Humor and a Bit of History in Dublin

Grafton Street is the shopping center of downtown Dublin. It runs from St. Stephen's Green to Trinity College and the street is closed to vehicles. It is a fun place to be, very busy, with lots of tourists and Dubliners shopping or just hanging out.


As we walked down Grafton Street we often saw young people singing or playing the guitar with a plate or basket in front of them for donations. There were also two mimes that were hilarious! One was dressed as a statue with pigeons (real ones) sitting on him and the other portrayed a man rushing to work.



Allyn really wanted to try a fast food restaurant (not one we have in the states, but an Irish one) so today we stopped at Super Mac and he got the cheeseburger combo. While he was eating he looked up and noticed the poster on the right which was advertising the "Obama Burger". President Obama has Irish ancestory and came for a visit a few months ago to see where his ancestors lived and have a "pint" with the Irish people. Needless to say, Allyn was not even tempted to try the "Obama Burger"!


There are many tour buses traveling the streets of Dublin, but the ones driven by Viking Splash Tours are the most interesting. When you take a Viking Splash Tour it is on an amphibious landing craft from World War 2 (not the bus like most tours) which was also used in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Most of the tour is on land, but they also use the vehicles in the water and spend about 15 minutes in the Grand Canal Docks.


All museums are free of charge in Ireland so we decided to go visit a couple in our spare time. First, we went to the Museum of Natural History and saw the exhibits. It was much like the museums of old with many displays and cases full of interesting things. Second, we went to the Museum of Archeology and History. In this museum they had several "bog bodies" that date back hundreds of years. A "bog body" is just a corpse that has been preserved in the bog for hundreds or even thousands of years.





This is my favorite picture taken at St. Stephens Green which I mentioned earlier in the post. There are several "greens", "squares", "parks", etc. in and around downtown Dublin. It was nice to have a open space with green lawns, bushes, trees, flowers, fountains, and benches in the middle of the city. Because Dublin is near the coast there were also many sea gulls. This guy was just hanging out and totally cooperated with my efforts to take his picture!


We got quite a bit of rain while we were staying in Dublin. We always carried our umbrella and hooded windbreakers with us where ever we went. It was raining on and off when we walked around the grounds of the Dublin Castle. Allyn decided to take a break from the rain in the guard house of the upper castle yard. Right after this it started to pour and we took refuge inside the Chapel Royal. There were huge organ pipes in the chapel that reminded me of those in the tabernacle in Salt Lake City.