Ireland: Day 1

We just returned from our trip to Ireland! I decided to break the trip up for the blog because we did so many things and have a ton of pictures.  

Our flight to JFK was about 4 hours and from there we flew another 6 1/2 to Dublin. My amazing mom came to Utah and spent the week watching Jackson and Bode, and we took Davis with us. Davis was a champ and slept almost the entire time in the little bassinet thing they gave us. 

I knew we were far from home in the Dublin airport when a worker told us we'd find our "buggy by the lift" (stroller by the elevator). Even though our flight to Dublin was a red-eye, neither Sean or I got much sleep. When we arrived, (7 hours ahead) it was morning. Rather than waste our first day sleeping, we took everyone's advice and powered through the jet lag and set out to explore the city. 

Our first stop was Trinity College where we went and saw the Book of Kells (a 9th-century manuscript containing the four Gospels of the New Testament). Pictures were not allowed, but here is an example of what we saw:

Crazy detailed, and cool to think they were created around 800 AD.

After the Book of Kells, we visited the old library at Trinity College. I don't really know how to describe it other than say it was amazing. Two very tall stories of very old books lining a very long room. 

I loved the ladders!

Built in the early 1700s and home to 200,000 of the library's oldest books. Is it weird that this is one of my very favorite pictures from the entire trip?

Next we went and checked out Saint Patrick's Cathedral. 

It was beautiful inside and out. It was amazing to me that even though it was built in 1220, it is still a working cathedral. There were a lot of cool artifacts inside-- I really liked the old flags hanging in the rafters. I thought it was cool, too, that it is home of the first choir to sing Handel's "Messiah" (combined with the choir from Christ's Church Cathedral). 

Down the street a few blocks is Christ's Church Cathedral.

We also spent some time walking through the Temple Bar section of the city, which is known for its narrow, cobbled streets, colorful buildings, pubs, and shops!

Despite the jet lag, we had a great first day and were excited for the week ahead!