Ireland '23 - Day 3 - Dublin again  

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On Sunday, after another impressive breakfast, knowing the Archeology Museum would not open until 1 pm, I read the Judge's book for awhile, with coffee. 

Around 10 am I took a meandering walk across the City, in a NW direction, once again finding the Liffey & following it west to Heuston Station (Irish Rail). 

I walked 1/2 mile past the station, to check out the Museum of Modern Art, housed in an old military hospital. The property is an attractive open-space public park.

Dublin Temple Bar area River Liffey, looking west  
Heuston Station Museum of Modern Art WWI military convalescent hospital
back yard looking NE people walking dogs, looking west

The Modern Art collection had only one artist's works, which I didn't connect with, so I went back to the rail station, printed out tickets for tomorrow's train to Killarney, and then sat inside, with a Nero coffee, chatting with locals for 30 minutes.     

The LUAS tram Red Line runs past Heuston Station, crosses the Liffey and then runs east-west on the north side of the River. I switched to the Green Line at McConnell St., and headed south, back across the Liffey, to the Trinity stop. (The next LUAS stop heading south is Harcourt.) 

My fare was only 1.27 Euros, and an unlimited daily pass is 5.8 Euros.

I walked briefly through Trinity campus, and a friendly local showed me the south side exit, and then gave me directions to the Archeology Museum, based on the two pubs I would pass.      

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again (with some exceptions). 

Archeology Museum entrance  gold neck ornament from 1st century

about Celtic brooches  
Tara brooch, a Celtic era treasure 

After an hour or more looking at antiquities in low-lighting rooms, I started to fade out. I walked for 15 minutes to the National Gallery cafe for a scone & Americano, and again it helped. 

Later I strolled through St. Stephens Green, near some lakes, but took no photos. Multi-ethnic & multi-generational families were out, enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Dublin, and I heard many languages being spoken.  

I tried a different route back to the hotel & found a coffee shop with an amazingly good Portuguese pastry.

Later I enjoyed my third dinner at the Hotel, and was starting to feel recovered from the diurnal change. 

And after just two days of walking around, Dublin seemed much smaller. 

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Postscript - The Tara Brooch is an Irish Celtic brooch, from the 7th or 8th century, made of bronze, silver, and gold. It is decorated with 50 inserted panels with highly ornate filigree.

The brooch is widely considered to be the most complex & ornate of its kind, and would have been commissioned as a fastener for the cloak of a high-ranking Cleric, or, as a ceremonial insignia of high office, perhaps even for a Celtic-era King of Ireland (all from Wikipedia).

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