Our day in Dublin!

What a great day in Dublin!  We started by going to Croke Park where Gaelic Football and Hurling are played.  Croke Park is amazing!  It will hold 82,400 people…and it’s totally an amateur field.  Some of the biggest, most famous athletes in the country are amateur…they’re your ordinary, everyday citizen. 

This is the standing only section

Some facts about Croke…it’s the 4^th largest stadium in Europe and the largest amateur sports stadium in the world.  They started building it in 1993, but it wasn’t completed until 2005. It took so long because they would only work on it when games weren’t going on.  The field was being used, but the park was being built around it.  For 160 years, this has been a sports field! The field is 144 x 90 meters.  September is the month…the month when the finals are played for both Gaelic football and hurling.  Every Sunday in September, a finals game is played.  The mens games are always sold out, and the women’s will attract crowds of between 25,000 – 30,000. 

There is a standing only section, which is tiered, called “Hill 16.”  On November 21, 1920, 14 people, including one player, were killed when troops opened fire during a football match between Dublin and Tipperary.  This was during the Irish War of Independence. 

The GAA is the Gaelic Athletic Association. It was started in by a man named Michael Cusack in 1884.   There is a statue of him right outside the main entrance to the park.

A gentleman named Cian (pronounced Key-in), told us all this information and more.  He told us that Dublin is now the football champions.  He and his father attended the game when they won against Kerry.  Kerry is the most successful football champions, winning 36 titles, while Dublin, who has won the second most, has won 23!  During that final game, Cian told us his seat cost 80 euro, but when he was walking in, he was offered 1200 euro for his two seats.

 The player who kicked the winning goal was a high school science teacher!  Ordinary people…doing extraordinary things is how the football players are described.

After being inside the stadium, we went into the GAA Museum.  The delegates were able to try their hand at all parts of the games.  I think this whole experience was a major highlight for almost everyone.

 This wall is actually right outside the doors of Croke Park.

From there we went into Dublin and had a walking tour of the city.  There is the Millenium Spire which was actually finished in 2003.  It’s 398 feet tall and is a landmark for finding your way around the town. 

 Lunch at Flanagan's!

We saw the Post Office which still has some of the bullet holes from the 1916 rebellion…we walked across the ‘Half Penny Bridge” which was built in 1888.  It was the first bridge over the River Liffey.  They used to charge half a penny to cross…thus the name!  In 1902, the toll was stopped.  There is a tradition on the bridge to get a lock, write your name and your sweethearts name on the side, and lock it on the bridge.  If you do that, you will stay together forever!

 The Millenium Spire

 The Post Office

 This is in the Temple Bar area of Dublin.

 The Half Penny Bridge

 In the Temple Bar area

We went to the Temple Bar area…with cobblestone streets.  It is part of the medieval part of Dublin.   It’s famous for its bars, street performers, etc.  William Temple was the first dean of Trinity College, where we also went, and the area is named after him.  Trinity College is gorgeous…and it was built in 1592.  Before the college, a church was on the grounds called All Hallows Church.  There is a superstition that if you walk under their bell tower, you’ll fail all your university exams.  We had quite a few delegates a bit worried when it started to rain and we told them to get under the bell tower.

 Fence around Trinity College

The Bell Tower

 Kim taking photos with her iPad

We learned that Irish citizens don’t have to pay for their undergraduate degrees…just their masters and PhDs.  A number of Americans come to Trinity for medical degrees.  A 6 year medical degree only cost about $70,000 (dollars, not euros)…a good deal!

The delegates were then divided up for a quiz…wandering through Dublin to find the answers…then they went out again in groups of at least 5 for 2 hours of free time. I took pictures of the groups as they returned from their quiz...

 While the students were on their quest for answers to their quiz, I was on my quest for a scone with clotted cream and jam!  I found it!

 Just roaming around Dublin!

 After the quiz and free time, groups were waiting for everyone to return...

Here we are now, back at the hotel, and many are down swimming.  We have a very early morning tomorrow…on the coach at 6 a.m., catching a ferry for Wales at 8 a.m.

What an exciting day this was!

It’s just about the end of Day 4