A Quick Run - Nov 2013

Last weekend I took the opportunity to make a run to one of my favorite places, Val Dieu Abbey, just inside the Belgian border from Germany. The purpose of this trip was two fold. First, was to introduce a couple of my old friends who recently moved to Germany to my favorite Abbey and current favorite beverage and cheese source. Two, and most important, a beer run. A fairly short trip, but a pleasant one.

This trip was doubly exciting, the first is because we were able to see the Abbey and it's park in a fall setting, wandering it's park with changed leaves and a slight nip in the air. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me to take any new pictures, so some old summer pictures will have to suffice. The other reason that this was a great trip was that the Abbey had a seasonal Christmas beer "Biere de Noel". Which none of us knew was going on and tasted fantastic.

Our trip entailed sitting down to lunch and enjoying the meal and a Belgian beer or two. Almost all of use ordered the Noel beer to try, and everyone loved it. I also tried a new meal here, the duck (or Canard) dish. After enjoying a meal under a portion of the gears using water power in part of the brewing process, we purchased what beers we thought we might like to take home to share with friends and then wandered the Abbey's park for awhile. Enjoying the fall scenery and letting our delicious food settle. After that we hopped back in the cars and drove home content and happy.  I think part of the reason I enjoy this Abbey so much is just the chance to wander around such a beautiful park for a few minutes, and praise God for such a wonderful place.

Illustrious Italy Fall 2013

So, I know it's been a while since I last posted, more than a while actually, and I'm a few trips behind. Hopefully I'll get to them but for the most part I am going to skip past my trips to Barcelona/Pamplona, Spain and a second trip to Brussels, Belgium and hopefully I'll post them later. I want to jump to my most recent trip to Italy, which will also be a pretty long post since we did so much.

Our first night into Italy we stayed in the hotel Grand Hotel Duca di Mantova in Sesto San Giovanni outside of Milan. I have to admit, this was just a basic hotel and we didn't go into Milan on this trip so I don't have much to report. All in all, a reasonable hotel with adequate food in the restaurant. Nothing to shout home about but comfortable.

The next day we started our drive into western Italy, towards our next destination of Savona, near Albenga. Two of our cars GPS's took us along the Mediterranean Coast, which while a slow and somewhat tedious drive at ~50-60kph, was very beautiful with clear blue sky and water along the coast. The other two took a more direct route of the Autostrada. Ironically we only arrived ~10 – 15 minutes apart. At Albenga was our second hotel for the night, a villa called Villamir, a quaint and beautiful and very reasonable villa turned into a bed and breakfast. The proprietors (who had only been managing this B&B for a few years, spoke enough English to hold pleasant conversations and give us excellent suggestions for lunch and details of the surrounding area. I'm getting ahead of myself, but breakfast the next morning was a fantastic assortment of local meats, cheeses and pastries (including a few baked fresh by the proprietors). We the chatted pleasantly with the owners until we paid (cash or credit card) and left for Florence the next morning. I highly recommend and will definitely be interested in staying in this villa again.

After checking in, but before spending the night in Villamir, we also ate lunch in the local town of Savona. We grabbed some pizza at a local pizzeria while cautiously eyeing our sportier cars from some slightly sketching looking locals. Odds are nothing would have happened, but we decided to take no chances. As we've found with all Italian pizzeria's, the pizza was delicious. After lunch we took our main trek for the day which was planned to go to Monaco, and at least see the famous Monte Carlo Casino if not go in. Monaco was a very clean, if not crowded small country where the population reaches a staggering 50,000 per square mile (The country is .74 square miles). There also happened to be what appeared to be a Halloween related festival going on while we were in town. 

After finding parking in one of Monte Carlo's many parking garages, we wandered around, taking pictures, and even entered Monte Carlo Casino which was gold embossed as you might expect but rather underwhelming otherwise. In the public area there was a smidgeon of tables that tourists could poke at but the action was probably in all the private rooms where we weren't allowed. After that we wandered until it was dinner time and decided to eat at a small restaurant called which I believe was called La Shangre`la. All in all a very lack luster and uninteresting restaurant. While the food was not bad, we regretted not visiting another restaurant we had passed. Once we had finished dinner we began the hour plus drive back to Villamir and stared at the stars for a little while before going to bed. And you've already heard the rest of the story.

