Wax Museum in Dublin

After we finished exploring the beautiful countryside in Galway, it was time to head back to Dublin.   There is a lot to do in Dublin with such attractions as the Wax Museum, Trinity College, and the Guinness Brewery, among other things.  This post will just be covering our visit to the wax museum as I have no idea where the pictures from the Guinness Brewery are currently (Annie??).  No worries though because there will be plenty of beautiful pictures of Guinness beer later this week.

The wax museum was very cool and started out showing some of Ireland’s famous writers.  Below is a picture of James Joyce.  I have to agree with Leo King (main character from South of Broad – great book by Pat Conroy - check it out) in his dislike of the great James Joyce.  I was forced to read A Portrait of An Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce in my Senior English class at Mount De Sales and found the book just dreadful.  It probably did not help that I did not enjoy reading then like I do now and my only focus at the time was the gym.  Anyways below is the wax sculpture of James Joyce. 

The museum informs you about the history of Ireland through their wax creations.  They are extremely life-like and very informative.  Some of them were also quite gruesome as is the one below in which a Viking is shown killing a priest. 

I had to get pictures of James II and William III as well as I had the pleasure of reading about them in English History this past semester.  James II would rely on Ireland’s support after losing his crown to William III, but they were not strong enough and William III reasserted his power over England by defeating James II at the Battle of the Boyne. (James II is posted first and then William III).

            That’s it for the mini history lesson.  Now onto my favorite part of the wax museum: THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS!!  This part scared Katie, my youngest sister.  Not surprising though as she is a scaredy cat, and the room is quite frightening (Not for kids under 13, or girls named Katie with red hair)  All of my favorite monsters were in the room: Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the werewolf.  There was also Hannibal Lector and some half-woman demon that was quite vulgar and definitely worthy of an x rating. (No picture here of her, not appropriate for any kids reading the blog)  I especially loved the vampire as for some reason that I can’t explain; I’m obsessed with vampires.  If a show has vampires in it, you can guarantee I’m watching it or have attempted to watch it (latter goes for True Blood, not my cup of tea).   I even had a wooden stake on me and was able to kill the vampire in his sleep.

Leaving the Chamber of Horrors we ran into this beautiful guy:

           

            There were quite a few cartoon and children favorites depicted in wax such as sponge bob.  I was lucky enough to see my childhood heroes, the Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles.  As you can see from the picture, I need to work on my kung fu pose, the Ninja Turtles would not be proud…

              I hope everyone is going to check out this guy this weekend:

It brings a tear to my eye to see how much lil Harry has grown up before our eyes.  It seems like yesterday he was just a little guy picking out his wand, and now the epic ends with a final battle with Voldemort (oops I said his name). 

            My favorite cartoon family was also depicted in wax. (Who also shares my namesake)

            To conclude the visit they had a large room with various movie characters.  You were able to pose with Freddy Krueger, but unfortunately I don’t have that picture either.  If I can find it I will upload it later.  I was able to snap this picture of Qui-Gon Jinn fighting Darth Maul.   If you look closely you can see Arnold as Mr. Freeze and Brad Pitt when he portrayed Troy.

That is all for now.  Sorry for the lack of updates but now that I’m settled in Florida expect many more updates about the rest of my trip throughout Europe.