March 31--Dublin

After a full Irish breakfast, served by the delightful Elena, we set out on foot for Dublin city center. We passed through St. Stephen's Green, a significant and lovely city park with sports fields, ponds, ducks and a riot of blooming bushes and trees. Daffodils were popped out everywhere. As two visitors, who had seen only snow on the ground for months, we were thrilled. We carried on to Trinity College where we saw the Book of Kells, a famous 9th century manuscript rendering of the four gospels by Irish monks. The pages featured their uniform script as well as colorful and intricate drawings with stunning symbols including Celtic knots, figures of real and 
inspired beasts and various Christian symbols.


Upon departing Trinity, we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, built in 1220, where we lit candles for our mothers. While grand, we found the interior generally stark, with little color, even in the stained glass windows.  The exception was the exquisite tile floor with a stunning geometric pattern and a riot of color.

We decided on a picnic lunch in our room so that John would not be late for  the first of three classes in Irish fiddling at the Walton School of Music. While John was in class, I had a massage, which certainly eased the rigors of travel. John was very pleased with his teacher and with new techniques that he learned.  Spending several days in Dublin, so he could attend the lessons, was proving to be a good choice. 

Since we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Farm on Sunday, we decided to return and had a marvelous meal of lamb with a spectacular bottle of Chateauneuf de Pape. We both said "Wow!" after our first sip. 

My nightly toast was to" the daffodils in St. Stephen's Green." John's was to his "first music lesson." 

After dinner and our walk back to Number 31, we retired to watch BBC, this evening less successfully. We both fell asleep watching Silk. Jet lag was catching up with us.