Quays of Dublin

Yesterday marked 4 weeks until Momma Settle comes for our Irish adventure! Halfway done my internship and just 27 days until she lands in Dublin, 38 until I land back in the USA! With so little time left here, I decided to get out for a bit today and do some more exploring of Dublin. I headed out after lunch into city center. I've been wanting to go to the Famine memorial and see the Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship for awhile so that's where I started. The Famine memorial is a series of statues along the quays (pronounced keys--don't make the same mistake I did when I first got here...) that represents the hardships people went through and the vast amount of people that ended up leaving Ireland because of them. The statues aren't pretty--the people are starved and wearing rags. They even have a dog which was of course the saddest part for me... But after reading the plaques and taking a few pictures (of course I forgot my camera... good thing I have my handy-dandy iPhone!), I continued on to the Jeanie Johnston. The Jeanie Johnston is a tall ship that was used for Irish emigrants. They restored it and turned it into a museum. It's pretty impressive. Further down the river is the famous Samuel Beckett Bridge shaped like a harp.

 Famine Memorial

 

 Left: Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship, Right: Samuel Beckett Bridge

After I was satisfied with the pictures I had taken, I turned around and walked along the quays in the opposite direction, heading toward one of the National Museums of Ireland. It was a pretty long walk but it was nice (by Dublin's standards, aka it wasn't raining) so I enjoyed it. I finally reached the museum. It is the Decorative Arts and History museum housed in Collin's Barracks. It's a pretty neat building and I found myself meandering through exhibits of Irish coinage, fashion, furniture, etc for over an hour. They had a special exhibit called "Soldiers and Chiefs: The Irish at War at Home and Abroad since 1550" which I found pretty neat because I was able to pair tangible items to better visualize what I had learned about in my Irish history module. After I had seen every room in the museum, I picked up some souvenirs (yes I am still gathering my Irish souvenirs... I've been slacking) and headed to the museum cafe. I grabbed a muffin and an Irish tea and read some of my book overlooking the courtyard of the museum. So peaceful.

 National Museum of Ireland: Decorative Arts & History

 Right: one of the more perplexing things I saw there--a bracelet made from human hair!

Once my tea was gone, it was time to head home. And boy was I ready. All that walking really wore me out. I had been planning on going back to Phoenix Park (where the Zoo was) to go see one of the houses that used to be owned by the Guinness family but decided against it because it was getting late and I was so tired. Another day. The buses don't run very often on Sundays and of course I just missed one so I took another leisurely stroll along the Quays until the bus arrived. I also managed to finally snap a picture of the Ha'penny Bridge (famous pedestrian bridge).

Ha'penny Bridge (hopefully I'll be back there on a sunny day with my real camera to get a better picture--chances of both happening in the same occurrence are slim to none..)

All and all it was a perfect, relaxing day of self-exploration. Just what I needed. Now I should be able to be content until next weekend and I'm sure I will have no trouble going to bed early to get up for work tomorrow.

Slainte!