We slept in today. The only other thing we wanted to see was Dublin Castle and it didn’t open until 9:45AM. After getting ready and figuring out the toasting mechanism on the toaster, we actually didn’t leave until about 10AM. Sharon had mapped out our route on her phone.

Dublin Castle is not a castle in the traditional sense. Rather it is more of a residence for entertaining dignitaries on state visits etc. We saw beautiful rooms including a state room with the Irish throne (with a sign saying “Don’t sit in this car” for obvious reasons.

There was also a room with portraits of the Irish presidents. Ireland has only been a republic since 1960something. There was little room for more portraits so I guess they’d need to move them to a bigger room(?)

There was a nice blue room, a sitting room, a dining room among many other rooms. The place wasn’t at all crowded. Sometimes Sharon had the rooms all to ourselves.

After Dublin Castle we decided to go souvenir shopping at George’s Street arcade. Sharon and I weren’t all that impressed. It was a small area and not all that much being sold. We bought some souvenirs because we weren’t sure how much time we had left. I also found an Irish flag. I bought the display flag because the Asian girl operating the stand couldn’t find the packaged flag.

Next was O’Neil’s for lunch. It’s somewhat buffet style in that you go to a stand and tell the servers what you want. Sharon got Irish Stew, roast potatoes, and cauliflower and cheese. I had a ham and cheese sandwich. My sandwich was not all that spectacular but Sharon enjoyed her meal. Afterwards we went out to Murphy’s Ice Cream which was enjoyable.

I had a 4:15PM tour at Kilmainham Gaol – the jail where political prisoners were held. It was already around 1PM and knowing that it takes 30 minutes to get back to our dormitory and 30 minutes to get to the jail, we decided to head back to the room.

Both Sharon and I took a brief nap before I left for the jail. As I stood at the bus stop I noticed an extraordinarily tall church steeple. I wondered if that particular church was open for visitors (read tourists) and if was worth visiting.

I arrived a good hour before my tour was set to begin. I checked out the Irish Museum of Modern Art across the street. I made it inside only briefly. The real view was the long walk to the museum among a tree lined path. In the distance I saw an obelisk much like the Washington Monument. But this one was likely a memorial for Irish Soldiers who fought and died in World War 1.

Back to the jail I went, waiting in the courtroom for my tour to begin. A number of Americans queued up for the tour. There was another Slovenian family taking the tour as well.

The tour started in the prison’s chapel with a short slide show with commentary by our tour guide. Between the echo of the room, her Irish accent, and the Slovenians translating it was difficult to hear. But I did get the jist of what she was saying.

This jail was used to house prisoners of the 1916 Easter Uprising among other prisoners of the time. Our tour guide told stories of how a prisoner married his lover. They only spent 10 minutes with the ceremony and another 10 minutes sometime afterwards saying goodbye. The groom was executed the next day.

Some of the cells faced the outside and there was no glass barrier to the outside environment. So certainly the weather was very cold during the winter months.

We were told of an escape that happened. The prisoners had smuggled in parts of a bolt cutter; put it together; and then had it jam at the time of escape. They did go back to their cells and reassemble it and got it to work. One of the ringleaders decided he did not want to partake in the escape. Unfortunately later on he was found guilty and executed.

After the jail tour was over we were able to visit the jail’s museum for some good exhibits.

Sharon had shared with me some souvenir places which I could go to afterwards. So using the museum’s wifi I found my route there. It was in Temple Bar, a touristy area of Dublin. I found some souvenirs for myself and family, then headed off to Leo Burdock’s for takeaway fish and chips. I caught a bus 4 minutes later after ordering. Surprisingly the fish and chips were still hot when I arrived back to the dormitory. It was alot of fish and we couldn’t finish it all.

Tomorrow we fly back home. It has been a good, but tiring trip.