Ireland trip Day 14 Dublin

Having the whole day free after breakfast I was off to Glasnevins Cemetery.  Scott and Bri having told me all about it after their trip last year I had been looking forward to visiting there.  This was a true adventure as my map did not go as far north as Glasnevins!  Mark had looked up the bus I would need to take (the 13A) as it was too far to walk.  First, I had to find a news agent to buy a day pass for the bus.  The one the hotel directed me to no longer sold them, hum what to do?  After consulting the map I decided to walk to O'Connell Street which wasn't all that far, just over the River Liffey!  I found a news agent selling passes before I got there, then found the proper sign to wait by for the 13A.  It seems that all the buses come to O'Connell street, there a lot of possible signs to look at.  When the 13A arrived I sat down next to a young lady and asked for her help for where I was to get off,  had no idea about that.  She was unsure but helpful.  Riding north for a while on the left side of the road (after two weeks I'm still not used to that!) she thought we had gone past it, maybe.  I thought we had as well as I saw a sign for the Botanical Gardens and I knew the two were fairly close together.  Across the aisle another lady (who was about my age) was helping another gentleman so I asked her how to get there.  "Well," she said, "you've gone past.  So what you'll have to do is get off this bus, cross over the street and catch the 13 back towards the city.  The 13 mind you, not the 13A. Ask the driver where to get off."  After thanking her, feeling about 10 years old after the Mind you thing, I did as she said.  The driver put me off about two blocks away so I got to walk by this sign and the tower it speaks off.

The Cemetery was founded by Daniel O'Connell (remember him from the Ring of Kerry?) and it is neither a Catholic nor a Protestant cemetery.  The Glasnevins Trust is attempting to conserve the thousands of headstones by pulling them up out of the ground (without footings they sink at least several feet and some completely), repairing as necessary and re-paving 9 miles of footpaths.  It is a long and expensive proposition.

This is the inside of the tower which is over the O'Connell family vault, the tower walls are 8 feet thick and there was once a stairway inside but someone set a bomb off in there and destroyed them, didn't hurt the tower itself though.  I'm told the view from the top is fabulous!  There are many famous and infamous folks buried there; Michael Collins (whose grave is never without fresh flowers left by the people-not the cemetery), and Eamon de Valera whose grave is the most often vandalized.  He was arrested by the Brits with a number of others but not executed with them due to the fact that he held an U.S. passport!  He went on to be President of the Republic of Ireland-but not a very popular one!  This cemetery also allows the burial of infants who have not been baptized,  Irish Catholic cemeteries will not allow these infants to be buried on hallowed ground.  I think they said there are over 9,000 babies buried there.  The trust is also re-habbing one of the gate-keepers houses to be used as a school for graveyard conservation,  a much needed skill throughout the world.

After an interesting tour through the cemetery and the museum associated with it I caught the bus back to O'Connell street without all the excitement of the ride out.  Once there I caught the bus for the Guiness Storehouse.  It's hard to tell when to get off the bus, sigh.  This time I got off too soon and walked a lot farther than I needed to, ah well.

I took the tour of the museum which is several stories high.  It tells the story of how the ale is made from the choice of ingredients on.  You can taste roasted hops, even, tasted like burnt nuts.  There are exhibits of all kinds- history, advertising etc.  One which took my interest was around this sign

I actually took this photo in Sneem, remember the tidy village on the Ring of Kerry?  At some point in time this was their slogan and people actually believed it.  I don't know why I find that surprising-Americans believed the advertising around soap. OOPS off subject!  Anyway, the storehouse was interesting but had a clear glass escalator between each floor out in open space (kind of don't look down space) and I have vertigo.  I took it for about 7 escalators then I'd had enough!  Found an elevator and got out of there.  Went back to the city center on the bus again with much less excitement and went shopping again.  I looked at  lots of stuff but nothing reached up and said "Buy Me" so I left empty handed.

For our last night in Ireland we had a farewell dinner at the Brazen Head pub.
The food was good, the conversation better.  Back at the hotel we gathered one last time for a group photo, that some crazy Irishmen crashed--too funny!

 
Then it was off to pack for home.