Before I left on this trip I watched a few episodes of Bite Me With Dr. Mike on the Travel Channel. It made me want to burn my passport, yet here I am. And before I sat down to write today’s entry I read an email from my mom. She’d forwarded me an article in Vietnamese about some deadly spider that thrives under toilet seats in damp, cold climates. Ew. And unless I misunderstood something, there have been a few reported fatalities. I scratch my ear. Then my back.

The reason I relate any of this is because I was going to say how nice it’s been traveling through Dublin. Unlike some cities in Europe, you do not need to have coins on you to use the public restrooms here, and they are generally clean and plentiful. But after reading this email, I may have to rethink how to fit a disinfectant spray into my purse.

But dangerous insects or not, I must keep moving. Today we pick up not too far from the City Hall where a cluster of historic, beautiful buildings rises on both sides of the street:

 

Here and there you’d see a modern building trying to fit in:

 

But the behemoth structure that has no problem fitting into the landscape is Dublin Castle. Talk about prime real estate! I enter through the pedestrian entrance…

 

and the parking lot is the first thing I see in front of Norman Tower (formerly a prison) and the Chapel Royal–we’ve come a long way from the early 1200s:

 

It is from here that I go to check out a wonderful museum. I’ll leave you for now and tomorrow we’ll storm the castle together.