Literary adventures

I managed to sleep well but woke with a headache....tempting to turn over and go back to sleep but pushed myself to get up and as I suspected I was far better getting some fresh air and stimulation than wallowing in bed and missing the fun.
We were greeted by another fine day, not the forecast rain, and so walked into town to continue our adventures. We started with breakfast in a rather lovely deli and cafe (huge portion of pancakes!) we went to an exhibition about Seamus Heaney and oh my goodness it was fantastic. Didn't really know much about his work as I am not a particular fan of poetry but the exhibition was so well done and his kindness and humanity shone out so much that I think we all rather fell in love with him.
We bought books and promised to get to know more about his work, then headed to the Chester Beatty museum and gardens (extras) and had a lovely wander through that collection of books and art, mainly religious and eastern, again very beautifully displayed this time in part of Dublin castle. After some delicious lunch in the cafe there we then headed to the newly opened Museum of Literature (my goodness Irish culture is rich!) which was another fabulously presented exhibition. We wandered around (including in the garden where this lovely statue was) and, despite a lot of James Joyce (who we warmed to less than Heaney) we enjoyed the material on Kate O'Brien and others and had quite a laugh with one of the volunteers/staff who insisted on taking lots of photos of us soaking up the atmosphere (extra).
Off for a separate wander around the town before meeting at the Vintage Cocktail Club where we enjoyed some rather fancy cocktails and caught up on each others' adventures - vintage clothes, bog people (sounded gruesome) and glasses/chocolate browsing. We'd noticed the green postboxes around...(extra)
Walked back to the hotel for a quick freshen up before dinner at a packed and very friendly neighbourhood bistro. Delicious food and, between us, 4 types of potato.....we're loving Ireland!