Our last day into town was very strategically planned. John had found what claimed to be one of the best cafes in the world according to international cafe rating standards. He wanted to go try it. I wanted to visit Marsh’s Library, since I’d never been there before and I like visiting libraries. Robert wanted to go to the Central Bank to exchange about 3 old Irish Pounds for Euro – there is a back story to how his uncle obtained the punts but we never really got the details. Liam had fond memories of a ginger ale he had at the Elephant and Castle 4 years ago and wanted to have another one. And Miles wanted to see the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes movie. So again with the parallel universes (but I don’t have photos for most of this) John went to the cafe, Liam and Robert to the Central Bank (where Robert received 1.56 Euro), and Miles and I went to Marsh’s Library.
I bought a few postcards at Marsh’s Library (which is very cool! Bram Stoker and James Joyce both read there! And they have cages that they would lock scholars into so that rare books couldn’t be stolen! No photography allowed though.) including one that showed this elephant, with a cryptic caption that calls it the elephant that was accidentally burned in Dublin:
http://www.heritageinschools.ie/uploads/pics/Marvels_of_Science_image_Marshes_Library_cropped.jpg
Then we all met at the Elephant & Castle for lunch, where Liam ordered the ginger ale of his memories and declared it “aight.”
And then we went to see the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which was really good! But what very interestingly tied a few of the strands of the day together is a video I found online that explains about how the elephant was accidentally burned and what it meant for modern science in Dublin. Hope you enjoy this, we all did!
Wow what a bizarre story about the elephant – I’d never heard about it. I’ll confess though that I’ve never been to Marsh’s library. I like the link with the Elephant & Castle too!
I heard about that Irish coffee shop that had won an international award and was thinking it needed to be on our to do list for our next trip home – how did John rate it?
Like the story about the elephant-learning more about our native city/little gems all the time.