Trip to Dublin of the Republic of Ireland

6th April, 01 (Fri) - Day Three

Nice jail and museum

The weather was as bad as the previous days but we still set off our journey in the early morning. While waiting for the bus, we met the same group of guys whom we had asked to take a photo for us outside the Malahide Caslte the previous day. They seemed to come from Europe and join a tour with many other people. We didn't talk to them, though we aimed at the same tourist spot - the Kilmainham Gaol, a jail telling of the Ireland's struggle for independence.

The more-than-an-hour guided tour was worth the money (only IR£1.5 for students) and highly recommended. It included a 25-minute audiovisual film about the history of the prison and a detailed history of Irish independence given by a nice, pretty female guide in Standard English, who later gave us an advice with another four-eyed male staff on where to go in Dublin, how to get to some places and helped us check whether a tourist spot was open or not (like Glendalough, which we had planned to travel but gave up because of its closure due to the foot-and-mouth disease.

The Irish Museum of Modern Art, recommended by that pretty female guide, was also another nice establishment. Built and open for only a decade, it has a collection of creative works. Though I've got no flair for art and I may not know how to appreciate those works, I still enjoyed the visit a lot.

Another reason for my liking for the museum is I left 'my work' there. There was a room on the first floor where anything can be made by the visitors out of the materials provided. The room is perhaps specially designed for the children with lots of works created by them on the walls of the room. But we gave it a try anyway (maybe we thought we were still very young) and we took a photo with our great works then.

Cathedrals and castles are typical tourist attractions everywhere in the UK and Ireland. This time in Dublin we visited the Christ Church Cathedral and the Dublin Castle. In fact we just took a photo outside the castle.

The dinner this evening was considered the worst. We had an expensive all-day breakfast , which included an egg, bacon and some toasts, at the Bewley's Oriental Cafe where Chinese characters could be found on the walls. The black puddings on our plates were the least popular and I'm afraid they've already been added to the black list of our meals!

We were arranged to share another room and bathroom with two girls from Durham tonight. While we were trying hard to do some readings for our study on the bed, the girls were busy putting make-up on their faces, prepared to go for a party, we guess. Dublin was famous for its pubs (e.g at Temple Bar) but we were not interested in going to any pub during our four-day trip.

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