Today we took a trip to the Irish countryside to see the Newgrange tomb. We went in search of the hotel that the shuttle would pick us up in front of, but couldn't find it. After a frustrating search we realized the hotel was under construction when the shuttle all of the sudden appeared in front of it, Knight bus-style, almost running us over as it parked on the sidewalk. After our narrow miss we enjoyed a nice ride out to the countryside. It was beautiful. We walked through the museum at Bru na Bonne and then took a shuttle to New Grange- a five thousand year old mound tomb that was constructed so that the sun would directly enter the doorway on the winter solstice and light up the interior. It is amazing the ingenuity that these Neolithic people had. It was incredible to be standing in the same place that people stood 5,000 years ago. The tour was really neat, and it didn't hurt that our tour guide was a cute, funny Irish boy.
Claire decided that Newgrange was the perfect place to begin her search for a Leprechaun...
We took another trip down Grafton street to experience it while more awake than yesterday. We stopped and watched some street performers- a really awesome group of Irish guys. After listening for awhile we continued down Grafton street and happened upon St. Stephen's Green, which is a really beautiful park with tons of brightly colored tulips.
For dinner we headed to the Temple Bar area. We decided on Gallagher's Boxty House for some traditional Irish fare: the boxty- a potato pancake with meat fillings. I got corned beef and cabbage in mine and Claire got chicken. She says it tasted just like a chicken pot pie. They were delicious. And we had yummy Bailey's cheesecake for dessert. After a quick turn around the rest of Temple Bar and a brief run-in with a nice, crazy old Irish guy we headed back to our hostel to call it a night.
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