Our ferry arrived at the Dublin Ferryport at 5:55 a.m. We slept a bit here and there. Jake got kicked in the head by a stranger. He just rolled over and went back to sleep. So did the stranger. We spent the night on benches in a deli. Honestly, the boat was very nice... almost like a cruise ship. It was just that the trip began at 2:40 a.m. and we were too exhausted to enjoy the amenities.

We caught a bus into Dublin City Centre and made our way to the Best Western Royal Dublin Hotel . They didn't have both of our rooms ready, despite a call from London warning of our expected early morning arrival. After a comedy of errors, including walking into a room that had not been made up, we found a temporary room and all caught another 40 winks.

Breakfast was soon in order, so we started a food search. Traditional Irish breakfast is kind of a hybrid between Scottish and English. We ate what we needed to and began wandering our way around our newfound home.

The first stop was Trinity College, where we took a guided tour and then visited the historic Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscript of the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  It was a great exhibit. Our tour guide was exceptional and helped us to forget our weariness and the previous 24 hours of travel woes. At the end of the tour, we spent quite a bit of time in a crowded bookstore, but many treasures were found. Plus, it was raining outside .

After Trinity, we wandered in the direction of Dublin Castle, but once we got there weren't really sure what it was all about. Instead of taking a guided tour, we opted for tea and research. Our research told us not to bother with the Castle interior, so we didn't.

From there it was back to the hotel, wandering through the Temple Bar area. We scoped out lots of places that featured live traditional Irish music for dinner later in the evening. Once back at the hotel, we regrouped and finally entered the blogs for the previous two days. They had been written; we just hadn't found any internet connection.

Dinner and music became our next objectives. We found dinner at a place called the Bull and Castle Gastro Pub and Restaurant. (Gastro?) Our common dinner choice was Irish Lamb Stew, which was good but left all of us longing for steak and Guinness pie. Our waitress was an American . Booh!

Heading back toward Temple Bar, we tried to find some traditional Irish music and initially had no luck. Fortunately, we stumbled onto a place where the entire second floor (first floor, as they would say here), was devoted just to what we were looking for. The music was great.  Volunteer musicians have shown up each night for the last 16 years and they manage to put together some great tunes having never formally rehearsed together. "We are not a band" said the lead singer. ("That way, no one can get kicked out.") We bought CDs and very much enjoyed the unique Irish style of music. The room was full of people from all over the world, and we especially enjoyed seeing the Germans singing along to Irish folk songs that we didn't even know the words to. This was definitely a highlight of our Dublin experience and put all of us in a great mood.