The next morning, after breakfast, we departed to head to our final, multi-night, destination of Park Hotel Chianti in Tuscany. This was a fantastic hotel, all the quality of a good Hilton or Sheraton without the need for membership for WiFi or breakfast. And quite affordable, it was lovely.  On the way to the hotel, we took the time to stop at a famous part of Italy, Cinque Terre, specifically the village of Riomaggiore.  We did have to hustle through the village since we were a little short of time, and parking there was extremely difficult.  I suggest leaving plenty of time to find a parking spot so you can leisurely spend time in the area.  It is very beautiful.

After we checked in and almost immediately departed for a food and wine tour (apologies, I didn't organize the tour so I don't have a link for you. I'll try to find one). Normally the tour is an all day affair, but our guide was flexible and picked us up from the airport to start us on our tour around 1200. After pausing for some history and picturesque photo opportunities from our guide, we started by heading towards the Tanuta Torciano Winery near medieval San Gimignano. where we were served a fantastic 3 course meal of meats and cheeses for appetizer, delicious Ribollita soup, and the main course of one of the best lasagna's I have ever had, drizzled with truffle flavored olive oil. Each course paired with a variety of wines for tastes and introductions to the wines, olive oils, and vinaigrette that this winery has to offer, all for direct purchase or delivery to your home. I came way with two bottles of wine and a bottle of the truffle olive oil. 

Once lunch was complete we continued for a small walking tour of San Gimignano, which was fascinating and a pleasure to wander it's streets and take photographs of it's 14 remaining towers representing families from medieval times. We even sampled gelato from the local gelato shop Gelateria Dondoli that has won the World Gelato Championships TWICE. Our guide knew and introduced us to the owner and it really was fantastic gelato. Finally to round of the day we headed to the winery at Fattoria Poggio Alloro where we sampled a few more wines and Italian appetizers of bread, cheese and olive oil and enjoyed a history of making wine and great conversation with our guide. Here I brought home some Italian pasta for future use. Another great stop. We then headed back to the hotel for the night, content and ready to sleep soundly through the night.

The following day, after a light and delicious breakfast at the hotel, we decided to take a trek into Florence for touring around the city. We consolidated our group into two cars and drove in. One group parking in a garage just inside the river, and the other parking in a small parking lot just below Piazzale Michelangelo which provides a fantastic overlook of Florence. We wandered around Florence, visiting such attractions as the statue of David, had lunch near the outdoor markets, Cathedral of Santa Maria delFiore and the Piazza della Signoria where the Fountain of Neptune lies. We even stopped for coffee at the Gucci Cafe outside of the Gucci Museum. The hot chocolate was had by a member of our group, and looked like melted chocolate. 

 Following a full day of wandering we returned to our vehicles via the Ponte Vecchio bridge and returned to the hotel. We then went next door to the restaurant Ristorante Pizzeria Pontenuovo and had some more amazing Italian food. Italian restaurants (at least the ones we attended) are organized into courses. You can order appetizers, first course and second course (or only one or two dishes) and you get treated to delicious dishes. Here I had Pappa al pomodoro, a tomato and bread soup, as well as a Gnocchi and seafood dish (potato noodles with seafood). All were fantastic. Finally, we ended the night with playing monopoly before going to bed to put a good relaxing feeling to the day.

The next day after breakfast, our group split up. Some heading home early, some going shopping, and some (me included) going to Pisa. Once arriving at Pisa and parking we wandered toward that famous leaning tour and the cathedral. Even doing the obligatory holding the tower up. We even paid to go up into the tower and partake of the fantastic panorama of Pisa and the nearby mountains with perfect weather. Another great day. 

 

When we were finally done wondering and acquiring some souvenirs we headed back to the hotel where the remainder of our group reconvened and we went out for our last dinner at Ristorante La Fattoria where once again we had amazing service and amazing food. Dinner this evening consisted of another bowl of the fantastic Ribollita, as well as the main dish of fried rabbit with fried vegetables, also quite spectacular.

