to be taken, which I thought was odd.  The museum also had stuffed animal carcasses such as hippos, rhinos, lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, foxes, badgers, seals, birds of all types, monkeys, and bats.  They had an impressive collection of animal heads mounted on the walls.  It was neat to see but I soon felt bad for all the dead animals and left.

Center of the green.
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After that, I headed to St. Stephen's Green to relax for a bit.  It was still only 1100 AM!  The park was well-kept and very peaceful.  I snapped some shotsa nd then sat near the fountain to plan out my next move.  I had already done everything for the day except the pub and I still had time to spare!

I quickly stopped at St. Stephen's Green Shopping Center where I found nothing interesting.  I continued my quest down Grafton St. a major shopping hub.  My recent fascination with macbooks has sparked a similar interest in the Mac desktops.  I saw a couple in a store and fiddled around with them, I think I want a 20" or a 24".  It seems like they can do so much and so easily!  I suppose PCs can as well but I'm looking for change.

Grafton Street was a shopping hub!
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I've been hungry since 1000 AM but held it off because eating lunch early meant eating dinner early.  Which meant being hungry at night.  I stopped at a place called the Bagel Factory where I had the best sandwich I've ever had in my life!  It was a poppy-seed bagel with salmon and cream cheese, rocket lettuce, and spinahc, and a sweet thai chili sauce.  I chose the fillings randomly on my own and it was magnificent!  I had a smoothie with a bunch of berries in it.  Total cost was 9.50 Euros and well worth it!

This was the best bagel sandwich ever! Poppy-seed bagel, smoked salmon, cream cheese, rocket lettuce, spinach, and sweet Thai chili sauce!
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After finding my elixer of life I went to Dvblinia, a museum dealing with the vikings.  Oh no, just kidding, I went to Dublin Castle.  The tour was 3.00 euros and very informative.  It was neat to see the interior even though the actual castle from the 13th century no longer exists.  They've built over it and still call the building Dublin Castle.  I found out all about its interior deocration, history, and current use.  Of course, I don't remember much of it.  One cool thing was that all the gold on the walls and ceiling were pure gold paint.

Dublin Castle was cool
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I stopped by the city hall which had a nice entrance room, I didn't look beyond that.  Then I went to Dvblinia.  It was a museum about medieval Dublin.  The museum admission was 5.25 euros.  I had a feeling that I wouldn't like it but didn't want to have any regrets.  Plus "Let's Go" gave it a two-thumbs-up.  It was crap.  All exhibits were not well-done replicas and it was very cheesy overall.  I went through the 3-floor museum in roughly 20 minutes.  I climbed the St. Michael's tower, which gave an impressive view of the city.

this painting was on the ceiling in the Dublin Castle...it was beautiful!
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So many things done and it's only 230 PM!  I briskly walled to the Guinness Storehouse.  It was a show of how Guinness is made and a bit of its history.  My favorite was learning about how casks were made.  They used to be made all by hand and they never used measuring tools except to make the lid!  Of course, casks were replaced with kegs....boo.  Anyway, the top floor marked the end of the self=guided tour.  There, they had the Gravity Bar which had a 360-degree view of Dublin!  It had all-glass windows and no walls and no viewing obstructions!  They also gave out one free pint of guinness to each person.  It was nice to just relax and take it all in with a side of Guinness!  I went to the gift shop but bought nothing.

We even toured near the old moat area of the castle.
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I forgot to mention that I also stopped into two guitar music stores and played a Takamine EG341SC.  It felt so good and sounded even better!  I'm definitely going to buy one!  I also stopped in a store called "The Soccer Shop" simply because I found it odd to see the word "soccer".  It was a small store like ST Sports.  There, I bought my souvenir of the trip: a football jersey for the Shamrock Rovers F.C.

Okay, back to the wandering.  It was 500 PM and most things were closed.  I decided to start looking for dinner.  Everywhere it seemed like dinner would cost me 17 euros!  I got to a pub called...Oliver St. John Gogarty.  Anyway, price was the same but they also showed a football match on a big screen TV and they had live Irish music!

View from the top of St. Michael's tower
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The atmosphere was very Irish and I couldn't have asked for more.  The game was bad because neither team was extremely talented.  It was a United European Football Association Cup Match.  Basically the best club teams of the various leagues in Europe play against each other.  I had a fish and chips dish and it was very filling.  They gave so much food and I couldn't finish it.  I left at 8 PM but didn't want to go home so I wandered around for an hour.

Having completed my 3-day plan in one, I decided I would head out to Howth Peninsula tomorrow morning.  Apparently, there's a nice walk around the entire peninsula and I can hang out in the small city.

My hostel's employees aren't as knowledgeable as they've advertised.  When I asked how to get to Howth they told me to find out at the nearby train station.  I asked what the name of the station was called and she replied "train station".  Turns out it's Conolly station.  Anyway, 1.90 euros to get to Howth and another 1.90 to get back.  I'll head out at the same time tomorrow.

My hostel has computers with internet to use but I'm writing because I won't be able to load my pictures until I get back anyway.  Love you all!

Lost item of the day: cell phone