So today we were scheduled to leave Dublin and head out to the Irish countryside. We opted for a late check out so that we can enjoy some time touring around Dublin. After a hearty international breakfast at the hotel which consisted of eggs, sausage, potatoes, strawberry pastry and what I thought was sausage. It wasn't sausage turned out it was pudding but in Ireland pudding isn't your typical gooey creamy stuff…nope! It is this sausage like food made of various barley and grains with the main ingredient being pig's blood. Yes you read right pigs blood. If you're wondering whether I spitted it out or not, I didn't. At first I just thought it was some odd potato pancake type thing but then I recalled from watching a Samantha Brown Passport to Europe episode that pudding had a sausage like look about it but a very different taste. The joys of travel!

Our first stop of the day was Trinity College where the Book of Kells and the Long Libarary are located. We took a 30minute walking tour lead by a student who gave us rather entertaining view of the campus. There are two Oregon maple trees standing in the center grounds of the college but these trees are so huge because of all the rain Ireland gets as well as the ground in which they were planted in was a former burial cemetery area. So a nice fertilizer set in along with rain makes for the trees to grow so much taller than their counterparts in America!

The Book of Kells is a four set volume of the Gospels transcribed by Celtic Monks around 800 A.D. As Wikipedia says: "It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure. The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospels in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript's pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasize the themes of the major illustrations. The leaves are on high-quality calf vellum, and the unprecedentedly elaborate ornamentation that covers them includes ten full-page illustrations and text pages that are vibrant with historiated initials and interlinear miniatures and mark the furthest extension of the anti-classical and energetic qualities of Insular art. The Insular majuscule script of the text itself appears to be the work of at least three different scribes. The lettering is in iron-gall ink, and the colors used were derived from a wide range of substances, many of which were imports from distant lands." Now the exhibit only shows four books open to different things so you can see the different techniques the monks used. It was very cool to see up close and in person!

Then you walk up a flight of stairs and enter the Long Room to the library. Do you remember the scene in 'Beauty and the Beast' where he takes her to his library? Well picture the floor to ceiling books like that in rectangular shaped room. There were ladders that were attached to the ceiling so you can reach for the book up at the very top. Also you would noticed the books are not arranged in any Dewey decimal like system but rather from size, the biggest books are all together at the bottom and the smallest were up at the top. As our guide pointed out "there was no sense of order other than making the books look pretty on the shelf" so good luck with trying to find a book in there! The library contains 4.5 million books, including 30,000 current serials and significant collections of manuscripts, maps, and printed music. Book lovers would really like this place! The smell of old books was all around you.

After that we took the hop-on/hop-off bus to the outskirts of town where the Guiness Factory is located. They have this self guided tour of how the black stuff is made and at the end you head up to the top floor at the Gravity Bar where you turn in your ticket and get a free pint. The bar also has this totally amazing 360 degree view of Dublin. I'm sure some of you reading this is curious and wants to know if I did try a pint. Well I'm going to keep you guessing and only my travel mates will know! I did get my brother boxer shorts from there. J