Ireland- Dublin

Hit the road early with Keith and Carol to reach Stansted for the trip to Dublin on Ryan air-know our way round Stansted now!
Good flight and arrived to be well organised into a taxi with a lovely affable man who gave us good advice etc about Dublin. Our hotel surpassed my expectations- lovely room, excellent breakfast- all set in a group of Georgian houses- Buswell's is its name. The deal also includes 24hr bus passes which take in all the sites of Dublin on a hop on and hop off basis- so we took an orientation trip in the top of a double decker bus- the driver was extremely droll- making sick jokes and singing Molly Malone to us. Today went to Trinity college- again a clever young history graduate with a wry sense of humour took us thru the history and architecture of the college. We finished up seeing the book of Kells- an ancient illuminated manuscript- a personal wish of mine for many years- I was not disapponted. The lead up exhibition explaining the processes was interesting. Then thrill of seeing the library- Harry Potters Hogwarts library was modelled on it- the smell of old leatherbound volumes- pannelling etc.was terrific.
Off to another cultural experience at Guinness- again a very professional display of brewing and the ingredients for stout.Archivist searched unsuccessfully for my ggf's apprenticeship records there- We finished in the glasswalled bar on the 7th floor having a pint of the product-very pleasant and then we had no need for lunch!Off to explore more on foot- shops were very interesting-bookshops, food shops etc. then to meet George Reeves at the hotel- a possible relative on my father's side- a lovely man,so we set off to a couple of libraries and archives with him- again no luck!
Dinner in the bar of the hotel- food not bad as we expected-off to the countryside tomorrow.Weather cool with occasional shower-locals sick of rain they've had 64 days of it and no summer since April! Green is everywhere-intense beautiful and lush.