We had a great reunion and did some sightseeing together. The most important stop in Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse where the stout is made. It was a great place to visit as there was a storm raging outside.
We awoke to find Sunday a sunny morning so headed for Glendalough, a monastic settlement about an hour's drive from Dublin. The weather held up long enough for us to walk around the forest and visit the monastery.
In AD 498 a young monk called Kevin arrived here to meditate. He set up house in a Bronze Age tomb site and for 7 years slept on stones, wore animal skins, maintained a near starvation diet and made friends with the birds and animals. People then flocked to the place. The Viking raiders sacked the monastery at least four times between 775 and 1071. The English forces in 1389 almost completely destroyed it. The monastery finally died in the late 17th century.
Today the park is a popular place to walk and take the family dogs. It was quite busy for a cold day and is teeming in summer with visitors.
While D and D worked we cooked meals and even had a meal of NZ green-lipped mussels. In the day we caught up with laundry, emails and the blog. We headed into Dublin city and found the places we wanted to visit closed on a Monday but managed to get to Trinity College where hordes of graduands were waiting for their families.
We strolled around Dublin Castle and walked down Sniper Way (O'Connell Street).
