Free Day in Dublin!

    I began my free day in Belfast following my crowd. My crowd was going to the botanical gardens, so I went as well. The grounds were huge, it felt like a maze to me. The flowers were gorgeous, but the coolest part to me was the wildlife. I forget that places outside America are going to have slightly different wildlife, and I do mean slightly. There were squirrels, but some of them were so tiny or so grey. There was another animal that looked like an oriole with green legs and a chicken walk. It also enjoyed the water. It was very cool to see. Afterward, I met up with an old friend at Trinity College. The campus is absolutely stunning. The group had been there the day before. I flipped off the statue of the man who had previously said women would never graduate from Trinity, so I felt like a true student. Chantelle and I enjoyed a little lunch from the campus cafe while we watched people enjoy the day on the green grass. It was bizarre seeing a university treated like a tourist attraction (which it is). I hadn't seen so many people using a campus like they would a park.

     Following Trinity, we did a bit of shopping and wandering. We landed on a walking tour of Dublin Castle. It was beautiful inside. There were paintings spanning decades of individuals who had walked the halls. Every room had a new theme, and the paintings and sculptures reflected each theme. The Apollo room had been reconstructed from a different area of the castle, and it fit right in as if it had always been there. I greatly enjoyed the self-guided aspect of our tour. We were given a booklet that described the significance of the art and each of the rooms. It allowed me to spend time in the rooms I found most interesting, and to skim the ones that were overcrowded or less intriguing. 

    After Chantelle took her bus to the airport, some of us Americans decided to track down a beach. We decided to ride the rails to a beach that was a little less aesthetically fulfilling than those in Donegal. The waterline was far away, and we were left with some stinky, crackling seaweed. The sunset was nice. We wasted our time on some strangely placed stationary equipment, and then we journeyed home. Our grand attempt to enjoy Dublin's little nature was semi-successful.