A Brief Hello to Dublin Castle

Recently we stopped by Dublin Castle. It is only a short walk away, across the Liffey River. Colette's parents let us know about a sand sculpture exhibition going on there so we decided to check it out. This is only one of the sculptures the Duthain Dealbh team created. To see more, check out the my Flickr account. While we were resting our feet on a concrete bench at the edge of the central courtyard, and large group of people gathered next to us. Their tour guide began explaining historical bits about the castle. We just looked at each other, grinned in realization, and then proceeded to stare straight ahead and listen in on the presentation. The guide was really lively and skilled. When the group moved on to another location in the courtyard, we causally joined in the migration. I learned all kinds of interesting things about the site (much of which I admittedly don't remember) . I do however remember one thing. The guide said that Francis Shackleton was connected to the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels. I didn't even know that Ernest Shackleton (a favorite historical figure of mine... captain of the ill-fated Endurance voyage) had a brother! Anyways, here is a picture of our stolen tour. After they left the castle, we decided to let them go on their merry way. It was an interesting diversion though,to say the least.