An afternoon at the museum and an evening in jail…

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm a huge fan of the "Night at the Museum" franchise. Ok… I really just like the first movie and I haven't seen the new one, but the whole idea of a museum coming to life at night is just one of those things that makes my heart happy. However, after visiting the Museum of Ireland- Archeology branch, I'd have to rethink this a bit. While the building is absolutely beautiful and full of fabulous mosaic floors and painted pillars, it's full of mummies. Bog mummies. These are unlike any mummy I've ever seen (and as a minor mummy afficianado… ok… that's not the correct word, but you get the point… I go to lots of museums to see mummies and LOVE when museums put together whole mummy exhibitions). These mums were hyper-preserved by the earth that makes up the bog and have been discovered, usually while cutting up peat. The thing that really gets me is that they are upwards of 2000 years old and they still have skin and hair and some even have internal organs.

I did not include any photos because they are a touch gnarly, but if you want to see, leave me a comment with your e-mail or google it!

Since I'm on the topic of the macabre, I figured I'd include a bit about Kilmainham Gaol. This was not initially a planned stop on our journey, but the locals kept telling us to visit, so we made it happen. This gaol/jail may be familiar to you because it was used in the filming of "The Italian Job" and a number of other movies and TV series. Kilmainham Gaol is one of the largest unoccupied jails in Europe and is best known for housing many of the revolutionaries from the Easter Rising in 1916. It's definitely a chilling place to see. If you happen to decide to visit the jail, get their super early. We did and still had to book tickets for a tour much later in the day. We ended up arriving late for that tour due to bus issues, but they were kind enough to let us sneak in with the next tour.