Dublin

Day 5 - May 15

Spent all day today in Dublin, with a free morning to do whatever we wanted. Went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells - a collection of 1200 year old copies of the four Gospels written on calfskin by monks in Scotland. The copies were taken to the Irish monastery of Kells for safekeeping during Viking raids. Amazing to think how the power of the Gospel will move people to go to such lengths to ensure that it gets passed on. Unfortunately, the feel I got in the exhibit was that the focus was more of the shrine to the Book of Kells, rather than the content that was in the Book of Kells. Maybe it was the Lord's way of reminding me that it's all about the Good News. Everything else pales in comparison.

Back to the garden tour in the afternoon. Went to the home of the Irish equivalent of Martha Stewart - Helen Dillon. She had the neatest garden behind her house. It was just under an acre, but boy she packed it with all kinds of stuff and used every available space. She even had some vegetables mixed in there with the annuals and perennials. She had chickens too. She even had tea and cookies for us. Enjoyed the visit to her home and her hospitality. Her two dachshunds were gracious hosts as well.

Too tired to go out that evening (and a little scared) so we just had dinner at a pub across from the hotel. Fish & chips - good stuff. Kinda like Captain D's on steroids. That piece of fish was huge! Had another encounter with the Dublin riff-raff...a drunk trying to buy candy but without enough money. I'm buying a diet coke and digging in my money belt thinking this drunk is going to mug me. My friend Tracy wasn't worried and said he was so lit you could have pushed him over with the touch of a finger. I was still a little freaked anyway. I just wanted a diet coke...why does it have to be so hard to get a diet coke? Doesn't everybody know that is one of the main food groups? And again, why are there no coke machines in the hotel? These are the questions I pondered the whole trip...