Some very tired boys slept until 10:30 this morning! Surprisingly, they were not ravenous when they woke up, so we headed to Dublin Castle before having a meal. There we ate on a terrace "with spaces for shooting arrows," which was lovely until the pigeons started helping themselves to the uncleared remains of other people's meals. Then we had to leave.
(Dressed alike for my peace of mind being on my own with them all day in a big city. In case we got separated I'd only have to remember one clothing description.)
Look what we found on our way to the next stop!
It was across the street from our destination, Christchurch Cathedral
and Dublinia, a museum of Viking history. Lots of fun!
(The answer to the question in the photo is No. The "traditional" horned Viking helmets were only ceremonial, but theatrical costume choices have so influenced the culture that they have become the defacto image.)
We perpetuated it by taking the Viking Splashdown tour--similar to the Duck Boats in Wisconsin Dells and elsewhere, but with Viking helmets instead of quacking noisemakers. The noise on his tour comes from the driver/guide encouraging the group to ROAR at groups of pedestrians and other buses.
The tour ran long, making us late to meet John and his colleagues for a private, after-hours tour of Trinity College & Book of Kells. But our Dublin hosts graciously provided tickets for us to go tomorrow morning. We did get to meet up wth John briefly before he left for his group dinner and Irish cultural show.
Even though it was close to 6 and we hadn't eaten a meal since the pigeons chased us away from our brunch, the boys said they weren't ready for dinner. We headed for a park we saw from the tour bus and burned off some steam.
Then we stopped for dinner in a pub whose kids menu caught my eye as we walked by. The boys complied with my request/edict to try something other than chicken tenders and were satisfied with their penne (Daniel) and cocktail sausages & chips (Edward.) I found refreshment in a chicken dish (not deep fried) and nice cold beer.
Daniel observations about life in a big city: "There are so many people so close to me all the time. I'm uncomfortable."(This was right at 5 pm as we were racing through busy streets to try to meet up with John.)
Time to wind down now to be ready for our final half-day in Dublin before heading to the countryside tomorrow.
