A Scrap of Life

Today was a busy day in Dublin! We started out bright and early for the long walk to our first adventure. We could have taken a bus or taxi, but Brian and I enjoy learning more about a city by walking through it. The temperature was in the 30’s when we left and could be breezy at times so we were glad we had purchased our new wool items yesterday. Along the walk I found my heart for Ireland, which was on the utility covers there. I'm sure it's some logo, but it has a heart and I love it! Kilmainham Gaol was our first stop. It’s an old jail built in the late 1700’s that was in use until the early 1900’s. It housed not only men but also women and children, the youngest only 7 years old. There is so much history in the jail and it helped us understand more about both the history of Ireland and the conditions in which it’s residents lived (and were punished). It held participants from most of the Irish rebellions and our guide shared some of their stories with us in the tour. At th...

Today started with a long walk from our hotel to Vatican City. We left really early so we had time to stop by a few churches we found on the way. We also passed by some beautiful buildings. When we arrived at the Vatican, we split off and headed first to the museum. We listened to a Rick Steves audio tour for most of it and saw some cool things.  The Sistine Chapel was pretty cool, but it was packed with people! My favorite part actually ended up being the spiral staircase when leaving the museum, so I think that explains how impressed I was  with the museum. Lol Here's the spiral staircase from the top... ... and looking up from the bottom. Up next was St Peters Basilica. It took us a bit to get in but we spent quite a lot of time looking around. Between the two spots, we spent about 3 hours in Vatican City. Before heading back, Brian stopped and chatted with three police officers. He gave them each a patch or a coin and they were so impressed, one of them took the patc...