Not much to report on today, as it seems we overstayed Ireland by 1 day and therefore did very little today (alternately, you could say that I planned a Sunday return only to find out our return flight was MONDAY which left us with an extra day in Dublin…)
With this in mind, I booked us tickets on-line for the Kilmainham Gaol. We tried to go at the start of the trip only to discover that this tour sells out quickly and you can’t get day-of tickets at all in high season. Our tour was at 1:00 and was a 45 min walk from our hotel so we had to be up and out the door by around noon. Needless to say this was a struggle for Mitchell. (I can also tell we have over-stayed by at least a day because we are all getting a bit crabby…)
PRO-TIP: For future Ireland travellers, book your Gaol tour on-line in advance and buy a 1-day Hop-On Hop-off bus ticket (for the green bus) for the same day. The bus tour is totally worth it, and as a bonus, one of the stops it makes is right in front of the Gaol. Hop off at the Gaol, then hop back on for the part of the tour that takes you past where the 1916 rebellion took place.
The Goal is infamous for being the site of the execution by firing squad of 14 leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. Prior to this, the prison was no picnic – it struggled with public opinion due to conditions of overcrowding (during the potato famine when people were trying to get arrested in order to get food), imprisonment of young children for (extremely) petty crimes and lack of prisoner segregation. However it wasn’t until after the Easter Rising executions that saw the end of Kilhainmen as a Gaol and still decades more of neglect before it was restored as a tour/museum.
The nicer part of the Gaol
Mitchell investigates what university residence will be like
After that, all we had to do was visit St Patrick’s cathedral again, so Mitchell could buy gifts for a couple of friends. We did have to beg our way in to avoid paying the admission fee (again) since we just wanted to visit the gift shop. This was harder than it should have been, IMO (“please let us just go into the gift shop to spend some money, we’ve already visited the church and are not planning to do that again” … “we are not supposed to do that if you don’t have a ticket stub”). Finally the gatekeeper relented “because it was Sunday”.
So now, we are just passing time in the airport hotel, waiting to get up at 5:30 to head to the airport for our sardine-like 9-hour flight back home. Kinda looking forward to seeing my house, just saying …
No post tomorrow, as it will just be the reverse of Day 1.
This wraps up Ireland … thanks for reading! Sláinte!