After an amazing night sleep, we departed the hotel to start our last day in Italy and our trek home later that night. We had preplanned a trek through some Italian mountain roads on our way to Maranello, Italy where we planed to visit the Ferrari Museum. There we also took the opportunity to pay for some time (80 Euros for 10 minutes) to drive Ferrari's around for the fun. While some of us had great co-drivers that encouraged us to "have fun", I unfortunately had a co-pilot who grumpily kept me slow and steady. All in all a decent experience driving and seeing Ferrari's. (I no longer want one). After the museum we also visited the Pagani Factory in Modena and received a tour of the factory. We were able to see a Zonda R super car and walk through the factory as they actively worked on building new Pagani super-cars

. This was a very enjoyable tour. Finally we started our trek home at around 4pm, and after about 9.5 more hours of driving we arrived home after 1am in the morning to go to sleep and end our weekend vacation.

Even though we had a lot of driving, I highly recommend a road trip through Italy. Just remember to stay in the speed limit, since both Italy and Switzerland can gift you with speeding tickets of 100-200 Euros if caught. Safe travels!

Beguiling Brussels Summer 2013

It's been far too long since I had an excursion out and about, so I decided to head to Brussels for the weekend with a few of my friends, and some new friends. This turned out to be a decent trip though it did have one or two disappointing aspects.

We drove to Brussels and arrived just in time to attend the New Sandeman's Walking Tour of Brussels. As usual, this provided a great introduction to the history and sites available in Brussels. From Grand Place, to le Manneken-Pis, Cathedrals, Space Invaders, and even the Musical Instrument Museum. All in all, it proved to be another winner in my trip through Europe and it's history.

  In the middle of the walking tour, we took a break in a central market area near Grasmarkt to grab a snack and a break. We decided to try some Belgian Fries at Belgian Frit'n Toast, and I have to admit they were the best fries that I have had in a long time. Apparently the secret is to fry them once, at a lower temperature until cooked and then flash fry them at a higher temperature for the crispiness right before serving (or something like that). Fantastic.

Once we finished with the walking tour, we went to check into our hotel room. This time we stayed at an interesting hotel only a few blocks from Grand Place. It was called B-Apart Hotels. This hotel is intended to be a long term stay hotel, and it doesn't actually employ any desk staff. They email you an access code for the front door, and a code to retrieve your key from a key box in the main lobby. They do employ a cleaning staff that does not work on the weekend. So if you're staying from Friday to Sunday, don't expect your towels to be cleaned on Saturday. All in all, I thought this was a very good venue, with decent access. One of our group used the attached car garage for their parking, where we decided to park in the parking garage at Grand Place. This is easily able to fit small pickups if you need that. The parking garage at Grand Place was definitely cheaper than the attached garage, if you don't mind having to walk a few blocks with your luggage.

Once we checked in, we all went to Drug Opera for a quick beverage before continuing to wander around Brussels. As with everywhere in Brussels, if you like beers this is a pretty good place to visit. I can't actually comment on the food at this location since I wasn't hungry after those amazing fries. But the location and atmosphere was pretty good.

Following that we decided to try a local brewery Cantillon Brewery and go for a tour of the brewer as well as sampling of what they provide. The tour was actually pretty neat, they basically do a self-guided walking tour of the brewery. You buy a ticket, receive a brochure and you can walk around at your own pace and see how they do things. Not as informative as some breweries I've done a tour, but it is a neat change of pace. This brewery focuses on lambic style beer, so if you like really sour beer then you will really enjoy what they provide. Unfortunately, my friends and I weren't all that into this sour of a beer and did not really enjoy the samples. The lambic what I imagine a really sour, wheat wine would taste like. I also tried their Cherry beer, and while definitely tasting like cherry it was also very sour. So, I wouldn't suggest this brewery unless you have a taste for sour beers. A neat experience though with the tour, but a long walk away from the center of town.

After the brewery we walked over to Moeder Lambic for another beer or two, where I was introduced to Val Dieu beer. A very tasty beer if you like the standard Belgian style beer, but we'll get to that later. This Bar again, had a very nice atmosphere and was a pleasant break from our walking around Brussels to chill until dinner. Unfortunately I can't remember where dinner was at the moment so I'll have to provide that later. Needless to say it was very good :-)

After that we tried out Delirium Cafe. While not a scene I like to go to a lot, if you like bars than I could see it being a very good scene. They have a good selection of tasty beers to try from around the area. It will be very busy though. On our way back to the hotel afterwords, we stopped at one of the many Belgian Waffle stands around the city and had one. They make two styles, one is heavy and sweeter while the other is lighter and more like your standard waffle. You can put toppings on, but if you want to eat it like the locals do than stick with simply powdered sugar. Definitely something delicious to try.

