Today was a late start, because we discovered that tonight is Culture Night in Ireland. That means that a lot of the museums and cultural places will be open late into the night, and will be free! I had picked up a brochure at the Natural History Museum yesterday, and we saw that Dublinia, one of the things on Em's list, was open for Culture Night. So, we're starting late, since we'll be out late.
On our way into town, we saw a sign at a construction site for a Quantity Surveyor. There's a Monty Python sketch with a book called "Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying" so of course, I had to take a picture.
Today is the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, so we needed to have second breakfast, or elevenses. Our breakfast at the hotel was pretty large (we stuff up on breakfast, so we can have linner later and only pay for one meal), so we weren't hungry by 11. But, we had to have second breakfast at 11. That's the rule. Luckily, our first stop of the day, the Decorative Arts museum, has a nice cafe with cookies. So, our second breakfast was cookies.
The Decorative Arts museum is housed in a former barracks, so it's also a military history museum. There is the skeleton of a cavalry horse.
And a whole section on the fight for Irish independence. My favorite part of that was the book pages that were drawn to honor those who fought for freedom. They're drawn in Book of Kells style, and they were stunning. It's hard to get the detail in these pictures. The sign said that the pages took up to a year EACH! You can get an idea with this page.
But this one was my favorite
We then went into the daily life section, where we saw some school stuff. I think I need this sign to hang up in the house at all times.
One section I really liked was the "Out of Storage" exhibit. It was just a bunch of stuff that had no other place to fit in the museum, but they wanted it on display.
There was a pretty cool section on jewelry, too.
I also really enjoyed the clothing and furniture sections, but the pictures would just bore you.
The Celtic Cross display was impressive. These are reproductions that were made 100 years ago. You may recognize the one in the back from a few days ago - we saw the original at Monasterboice, which we visited on Monday.
We still had time to kill before Dublinia, so we hit another museum. The National Museum of Ireland has a few divisions located in different buildings. Country Life is in Co. Mayo, so we didn't see that one. Natural History is the one we visited yesterday, and the one we just finished was Decorative Arts & History. The last one in Dublin is Archaeology. All of them are free, so that's awesome.
Along the bus route was the Jameson Distillery, though, so we stopped there. We weren't going to go in (since we had been to Bushmills, where they actually produce the whiskey, we didn't need to go to Jameson, which is just a museum). But, we took pictures.
Archaeology was pretty neat. I liked this guy with his magnifying glass.
We got to see the Tara Brooch, though the picture was difficult to get.
One of the things for Culture Night was a kids' area in the Archaeology museum. Emma very kindly dressed up for me. (I promised her a Horrible Histories book)
We saw this guy, whose skull was sliced by either a sword or axe
This is a sheela na gig, figures who are commonly said to ward off evil, though there are many theories to their origin
This is a shrine to contain St. Brigid's shoe
The building itself was another fine example of Victorian ironwork. I loved it.
So, I showed you the shamrock light posts. How about shamrock Corinthian capitals?
We got to Dublinia about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to open for the evening, and the line was already around the block. Once it opened, though, it went pretty swiftly. They admitted people in waves, so the place didn't get to overwhelmed, but it was still pretty darn crowded. We didn't have time to read all of the signs or get all of the pictures we would have liked before we were pushed on by the crowd behind us. But, it was free, so it's OK.
Dublinia is a museum about Dublin's history, but it's presented in a very entertaining way. It reminded me of the Canterbury Tales thing we did last year - like we were walking through sets.
There was a dress up place in the Viking section.
There was another dress up place in the Medieval section
We came out into the yard of Christchurch Cathedral, which is across the street from Dublinia (you exit over a bridge), where they were having a food fair in honor of Culture Night. We originally thought we would each pick out something and then share, but once we all got our food, we were so happy with it that we only shared a couple of bites. Em got Chicken Tikka, Max got a pork sandwich, and I got the most delicious gyro I've ever had. I have no idea what they put in it that made it so wonderful, but there it is.
Max loves abbeys, and we had some time before they closed, so we walked over to St. Mary's Abbey. It's located in a part of town that does not look like it would contain an abbey. It's behind a garage, or something. There's not much left of it, but it was pretty. Too crowded for pictures, though. But, along the way, we saw plaques in the sidewalk showing where Viking treasure had been found
More pretty doors
Statues in front of flag poles in such a way that it looked like they were being hanged
And a Mario-themed electrical box. (We later saw a Tin Tin one, but we were on the tram and couldn't get a picture)
We then went back across the river to the wax museum. It was open until 11, which was the latest of all, so it was last on the list. Well, it turns out it was on a lot of peoples' lists. The line was amazingly long. There was no way.
We walked through Temple Bar and Em bought a pin at a market area that had been set up in one of the plazas. I bought some old coins. We found the statue of Molly Malone, who is known as "The Tart with the Cart."
Max decided to motorboat her.
On the way back to the tram, we saw this place. Do you think he's related to Johnny?
Emma says - Elevenses was pretty good, but I wasn't really hungry. I liked the tea, though. Decorative Arts was pretty cool in some parts, I liked the horse skeleton. I got another Horrible Histories book because I dressed up for Mom. I got the Dublin one. I had gotten the Ireland one on Monday. I really liked Dublinia. It was really fun, and the staff people were really nice. I liked the way they presented everything. The food was sooo, sooo good. I wish we had gotten the name of that Indian restaurant, because that was like, the greatest Indian food ever!
