Over Labor Day weekend Sharon and I visited her aunt, uncle, grandmother and cousin who live in Foley, Alabama. Foley is near the gulf coast and only a 20 minute drive to the beach. The only problem is that it takes around 7 hours without any delays to get there from Nashville. The scenery along the way is less than interesting. It was good to have my better half along to have long deep conversations with.

We were able to go to the beach briefly during our stay. We decided to go in the late afternoon as it was just too hot to visit during the day. It seems that wintertime is best to visit this part of Alabama if you don’t care for the humidity.

The focal point of the beach is the pier which contains a bar and fishing shop. Past the 2 shops you’ll need to pay to get to the extended part of the pier…which is used mostly for fishing and scenic views. We were able to get to this part of the pier by a kind man who handed us his ticket to the pier through a camping reservation.

While walking on the pier my mind began to think about how much destruction a major hurricane could cause in this area. How far would the water be up? To the bottom of the pier? Would the coastal hotels be damaged beyond repair or had the architects designed them with enough strength to handle such wind and flooding? Are the residents just sitting ducks buying their time until the next monster storm to come along? Are people afraid to invest too much in infrastructure? Or is the opposite effect meaning they build structures so impenetrable it would be like Fort Knox.

Sunday we attended Gulf Shores Church of Christ. The message of the hour included the idea that approaching each other with love rather than pointing out their sins. Certainly a sin needs to be addressed, but there is a time and place for everything. It seems so simple to show love toward our fellow man, but can be so difficult to follow including myself.

I always enjoy visiting Foley and Gulf Shores. It so much different than where I come from, in the flora and fauna, and in the demographics of the people. This in itself makes a visit worth doing every few years if not more often.

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.

I personally woke up early. I knew the alarm was set for 6:10AM, but I can’t stand to be woken up by an alarm. It startles me and I’m just not the same for a few minutes after that.

We got up and got ready. Afterwards we ate our usual breakfast in the shared kitchen area. I had the last two chocolate muffins while Sharon had cereal.

Sharon had mapped out our route on her phone the night before. The only problem was that I hadn’t charged her phone (forgot to plug it in). Our Pixel 2 phones charge fast and within the short amount of time that I figured out that the phone wasn’t ready vs. the time we left, the phone had charged 30% which is phenominal compared to my previous phones. Phone batteries have come a long way.

After a short walk we caught our bus a few blocks from the dormitory we are staying at. We got off the bus and then walked to Trinity Colleage for our 8:30 AM entry to see the Book of Kells. We did make a wrong turn. It’s easy to make considering the way you’re walking doesn’t always match up with the way Google thinks your phone is facing.

We came to the courtyard of Trinity College. I could tell Sharon was getting excited because she was smiling, much like our wedding day. She had thought about seeing the Book of Kells from when she was a teenager and now her dream was going to come true.

We found where we were supposed to stand for online tickets. Sharon went and sat down and rested. We saw a big tour group approaching and we immediately got up and beat them to being first in line. While we were waiting several people came by and asked if this was the line. We honestly didn’t know. Soon after a young ticket agent came by and scanned our tickets. Then soon after the doors opened and we were inside.

Before we got to the actual book of Kells there is a musuem telling about it with big illustrations of the manuscript. Sharon took many photos of these illustrations as she was certain (and correct) that no photos were allowed in the room with the Book of Kells.

Soon after we went into the room with the Book of Kells. The two books were John 1:1 and Luke 16:10-22. It was in Latin so of course we couldn’t read it. It was facinating and humbling at the same time. So much work and time had been put into this Bible, and sometimes we take the Word of God for granted at times.

Next was on to the Long Room – part of the Trinity Library. Sharon too was exited to see this. As described it was a long room with two stories of books. In front of each shelf was a bust of a famous writer or author or benefactor the college. Sharon took photos of each of these busts…and got me to finish it when her phone ran out of battery from my mistake. It was all very facinating.

Afterwards we exited via a gift shop. Sharon got some gifts for herself and loved ones. We decided to go to the Little Musuem of Dublin. It was one of those which had good reviews because the tour guides tell you to write good reviews. But nonetheless it did have some uniquie artifacts.

The lady who greeted us after we bought our tickets babbled on about everything and seemed to fascinated with bust of Bram Stroker. We settled in to watch a 1960s film about Dublin before heading up stairs to wait on our 11AM tour. We went around to different rooms to view the objects. They had a whole room dedicated to U2 which I enjoyed but I’m not sure Sharon found it interesting.

Sharon began to feel sick maybe due to the musuem not having air conditioning (a common theme throughout our tour) so she said she would sit this one out. I took the tour. A man dressed in a black suit and purple shirt arrived and got a tourist to run the hand cranked siren to announce the start of the tour.

Our tour guide was a good showman and told lots of anecdotal stories about the history of Dublin including the blowing up of Nelson’s Column (making it to be the “Half Nelson,” female leaders of Ireland, U2, the Pope’s visit and many other things. He kept the tour interesting.

After the tour I met Sharon at the bottom of the stairs and we decided to try to find Doughboys for lunch. The only problem was that we walked too far in the wrong direction. By the time we realized it, it was faster just to go ahead and finish walking there rather than go back and catch a tram.

Doughboys was expensive. We got two sandwiches and two drinks and it was 19 EUROs! Next was off to find St. Steven’s Green, a park once closed off to non residents (read upper class who lived around the park).

The park was filled with people, flowers, pigeons and sea gulls. We found a shady spot to sit down and eat. While we were eating the sea gulls came by apparently looking for food. Some them made noises like the meow of a cat. Sharon filmed some of them to her delight.

Afterwards we headed to the National Musuem of Ireland – Archeology. We found out about hoarding – which is not a 20th century invention. Rather early man in Ireland would hoard things by burying them. Archeologists would find these things buried together.

In another room we would find bog men – skeletons or preserved bodies buried in a bog. Some where very well preserved. These were kept hidden out of site probably for the children’s sake.

Next was on to the Musuem of Ireland – Natural History. This is a taxidermist dream with all kinds of animals stuffed and on display. There were skeletons of Irish Deer (now exict) which towered over us. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to encounter one of these in the wild.

We had difficulty finding our way back to St. Patrick’s cathedral. We are always looking for a wifi signal to be able to catch the right bus. The Catch22 is the buses have wifi but only if you get near them or even on them. Since they’re usually moving at the time, I am usually regulated to searching around for a cafe’s open wifi.

After a while of fumbling around we got on the right bus. We went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Inside the choir was practicing but alas we weren’t allowed to photograph the choir themselves as it would have been distracting.

The church itself was like any other – plaques and crypts on the walls of the church, stained glass, prayer rooms, etc. There was a bit more emphasis on the history of Dublin. Having our fill of the cathedral, we headed outside to get some photos of the park beside the cathedral.

On the way back to our dormiatory we got a popsicle from the Spar. We napped and had soup and sandwiches from yesterday’s grocery run for supper.

Tomorrow is our last day in Ireland before flying back on Wednesday.