The next day we wandered around Brussels and picked up souvenirs, Belgian chocolates, and tasty things to drink that we wanted to bring back home from our weekend excursion. All of it turned out to be amazing when I got around to trying them. We had breakfast at a local stand called Panos which is your basic European cafe with pastry treats. A great way to start the day or take a simple break.

After eating some breakfast and picking up somethings to take home, we started our trek back. This is where we headed to the Belgian Abbey I mentioned earlier called Val Dieu. We wandered around, explored the grounds and even stopped for some food. The food there is fantastic, the Abbey is amazing at making beers as well as cheeses. I ate Cheese Croquettes that were perhaps the best "cheese sticks" (OK not really cheese sticks, but an OK description for those that don't know what Croquettes are :-) ). 

When we were finished we picked up some cheese and a few more tasty things to drink and drove home.

While not my favorite trip in Europe, I did enjoy my stint in Belgium. There is a lot of history there, and a large number of museums that I would like to see so I plan on going back. Luckily for me, you don't have to be a big drinker to enjoy Brussels. There is a lot to do, and a lot of great food to try. Enjoy! :-)

Luxurious Luxembourg 2013

Since I had Memorial Day off, I decided to take a day trip to another country that is close by to Germany, that would be Luxembourg. Again I find it very weird that I live in a location that is only a few hours from a number of other countries, I've never had that before and to be honest I probably never will again. But, enough about that, you're not here to hear about anything but the trip itself. :-)

Our first stop in our day trip excursion to Luxembourg was to visit the city of Echternach, Luxembourg around 9am. This is a very small town, probably actually a village, that houses an Abbey of Echternach founded by a gentleman known as St. Willibrord. This was one of the things that I had really wanted to visit. In the process of looking at Echternach I found that they have a yearly dancing procession that they are known for. Unfortunately this wasn't the day we visited. We started out the day by eating breakfast at a small little place that I believe was called La Petit Poete. Aside from the cafe hostess only knowing French and some German (luckily we know some German), we were able to order breakfast of some cappuccinos and Croissants. They were very good, after driving for a few hours and being very hungry.

We then started wandering around, and found the Abby of Echternach and wandered into a small garden of the Abbey where we were met by the groundskeeper who noticed us aimlessly wandering. He, speaking German, directed us to the local tourist office located right in front of the Abbey where you can get a map and do a self guided walking tour of all the sites of the city. This tour took us from the Abbey to its properties and other various sites in the city.

One of which, perhaps my favorite, was periodic remains of the city wall through the city. The residents have creatively converted parts of the wall to apartments people can actually stay in, including a tower that was apparently converted to apartments specifically for tourist visitors. This might be a neat place to go for a honeymoon or other romantic getaway in this quaint location.

The next place we visited was Vianden Castle, in the village of you guessed it, Vianden, Luxembourg. Now, if Echternach was quaint, I'd almost call Vianden a little majestic. The castle itself was fascinating. It is one of the largest, fortified castles west of the Rhine, and very beautiful. My only disappointment was that the castle was organized more like a museum with exhibits in each room behind glass cases, instead of letting you wander through and see things like it might have actually been. But even still, it is perhaps one of my favorite castles so far and I really enjoyed the visit, especially seeing what I would call the Great Room and its' spectacular view. I enjoyed the castle so much, that I am seriously considering returning for a Medieval Festival they hold in the fall.

Next we decided to go down into the village of Vianden for lunch. We decided to stop at a little place that was called Beim Hunn. This was a small restuarant and it looked like a hotel catering towards bicyclists. The food was fantastic as well, and the service wasn't too bad either. I had Chicken Cordon Bleu, and the portions were more than generious. I salad I saw was comparable to the size you might get at The Cheesecake Factory. Again, all of it was delicious.

Finally our day in Luxembourg took us to the capital itself of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. I slightly wish we weren't there at the last part of the day and already pretty tired. It is a quiet, yet very beautiful city. We visited the Casemates, which apeared to be, or at least be near, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It gave us a pretty spectacular view of the lower city of Luxembourg. 

