This morning, we took a bus tour around Dublin which was helpful to orient ourselves to the city. We got off the bus for a look at fairy doors on a wall and a peek at a church who’s bells began to ring as we looked on. I should mention that as we exited the bus, one of a pair of sisters inquired if I was Andrea’s mom. Now - I completely get that people may not open with, “So. You guys lesbians?” But for the love of Jesus. MOTHER?! They have to lead with that? Anyway. I hope a small anvil fell on that woman’s head just enough to shake that thought from her head. Not enough to hurt her. After that, it was a perfectly lovely day. Andrea and I went into the National Art Gallery. It’s free! They had a lot of creepy religious art - - you know, with Jesus bleeding and the like. Other paintings featured baby Jesus with the face of an old man. One small room had beautiful, back lit stained glass. One panel of the stained glass featured a rooster.
“Ah. You know that one? From the Bible? Peter betrays Jesus?” I said.
“No.” Andrea replied.
“Yeah - Jesus had told him that before the cock crowed 3 times, Peter would betray him. And Peter was like, ‘Nah. I’d never do that.’ And then he did. Realizing it as the cock did in fact crow a third time. And Peter cried and was like, ‘I’m a loser!’ I’m paraphrasing.” I explained.
“I like it.” Andrea said approvingly.
There was non-Jesusy art too, albeit it in the minority. An entire room was filled with paintings of famous Irish people - - like Bono from U2 and the author Maeve Binchy.
After the museum we hit some shops and then made our way over to the Guinness store front. The self-guided tour was better than many I’ve been on. We capped it off on the 7th floor where I handed my Guinness ticket over to Andrea, earning me best wife (or mother) points. The 7th floor was all glass walls which permitted a birds eye view of the city. We ended our tour at the expansive gift shop.
We went to an old pub by our hotel - - largely because of their Pride flag hanging outside and because it welcomed dogs. Andrea clearly misses our boys - she pointed out all pups we passed on the streets of Dublin and even pups painted into paintings. Sadly, there were no dogs in this pub today.