{EUROPE} Day Four - Dublin, Ireland

Port of Call: Dublin, Ireland

We arrived in Dublin SUPER early...

and after breakfast, we headed off on our shore excursion to tour Dublin Castle and to visit Trinity College to see the magnificent Book of Kells…

Our first stop was Dublin Castle...

where we visited the castle's private cathedral...

 



and then toured the interior, typically used to host official State visits these days...

{the harp, the national symbol of Ireland}

Our favorite rooms were probably the throne room...

and St. Patrick's Hall where the inaugurations of every President of Ireland have been held and where we learned that the official color of St. Patrick is actually blue!

Our next stop was at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. While no photography is allowed in the exhibition room, we were allowed to photograph the Long Room, the old library at Trinity College, and it is absolutely magnificent...

Lastly, Hubby flew into Dublin and reunited with us (while we were waiting in line to view the Book of Kells) today! It isn't a true adventure in our family unless he has some crazy way of meeting up with us late or leaving us along the way!

Exhibit A & Exhibit B

Regardless...  We are sooo happy to have everyone here...

FINALLY!

Back over to England tomorrow...

More {EUROPE} 2018 Fun

Day One - Travel By Air, Land, & Sea

Day Two - St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands

Day Three - Cork (Cobh), Ireland

Day Five - Liverpool, England

Day Six - Belfast, Northern Ireland

Days Seven & Eight - Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland + AT SEA

Day Nine - Inverness (Invergordon), Scotland

Days Ten & Eleven - Edinburgh (South Queensferry), Scotland +AT SEA

Day Twelve - Paris (Le Havre), France

Day Thirteen - London Day 1

Day Fourteen - London Day 2

Day Fifteen - London Day 3

Day Sixteen - London Day 4

Day Seventeen - London Day 5 and HOME!

{EUROPE} Day Three - Cork (Cobh), Ireland

Port of Call: Cobh, Ireland

We docked in the quaint, seaside town of Cobh (pronounced "Cove"), previously called Queenstown for a period of time...

and the last port of call for the Titanic before it started its voyage across the Atlantic and eventually met its demise...

We enjoyed an early breakfast on the ship before hopping off to take an early tour at the Titanic Experience Cobh, a Titanic museum, housed in the original White Star Line building...

It was an amazing experience to walk in the path of a passenger and learn the story of the 123 passengers that boarded the Titanic in Cobh in 1912. Each of us received an identity, that of a real passenger, when we started the tour and at the end, we found out whether we survived the voyage or not...

 {standing in front of the original pier with their identity cards}

Of the 5 of us, 4 of us were saved and just 1 (me) was lost at sea...

I know other museums that do this and think that it truly is a great way to make the experience authentic.

After visiting the museum, we met up with our shore excursion group and traveled to the small town of Blarney, right outside of Cork, for a visit to Blarney Castle...

I know that we are set to see a good many castles on this trip, but I was most excited to see this one. Set against a backdrop of beautiful blue skies, the castle is surrounded by gorgeous gardens...

I could've spent all day wandering around...

but ultimately we had stairs to climb & a stone to kiss...

While my mother stayed behind to hit up the shops at the Blarney Woollen Mills, the kids and I gave it a go. They were troopers, waiting in line for an hour and a half total!

Blarney Castle is home to the famous Stone of Eloquence, more commonly known as the Blarney Stone, and anyone brave enough to kiss it (while bending over backwards & dangling upside down from 90 feet in the air - no big deal, you know - there are bars to catch you if you slip down too far😉) is given the "Gift of Gab"...

All 4 of us did it, though I'm not sure if everyone actually kissed the right part of the stone...

but honestly, not a single one of my children is lacking the gift of gab...  They might could use eloquence, but gab they've definitely got!

Only time will tell if our efforts prove worthwhile...

After giving the famous kiss, I successfully resisted the urge to thoroughly sanitize my children's mouths (I mean, let's not think about how many people have kissed that thing over the years). Maybe that upside down minute with all that blood rushing to my head did some good & cleared my mind of those thoughts for a bit!

After climbing back down and leaving the castle, we took a quick tour of the very interesting POISON GARDEN...

From there we boarded our tour bus to head back to our ship...

Our last stop was a visit to the statue of Annie Moore and her brothers, right by the pier...

Annie Moore was from Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1892. She has the distinction of being the first person processed through the Ellis Island facility in New York.

More Irish FUN on tap for tomorrow...

More {EUROPE} 2018 Fun

Day One - Travel By Air, Land, & Sea

Day Two - St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands

Day Four - Dublin, Ireland

Day Five - Liverpool, England

Day Six - Belfast, Northern Ireland

Days Seven & Eight - Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland + AT SEA

Day Nine - Inverness (Invergordon), Scotland

Days Ten & Eleven - Edinburgh (South Queensferry), Scotland +AT SEA

Day Twelve - Paris (Le Havre), France

Day Thirteen - London Day 1

Day Fourteen - London Day 2

Day Fifteen - London Day 3

Day Sixteen - London Day 4

Day Seventeen - London Day 5 and HOME!