Dublin, culture and Howth

I think that we mentioned earlier about doing the two guided "free" walks in Dublin with Ann and Martin. They gave us a great insight into the background to the uprising, the futility of it, how German efficiency vs Irish organisation helped it fail, why the UK reacted as harshly as it did and how this created martyrs and an unstoppable momentum towards independence.  Well worth while (and good for the Fitbit step count of course).

We also revisited the lovely Malahide and helped the weekly step count even more with a walk around the picturesque waterfront:

After they headed home, we visited Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Never heard of it? Well, look at Wikipedia entry. A truly amazing 9th century manuscript with stunning details and still vivid colours. Images are available on line here. You also get to visit the awesome old library built in the early 1700s:

As you can see, you get to visit it with plenty of other people so we tried to cut them out in this picture to give you a feeling for the atmosphere in the building. Lovely lovely place:

The outside of the college isn't bad either:

It was known as "The English College" as it was built by the British during their rule and was run according to the anti-catholic rules in place at the time. A lovely oasis of calm in the middle of a busy and expanding city now:

We also took the train to Howth to say farewell to our cruising companions for much of this summer - Andrew (aka Crocodile Dundee) and Linda on Zephyros. Their daughter and two grandchildren were visiting and so we had plenty of entertainment (and lunch). The crew did a little baby minding:

and managed to avoid any tears, tantrums and regurgitated food issues. The baby behaved as well.

The crew seemed worryingly good at baby minding. Izzy our goddog has puppies en route. Not sure if this apparent ability with a baby would transfer to training a puppy.