It is, my dear ones, chilly and damp here in good ol' Ireland! Rained most of the afternoon, but I had remembered the umbrella, so, no worries there.
Today we went to Christ Church Cathedral. Yet another spectacular place! Check it out.
As we were walking in the door, all these young men were carrying in boxes of something. We saw them unpacking them and it was all these black cubes. Interesting, but not worth wasting time to stick around and see what it was. So, we mosied on through the beautiful old church... then heard someone playing the piano... then voices raised in song. Well, it turns out the black cubes were makeshift risers and all those young men were the Glee Club from the University of Northern Iowa. Sat ourselves down and gave a listen and it was magnificent. Seems they were rehearsing for a performance tonight. They desparately tried to keep their eyes on their imposing director, but once in a while we saw eyes wandering... How could they not when they realized they were singing in this remarkable place. We chatted with a few after they practiced and John and I both remarked that they should make the most of this evening. We both have crystal clear memories of those choir trips from college days... he singing in Canada, me in Scotland and Germany. I know that the experience of an impromptu performance at the Cologne Cathedral is something I will NEVER forget. (And, let's not spend too much time thinking about the fact that it was almost 35 years ago!)
After that, we went the Dublin Castle,
and saw some remarkable architecture. The young man who was our guide was sheer delight and full of animated stories. Certainly not the staid and overly reverental docent one sometimes get. Great fun... through the rain, no doubt.
Then it was off for St. Patricks... where my feet completely wore out. Another beautiful kirk, though smaller than I had imagined. We're thinking that's where we'll head tomorrow for church, assuming I sleep better tonight than last night. Fingers are crossed.
We caught a bus (getting pretty good at the bus system business!) and headed to look for some supper. Finally decided that if McDonald's has salads, we'd grab a few of those and head back to the room where we could kick back and relax. All things worked together and that's exactly what we did, enjoying a rather unusual gameshow on BBC1. Ah, culture!
And... here we are, blogging to keep everyone informed!
We DID make a stop at the post office today, so we'll get started on those postcards, ASAP!
Tomorrow... a very interesting bookstore John discovered in one of the guidebooks and that we saw today... so, know right where it is! Boy... would sure be helpful if they ship!
We're going to try to call Alex tomorrow. WE tried yesterday, but no one was home. Again, fingers crossed!
Love to all!
Dawn
