Our second day in Ireland was a bit delayed by symptoms of jet lag (looking back I see how lucky we were we didn’t have more problems with jet lag between the five of us), but we were soon up and running for an adventurous day in Dublin.  We bought our train tickets and played on the playground near the Maynooth station while waiting for our train.

We got off the train at Tara St. and walked to Trinity College.  It was quite the experience navigating the dense crowds in narrow walkways around construction sites.  The boys loved Trinity College!

We got to see the Book of Kells.  It was my second time.  Now I wonder which pages were displayed the last time I viewed it.  I always love a walk through the Long Room of the old library, built in the early 1700s.

We did some shopping, as we knew we would be far from civilization after this day.  My six year old bought the hat he’d long saved for, hoping he would someday get to go to Ireland and get it.

Then, we went to St. Stephen’s Green for some relaxation.  The boys loved the birds, who were quite bold.  I’m still amazed we left without white blots all over us.

We slowed down and had some lunch.  Our sandwiches had faces!

The park was a nice break in the day.

We continued our exploration of Dublin.  I just love the views that can be found around any turn.

And the buskers of Grafton Street!  These guys played awesome, well-known songs with household objects.  You never would have known they weren’t actual percussion instruments.

I love a longing look down River Liffey.

We made our way to the General Post Office.  It’s still hard to visualize all that went down here.

We explored a bit more by streetcar, then decided to call it a day.

We hopped on the train back to Maynooth.  Three of us fell asleep.

With jet lag and Ireland not getting dark until 11p, we unintentionally stayed up kinda late the first few nights.  We rushed to get into a pub before the kitchen closed.  O’Neill’s took us in, thankfully.

It was a long day, and a lot of fun.  I was glad the boys got to see a bit of the big city.