The Dead Zoo

You know how most natural history museums have lots of fossils, and charts about soil levels, and skeletons of things long dead, displayed next to artists renditions of what they probably looked like? Not here.

Oh, they had the obligatory extinct animal skeletons, but they skipped the nice friendly dinosaur skeletons and went straight for the nightmare monsters, also known as Giant Irish Deer. Oh, and they skipped the "what this might have looked like when it was alive" picture, so feel free to let your imagination run wild.

Oh, and STAR WHALE SKELETONS.

The rest of the museum was made up of a vast and bizarre menagerie of taxidermied animals. It looked a lot like what I would imagine much of the Bloggess' childhood looked like, except the museum had much less blood. And none of the animals talked (Don't ask, just buy the book. You will thank me. Or have nightmares. Either way, I win).

They had all sorts of animals, in some very questionable displays. Many of them were in pristine condition, other had not been quite as loved. Or maybe those had been more loved, who knows. Regardless, they were awesome. Unfortunately I missed snapping a picture of wild dogs fighting on top of a severed deer head. There were tons of small scary rodents, a sea otter that was probably much friendlier alive...

A warthog that is on his way to win a beauty pageant.

Just look at that hair. 

James Garfield's brother.

This guy that just wants to be friends, but seems to be in danger of being eaten.

And the eager to please one.

Oh, and did I mention that in honour of St. Patrick's day, they had live snakes?

It was awesome. I made friends. With snakes.

-El

P.S. Snipes are REAL. They just live in Ireland. They are also much less threatening than I was led to believe.

The glowing red eyes must have been replaced when he was stuffed. 

St. Patrick's Day in Dublin

Last weekend was St. Patrick's day, and Katie and I had the brilliant idea to spend Patty's day in Dublin. It was a good choice. Katie and I both arrived Thursday night, so we had Friday and Saturday to explore. This was actually a really laid back and relaxing trip, in that we didn't really have any plans, or sights we desperately wanted to see.

On Friday we went to Marion park and posed with the statue of Oscar Wilde, and basked in the sun...until it started hailing.

We also went to the "Dead Zoo", also know as the Dublin Natural History Museum. Best. Museum. Ever. More on that later, because it needs its own post.

Friday afternoon, we went to a craft beer festival, tried a couple of brews, and learned about the history of beer making in Ireland. It was really interesting, and I learned a lot. Did you know that hops are a natural preservative?

We also randomly ran into Emily and Rani, which was pretty cool. And impressive. Dublin was packed.

Well now you do. Friday night, we walked around and hit a couple of bars. We found one that played a ton of American music from the late nineties and early 2000s, which was cool, but after moving on, we found the coolest bar ever. It was called Cassidy's, they served pizza, there were board games, writing all over the walls, a sheep mounted sideways on the wall, and Luke sky walker flags. Need I say more? It was awesome.

The next day Katie and I headed to the Guinness Storehouse, where we didn't have to wait in line because we had registered online the night before (This, and scheduling a cab to the airport for my super early flight were about all the planning I did. Katie had a list of events that we mostly ignored, but was nice to have.)

Coolest beer statue ever. 

On the way back from the storehouse, we came across one of the weirdest little markets ever, and another food market on a cathedral lawn. Oh! And for St. Patrick's day, they "green" the city. It's great. Saturday night we walked around a lot again, and with the cold, and lights, and awesome street performers playing trumpets, it was almost like Christmas. Except for the drunk people in green. Close enough. 

If you ever get the chance to spend St. Patrick's day in London, I would highly recommend it. As long as you like beer and are okay with crowds and drunk people. 

-El