 We also visited the Notre Dame Cathedral of Luxembourg. This cathedral again showed me that I love to see these old churches in Europe. They are all so beautiful and fill you full of awe. After wandering around taking many more pictures, we stopped again at a small little coffee shop before heading home. Unfortunately I can't remember the name, but it was lack-luster to me.

I will say that the drive from Germany and throughout Luxembourg was fantastically beautiful. The scenery and the terrain was amazing and well worth the trip on it's own. My only regret was something I found out after the fact, that I didn't know that Luxembourg contained the largest American Cemetery outside of the United States. Luckily that, in itself, is a reason to return to Luxembourg again right? :-)

Again, this trip was a very enjoyable trip. There are more things to see in Luxembourg since we were there late and only saw a few. I definitely recommend a quick view, and I think that a day trip was the right choice for me. I hope you can enjoy Luxembourg too!

Turkish Delight – Spring 2013

So, I had the opportunity to visit Ankara, Turkey awhile back and have to say it was a pleasant experience. I was a little apprehensive at first, since the bombing of the US Embassy had happened earlier in the year. But the trip turned out to be very pleasant. For anyone considering traveling to Turkey, for the most part it is surprisingly cheap to visit and get around it. You can get expensive places to eat, but for the most part a great meal is about 10-20 Turkish Lira (or a rough conversion of 5-10 US dollars).

First off, I stayed in the Sheraton Ankara Hotel, in the Kavaklıdere quarter of Ankara. Now, if you've read anything I've previously written about my trips, you've probably noticed that I usually stayed in Hilton hotels. And I have stayed in the Hilton Ankara Hotel before, which I really enjoyed my stay there as well. This Sheraton, was basically exactly the same as you would expect from a Hilton hotel. Amazing breakfast that is pretty over priced and wireless internet that is overcharged for, unless of course you have status to get it for free at either hotel chain. Aside from that, they are both excellent hotel chains for your average tourist and is definitely welcoming and reasonably relaxing to stay in. I highly recommend either the Hilton or Sheraton hotels in Ankara. Their locations may not be the greatest for a lot of site seeing, but they are definitely comfortable with good, if not slightly expensive, amenities.

One of the sites that I had the opportunity to see was Ankara Castle. This is a castle that was built sometime when no one really knows, possibly before the Roman empire. There's no actual tour guide for this castle, and it is currently under some construction, but it has a fantastic view of Ankara and the surrounding areas. While the castle itself wasn't extraordinary, the view definitely was something to behold. I highly recommend a visit.

Right outside the gates of Ankara Castle is a great (and touristy!!) set of streets containing many upon many great little souvenir shops with many beautiful trinkets, spices, wool and other items including beautiful Persian, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern rugs if you're interested in those.

Aside from those limited things to do that I had a chance to see and explore. I had the opportunity to try a number of restaurants near my hotel. A few were definitely notable. The first is Haci Arif Bey, just a few blocks away from the hotel. This is definitely a touristy restaurant with the nich of asking you where you're from and bringing some bread with your home countries name written on it with baked seeds. The food was also quite good, and definitely worth going too again.

Another restaurant which I found surprisingly good was Gunaydin Steakhouse. This is a nice restuarant that again served delicious food, and I higly recommend a visit there, though if you're not careful it could definitely turn into a more expensive meal. Another random place to try is Wok'n Walk, which is a small but tasty Chinese restaurant. There are plenty more restaurants to try, so don't limit yourself!  All in all I highly recommend visiting Ankara, there are probably many more things that I haven't had a chance to see yet.  The food is also simply amazing.  Enjoy!

Trial and Error

So, I've been playing with my new camera and editing photos, and I'm really enjoying it so far.  It's weird that you can get lost in working on a photo for awhile.  When you look up at a clock you're like "Wow!  How did a couple hours go by so quickly?!"  It's almost like reading a book, except for the fact your eyes might hurt a little for staring at a computer screen so for so long.  :-)   Anyway, enjoy this one!  It's an edited version of one posted down below of Dunlace Castle in Northern Ireland.

Ireland in February 2013

So, went on my next European excursion, and this time it was to Ireland.  We started off by getting to Dublin Airport which was a reasonably nice airport to fly into, though nothing really special.  After that, we checked into the Hilton Dublin Kilmainham hotel.  Which in the end boiled down to your standard Hilton hotel, meaning a nice hotel that is geared towards tourists.  It's location does leave something to be desired for being in central Dublin.  The next time I stay in Dublin, I'll probably try to get the Ashling Hotel since it is more centrally located and in walkable distances from the interesting places to visit. 

