Europe Trip: Day 8

It was another beautiful day…clear skies and low humidity. An optional breakfast was from 7-10 a.m., however most of the team decided to take advantage and slept until the last minute before we boarded the coach. We were scheduled to take a tour around Dublin City for most of the morning, but had the remainder of the day to ourselves. On the coach tour we visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the President’s House, Dublin Castle, Dublin City Hall, and many other attractions that make Dublin fascinating. Throughout the city was the famous Georgian style which is the most characteristic architecture feature of Dublin. It was developed as a symbol of the relative prosperity of the city during the 18th century and its primary feature is the repetition of geometric figures such as semicircles. Despite the repetition of elements, not two Georgian doors are exactly equal. Although the coach tour around Dublin was immensely educational, the team honestly enjoyed the tour. At 13:30 we had a buffet-style lunch at O’Neill’s Pub in Dublin. After lunch we shopped around the city looking for flags and family crests as decorations for our off-campus house this fall. However, the most exciting part of the day was when Cooper MacDonell and I were invited to play a round of golf at a local links with Eric and Mr. Lusby. Our tee-time was scheduled for 16:00 at the Deer Park Hotel & Golf Resort in Dublin. The hotel and course are located at the grounds of the Howth Castle in North County Dublin (http://www.deerpark-hotel.ie/). The wind picked up late in our round, but the weather held up and we were able to finish all 18-holes. Unfortunately, Cooper and Mr. Lusby ended up beating me and Eric, but just being able to play golf in Ireland was more exciting to me. We were pretty exhausted after the round and decided on pizza for dinner at Godfather’s Pizzeria, a two-minute walk from our hotel. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.