KLS was all “The price of success is hard work” today so I scooted off to Dublin. Of course I took the train, which was inexpensive (about $20 each way), took about 2.5 hours and provided almost endless views of of cows!
I only had five hours in the capital, which I spent visiting the zoo and then taking a walk around the tourist district. This entailed a lot of walking, which wasn’t a problem since I like walking and because the weather was sunny and warm.
I like zoos and have visited many and whilst this one was small I was very impressed. Some of the exhibits, like the savannah shown above, were very impressive and showcased the animals better than in most other zoos I’ve seen.
This elephant was stretching out and picking grass with his trunk! It seemed like a massive effort because the water where’s he’s standing was almost over his head!
The landscaping off the zoo was perhaps the most impressive aspect. There were all sorts of weird and wonderful plants everywhere, but what I liked the best were the artichokes! I’d never seen these before and was surprised how tall they grew (far over my head). These were abundant near the gorilla and chimp enclosures and I think it possible the apes could snack on them!
There was lots else I liked, such as ‘Zoorassic World’ (which showcased dinosaurs and reptiles), a cute sleeping hippo and the red river hogs (who have fuzzy ears like me). It was a great zoo and absolutely worth the visit.
Dublin is a famously ugly city, full of ugly architecture and poor planning. I’m saying this because I read about it (in some detail) on the train back, but it’s immediately obvious to the experienced traveler. To the novocastrians out there I’ll just say this: Dublin is what a city would be like if the whole thing was the west end of Hunter Street. I read a theory that to the Irish appearance is irrelevant which is why Dublin is so unplanned… but Cork (which is like Cooks Hill, to continue the analogy) seems to contradict this.
At any rate Dublins not pretty as a whole, but I wanted to see the buildings worth seeing.
That’s Christ Church Cathedral which was built almost 1000 years ago and has experienced a mind-boggling amount of history. As you know I love visiting old cathedrals so even were it not one of the cities premiere attractions I would have stopped by.
It was all sorts of pretty inside, with intricate carvings and windows and a particularly good exhibit of icons (with examples of how they were made). Even better was that the crypt is open as well, and downstairs you can see a mini museum of vestments, sculpture and silverware.
However I was most intrigued by these:
A mummified cat and mouse! There wasn’t any explanation of where they came from or why they were here either!
I wanted to visit the other cathedral as well but ran out of time. Back to the train for the trip to Limerick! This was more or less a repeat of the trip out, except now my window was south-faced and I saw sheep instead of cows.
I took the chance by the way to scribble some postcards during the return trip. I beg your forgiveness if some of my writing is illegible 🙂
We read your blog every morning at breakfast and marvel at the wonderful time you are having. The places you are seeing are stepped in history and we love seeing the old Cathedrals and Ruins. We await tomorrow’s blog. ??