That night, we went to dinner at what I thought was a great bar and steakhouse near the Ashling Hotel called Ryan's Steakhouse.  And it had some fantastic food.  I had the Guinness and Beef pie with mashed potatoes, and that was a great way to end the first day of this trip.  We also went there for our last dinner, and it was also amazing.  Though, I recommend you DON'T order a Kilkenny there, apparently the Irish there do NOT drink Kilkenny beer.  :-)

The next day we had organized to go on a full day bus tour of Northern Ireland via Paddywagon Tours and it was an awesome trip.  The trip left Dublin, bright and early and took us up to see a number of things.  The tour guide (Galvin, I think) was awesome.  Gave us great historical tidbits and stories along the whole trip from Dublin to our first stop of Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. 

It was a really great experience. A beautiful hike out to the rope bridge, with amazing views of the oceans and even over to some Scottish islands.  Crossing the rope bridge (for a small fee) was also really cool, learning that the island used to be a prominent location to fish for salmon.

Following the rope bridge, our tour guide took us up to Giant Causeway which was another amazing place to visit in Ireland.  Again, it provided a great hike along the shoreline to Ireland to see the natural beauties of the volcanic formations.  Which come with a very interesting story about a pair Irish and Scottish giants.  But the views were amazing, and the weather kept being fantastic, no rain and more sunshine.

 After visiting the gift shop at Giants Causeway, we enjoyed a quick lunch at the local pub/restaurant called The Nook.  The was quite a quaint little place with decent sandwiches and a chowder that I thought was really good.  After visiting Giants Causeway, we stopped by to see a ruined castle on the way back to see Belfast.  It was a little disappointing that we weren't able to go into the castle, but it was a reasonable view of the ruins.

Finally, we visited Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, before finishing the day and heading back to Dublin.  There was definitely some cool architecture in the City Hall as well as their "leaning" tower which you can see from the dome in the middle of the city at Victoria Square, giving you a decent view of your surroundings.  Besides going to a couple of gift shops, there wasn't much else we were able to do during our hour stay in Belfast from the tour.

After that we took long trip back to Dublin to end the day, where we enjoyed dinner at an Italian restaurant. (Yes, sacrilege eating Italian in Ireland, but still good)  Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the restaurant, so I can't really point people to it...  But, it was within walking distance of Paddywagon's hostel in Dublin.  Just to emphasize, I really enjoyed the Paddywagon tour, and would like to go back and take some of their other tours.  If you have a free day, I would highly recommend taking advantage of a Paddywagon tour for the historical and site seeing advantages.

The next day in Dublin we joined the walking tour in Dublin organized by New Europe Tours.  After being on the walking tour they organized for Berlin, I was looking forward to this tour.  I was not disappointed.  Our tour guide Sinead was awesome and had a lot of great stories and history to share with everyone.  She was also a lot of fun on the pub crawl that New Europe tours organizes to help tourists and adventurers be social and friendly.  It was fun, but with 40+ people, a lot of the bars were over crowded in our particular event.  Still recommended if you want to meet people, that you try to join this crawl.

On our walking tour we saw many things from the one tower of Dublin Castle, Trinity college, the Spire of Dublin, to Christ Church Cathedral.

 The walking tour was again a winner.  Still highly suggesting New Europe walking tours to anyone visiting one of their supported locations.

The next day, we started off the day by having a real Full Irish Breakfast at a small breakfast place called Juno's Cafe, and it was amazing.  Though my friends some of their other options, coffee and breakfast all excellent.  We finished up our last day in Dublin with doing tours at the Jameson and Guinness factory/distilleries which were really cool.  Giving insight into history and the process of making each.

Finally, we also went back to Trinity college and saw the Book of Kells, as well as the Long Room.  The Book of Kells is one of the oldest prints of the gospels and artistic work,  The Long Room, is library that inspired the Jedi Library in Star Wars and has an amazing number of incredibly old books.  I didn't get any pictures of those since I didn't think I was allowed to take pictures inside Trinity College, but it was really cool to look at those artifacts.

All in all it was another awesome European trip to see more history of the region.  I hope you can have a chance to visit it some day.