The Book of Kells, Trinity College, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.

It was very difficult to roll out of bed this morning, but we managed to get downstairs and out of the room a little after 8 a.m. to start another day of touring.

It was a bit damp out and thankfully not raining as we walked from the hostel to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral is beautiful and one portion of the site is being repaired. There is a lovely grassy area with benches and swings adjacent to the cathedral and people were walking through the park as we took photos.

We continued walking until we reached Grafton Street where there were shops absolutely everywhere. We found a card shop with funny cards and a new artist we find amusing (www.edwardmonkton.com), had coffee and scones from Marks & Spencer, and were delighted to find a jewelry store at the end of the street that was closing and thus everything was on sale! I found a pair of white gold star earrings to replace the ones I bought in the Netherlands about 4 years ago, a claddagh ring, and a trinity knot necklace and ring.

Trinity College was just across the street from the jewelry store, so we walked across and into the gated campus. Kate found it amusing to take a picture of me taking pictures because that's all I've been doing - I have about 300 photos so far (from 3 days of travels). I hope to make it to the 1000 mark by the time we head back to the states.

At Trinity College we bought tickets to see The Book of Kells. It was amazing to see such craftsmanship and the attention to detail on each page of the book(s) in the collection.

We are now back in the Temple Bar area. We had crepes and lattes for lunch and have another two hours or so before we need to pick up our luggage from the hostel and take the bus to the airport for our flight to Glasgow.

The weather here is impeccable! It's windy, but nothing we can't handle. More later from Scotland - I hope to add more pictures late tonight.