Ireland- Dublin > Newgrange > North Ireland (Thursday)

This morning we got up early (7 AM), had our breakfast and drove down to Trinity College to look at the Book of Kells, an 8th century illuminated manuscript. Nice fonts. The college is also famous for Samuel Beckett, who (if you have ever seem him) looks like he just tripped a 220V circuit. We then caught an "Its a truck, its a boat, its a truck" tour of Dublin and some of its waterways. Way cool... We left Dublin and headed an hour north to visit Newgrange, built in 3200 BC, predating the Pyrimads. As cool as this was, I was deeply annoyed at the administration of the tour and the visitors center. It turns out that you can't but admission tickets at Newgrange, you have to drive 15 miles to the visitors center. Then you take a shuttle bus to Newgrange, see the sight, then take the shuttle back to the center. Very annoying. What should've taken an hour, took 3, but then while waiting for your bus you could always get something to eat at the visitor center coffee shop or shop in the gift shop... We then headed up to Northern Ireland. I was unsure what kind of security check point they would have at the border, but really the only thing that you could tell was a slight change in the pavement quality and the prices for gas changing from Euros to Pounds. I'd hoped to stop at a pub in Belfast for dinner, but our extended stay at Newgrange prevented that. So instead, we caught some mall food before it got to late. It was kind of wierd being in a shopping mall in Northern Ireland eating mall food listening to 80s classics by Lionnell Richie. We made it up to the coast just as a storm started. Tomorrow is a big outside day, so we shall see...