On our way into town, we saw a sign at a construction site for a Quantity Surveyor. There's a Monty Python sketch with a book called "Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying" so of course, I had to take a picture.
Today is the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, so we needed to have second breakfast, or elevenses. Our breakfast at the hotel was pretty large (we stuff up on breakfast, so we can have linner later and only pay for one meal), so we weren't hungry by 11. But, we had to have second breakfast at 11. That's the rule. Luckily, our first stop of the day, the Decorative Arts museum, has a nice cafe with cookies. So, our second breakfast was cookies.
The Decorative Arts museum is housed in a former barracks, so it's also a military history museum. There is the skeleton of a cavalry horse.
And a whole section on the fight for Irish independence. My favorite part of that was the book pages that were drawn to honor those who fought for freedom. They're drawn in Book of Kells style, and they were stunning. It's hard to get the detail in these pictures. The sign said that the pages took up to a year EACH! You can get an idea with this page.
 |
| Detail of above picture |
But this one was my favorite
We then went into the daily life section, where we saw some school stuff. I think I need this sign to hang up in the house at all times.
 |
| It says "secular instruction." It's hard to read with the glare |
One section I really liked was the "Out of Storage" exhibit. It was just a bunch of stuff that had no other place to fit in the museum, but they wanted it on display.
There was a pretty cool section on jewelry, too.
 |
| Necklace made from bone |
 |
| Necklace made from human hair |
 |
| Just pretty tiaras |
 |
| This is a micro-mosaic bracelet. Isn't that amazing? |
I also really enjoyed the clothing and furniture sections, but the pictures would just bore you.
The Celtic Cross display was impressive. These are reproductions that were made 100 years ago. You may recognize the one in the back from a few days ago - we saw the original at Monasterboice, which we visited on Monday.
We still had time to kill before Dublinia, so we hit another museum. The National Museum of Ireland has a few divisions located in different buildings. Country Life is in Co. Mayo, so we didn't see that one. Natural History is the one we visited yesterday, and the one we just finished was Decorative Arts & History. The last one in Dublin is Archaeology. All of them are free, so that's awesome.
Along the bus route was the Jameson Distillery, though, so we stopped there. We weren't going to go in (since we had been to Bushmills, where they actually produce the whiskey, we didn't need to go to Jameson, which is just a museum). But, we took pictures.
Archaeology was pretty neat. I liked this guy with his magnifying glass.
We got to see the Tara Brooch, though the picture was difficult to get.
One of the things for Culture Night was a kids' area in the Archaeology museum. Emma very kindly dressed up for me. (I promised her a Horrible Histories book)
We saw this guy, whose skull was sliced by either a sword or axe
This is a sheela na gig, figures who are commonly said to ward off evil, though there are many theories to their origin
This is a shrine to contain St. Brigid's shoe
The building itself was another fine example of Victorian ironwork. I loved it.
We got to Dublinia about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to open for the evening, and the line was already around the block. Once it opened, though, it went pretty swiftly. They admitted people in waves, so the place didn't get to overwhelmed, but it was still pretty darn crowded. We didn't have time to read all of the signs or get all of the pictures we would have liked before we were pushed on by the crowd behind us. But, it was free, so it's OK.
Dublinia is a museum about Dublin's history, but it's presented in a very entertaining way. It reminded me of the Canterbury Tales thing we did last year - like we were walking through sets.
There was another dress up place in the Medieval section
We came out into the yard of Christchurch Cathedral, which is across the street from Dublinia (you exit over a bridge), where they were having a food fair in honor of Culture Night. We originally thought we would each pick out something and then share, but once we all got our food, we were so happy with it that we only shared a couple of bites. Em got Chicken Tikka, Max got a pork sandwich, and I got the most delicious gyro I've ever had. I have no idea what they put in it that made it so wonderful, but there it is.
Max loves abbeys, and we had some time before they closed, so we walked over to St. Mary's Abbey. It's located in a part of town that does not look like it would contain an abbey. It's behind a garage, or something. There's not much left of it, but it was pretty. Too crowded for pictures, though. But, along the way, we saw plaques in the sidewalk showing where Viking treasure had been found
More pretty doors
And a Mario-themed electrical box. (We later saw a Tin Tin one, but we were on the tram and couldn't get a picture)
We walked through Temple Bar and Em bought a pin at a market area that had been set up in one of the plazas. I bought some old coins. We found the statue of Molly Malone, who is known as "The Tart with the Cart."
Max decided to motorboat her.
 |
On the way back to the tram, we saw this place. Do you think he's related to Johnny?
Emma says - Elevenses was pretty good, but I wasn't really hungry. I liked the tea, though. Decorative Arts was pretty cool in some parts, I liked the horse skeleton. I got another Horrible Histories book because I dressed up for Mom. I got the Dublin one. I had gotten the Ireland one on Monday. I really liked Dublinia. It was really fun, and the staff people were really nice. I liked the way they presented everything. The food was sooo, sooo good. I wish we had gotten the name of that Indian restaurant, because that was like, the greatest Indian food ever!
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