Christ Church Cathedral

After the Dublinia exhibit, we headed into Christ Church Cathedral.  I'm such a sucker for European Cathedrals.  The most beautiful one I've ever been in was Notre Dame in Reims, France.  However, Christ Church in Dublin was gorgeous, and they also gave access to the 'catacombes' (basement, really) under the church. 

Stained glass windows, and the intricacies of the stone and marble sarcophagus always astonish me in how beautiful and respectful they are.  I find myself staring at them, sometimes overcome with a sense of awe in the devotion it must have taken to make such beautiful works of art. 

I hope you enjoy these pictures of this beautiful cathedral.

Strongbow's Effigy.  Don't know who Strongbow was?  Check out here.

I loved this gorgeous little statue in the cathedral.

Costumes used in 'The Tudors' cable tv show.  If you haven't watched it, watch it.  I was fascinated by the display of costumes they had, and apparently much of the series was actually filmed in Ireland.

Dublinia

Did you know that Dublin is, in essence, a Viking settlement?  There is a large museum, Dublinia, hosted inside Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, all about the Vikings while they ruled Dublin.  Did you know that Leif Ericson is thought to have discovered American in 1000AD?  Well, we had a good time exploring the Dublinia museum and learning lots of new things about the Vikings.

Our cute little Vikings!

The Dublin Zoo

Jon and I have been talking a lot about how we need to incorporate the kids more into our travels.  That's not to say that we don't take them.  But, I think while we are touring and driving and discovering so many amazing things about Europe we need to do a better job of including them in the history or information of what we are experiencing.  True, we've done this, and most of the time, they could care less.  But we believe it's very important that they understand and remember these times that we are experiencing right now.

Ireland was a big part of this process.  And so, the first full day of Ireland we decided we would do something really fun for the kids.  We went to the Dublin zoo and had an amazing time.  Jon had a 'moment' with one of the chimpanzees as he looked at him through the glass in a weird, kind of knowing way.  I joked with him that he was wondering how Jon got out.  Joci followed Joe trying to jump a mud puddle and landed, unfortunately, face first into said mud hole with her arms tucked inside her jacket.  She was quite literally covered head to toe in mud.  I was never so happy that I brought some wipes in my purse that day.

This sweet tiger was pacing back and forth right in front of a huge glass window for us.

This big guy was amazing.  He was begging for pieces of our apple, but didn't put forth a lot of effort to do it.  He just sat there and held out his hand.

An African Sulcata tortoise just like what our tortoise at home will look like when he is older.

Joe had so much fun snapping pictures of all the animals.

Who is that adorable little penguin in the back there?

The California Sea Lions were hilarious.  They swam around and would play king of the platforms with each other.  We decided that they must have been siblings as much as they fought and played at the same time.

Joci's favorite animal in the zoo is the Flamingo.  We had to circle back just so we could get a picture of her in front of them.  Side note...here you can see some remnants of the mud puddle that Jocelyn fell into.

I'm not sure how this little red panda found such comfort being perched up on top of this pole, but he looks cozy to me.

Love this picture of the kids.