The Trim Castle Hotel was lovely. After the long day Wednesday, we slept in a bit and had a slow morning. Breakfast was served in the hotel restaurant; I of course got the “full Irish” with both black and white pudding. It was all tasty, but lots of salt.

We drove to Dublin with two activities pre-planned: visit Trinity College and the Books of Kells, and a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. I brought along my copy of Rick Steve’s guidebook for more ideas.

The traffic in Dublin was heavier than I had anticipated. In a fit of pre-trip planning, I reserved — and paid for — a parking space near Trinity College and the Temple Bar District. As we got close to the turn for the garage, all we could see was a very narrow cobblestone road — that couldn’t possibly be it? Well, it was…and due to the traffic, a wrong turn, and the system of one-way streets, it took 45 minutes to get back there. The cobblestone street was narrow, and the garage ramp even narrower. The garage reminded me a lot of those little tiny parking lots in NYC or Boston.

It was getting close to the time for our Book of Kells visit, so we grabbed lunch from Tescos, a local grocery chain. As part of our travel plans, we tend to eat light/cheap at least one meal per day. The pre-packaged sandwiches were not too terrible and we had a chance to try more local snacks.

Trinity College is beautiful; however I would note some of the newer buildings — concrete block — would not look out of place on a SUNY campus or another other college that was building in the 1960s. The crowds around the Book of Kells were huge. I definitely wore a mask inside. (Side note: we saw very few people wearing masks during most of the trip.) I was able to listen to the audio tour but unfortunately it didn’t work for Charles 😦 Much of the exhibit was about the history and creation of the book. The book itself is kept in a dark room in a special case; you can only see the single page on display. It is an amazing artifact, just wish we could have seen more of the individual pages.

The tour includes the “Long Library.” Fascinating room with a huge collection of old books and 40 marble busts — of old white men, of course. However, they are finally adding some women! https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/trinity-names/

Although it was the warmest day so far, we decided to walk to Guinness storehouse — about 25 minutes away. We used the Rick Steves guide to identify some of the many cool sites along the way. Every half block there was something fascinating to see.

The tour at the Guinness storehouse was self-guided. I wasn’t terribly impressed and again it was so very crowded. At the end, we went into a small tasting room which was so “very very.” The full pints included with the tour were available in the Gravity Bar, which was very cool and had great views of the city.

It was late in the afternoon and we wanted to get dinner but all the food locations at the storehouse were closed. We took a taxi (easy and smart decision) to Darkey Kelly’s. I had bangers and mash (no picture!)…Greg and Charles had a pint and Charles had a shot of Powers Whiskey. The live music started around 7; I was amused by the Scottish lads who appeared to be in town to see their team.

The drive back to hotel was much faster, and was helped by the very late sunset. Charles and I walked around Trim Castle and the village before going to bed.