Easter in Dublin

We went to church at the Immaculate Conception (Adam & Eve) Catholic Church for Easter.  During English rule, the Franciscans secretly said Mass in the Adam and Eve Tavern, where the popular name of the present church comes from.  It was just down the street from our apartment.  It was so beautiful inside.

A picture from the Internet:

But sadly, the service was disappointing.  Surprisingly, there was barely anyone there.  The girls were not in the mood to behave.... which since it was only a 40 minute service, wasn't too much of a headache.  And according to Matt, the hymns were not appropriate for Easter.  I didn't really notice.  It was nice to hear some traditional hymns instead of the honky tonk we have at the church here.  One very nice thing, several people, including a priest sought the girls out after church to give them chocolate bunnies.  Lots of chocolate bunnies.  I think people were surprised to see little girls in church!

After Church, we had brunch at the Queen of Tarts.  It was excellent!  One of the things we miss most in Brussels is a good breakfast/brunch restaurant.  It reminded me of Flying Biscuit, J. Christopers and a handful of other places we've gone to in Roswell minus grits, of course.

After brunch we headed out to see The Book of Kells.  It's not something you can photograph, so follow the wikipedia link above for some pictures.  It is an illustrated book created by Irish Monks ca. 800.

Afterwards, we headed to St. Stephens Green, where I was able to do an impromptu photo shoot with the girls.  It was about 38F outside.  So I had to work quick to get some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses with the added bonus of some tulips as a backdrop!!

 Very Olan Mills-ish, if I do say so myself!

Afterwards, we found a park for some more swinging.....

See how bundled up the girls really were!!  Brrrrrrr!!

After the park, we headed to the National Museum of Archaeology.  Odd choice, you say? It actually rates 3 stars in Rick Steve's book.  And free and inside!!  And it is pretty small, so we were able to do a quick walk thru, escape the cold, warm up for a bit and see some interesting artifacts from Irish history.

We finished off our Easter day at the Brazen Head Pub, the oldest pub in Ireland, also right around the corner from our apartment.  There was some traditional  music playing in one of the rooms.  We couldn't really get a good view of the musicians as it was packed in that particular room, but we were able to hear the music from the room our table was in, and we enjoyed a nice pub dinner.  Not exactly a traditional Easter dinner, but it hit the spot.  And the girls entertained others dancing around, too.

For the rest of my pictures from Easter (mostly photo shoot outtakes), here is my album:  Easter in Dublin