Dublin

Bethany says... We are staying at a very small, but very posh room in Dublin. I definitely prefer this to the Hostel that we stayed at in London (The hostel smelled like a huge locker room). We are not spending much time in the room. Today we visited The Ark in Dublin, a children's Museum. Their exhibit was Masks around the world, and they had Mummer Mask from Ireland. Jill and I talked about making some for our students when we get back. The mummer mask is woven with reeds (basket with decorations). I think the students will really enjoy creating a mask to use during interactive play (centers).

Our plans now are to go to Imaginosity...

Jill says......So much to do, so little time. After The Ark yesterday, we took the DART (overground train) for a ride out to Howth. I didn't know much about the town, other than it was supposed to be beautiful. I am glad we went. We ate some really fresh seafood and then hiked a mile or two up towards the cliffs that overlooked the ocean. Check out the pictures. It was gorgeous, and we took a million pictures. Unfortunately, the rain followed us out there after we had been there for a few hours, and we got soaked. Dublin has been very rainy and cold so far. We took the DART back into Dublin, got refreshed, and headed out to dinner. We decided to try Gallagher's Boxty House because Rachel Ray had gone there on a show about Dublin, and it is only one block down the street from our hotel. A boxty is a thick potato pancake that is filled with things like chicken or beef with different types of sauces. It was...interesting. I enjoyed Bethany's beef one, but I was not so happy with the one I ordered. I am glad that we tried it, though. It is a traditional Irish food, and we are in Ireland!

Last night we went out to listen to some live Irish music, referred to as trad in Ireland. This has got to be my most favorite thing about Ireland! I LOVE that music, and we are very fortunate to be staying across the street from many places that have live music every night. I cannot wait to go back again tonight, and I will definitely be purchasing some cd's as souvenirs before we leave.