18 January — Dublin

Our visit to Kilmainham Gaol was a wonderful crash course in modern Irish history. Their fight for independence is well documented in their museum. The prison was used to hold men, women and children (as young as 5 years old) and was a haven for the hungry during the famine. For others, it was the last stop before being transported to Australia.

"If the prison does not underbid the slum in human misery, the slum will empty and the prison will fill."
— George Bernard Shaw