Ireland write up. Day 1, all.
We arrived into Dublin on Friday night, where the Lucci Parents picked us up. We headed out to Howth to our B&B and had a marvelous dinner at The Bloody Pub. Hands down the best pub name of our trip. (With The Randy Leprechaun running a close second. We didn’t go in, but it certainly caught our attention.)
Dublin – DAY 1.
We had only alotted one day for Dublin and I was determined to make the most of it. Lucky for us the weather, while grey, held off on any serious rain. We took the DART into the city first thing in the morning (we stayed out in Howth, which was fine, but our B&B was NOT very nice at all.) Here are the highlights of our day…
Trinity College Old Library
In spite of arriving at opening time, we had a bit of a wait to get into the library due to the crowds. We were there to see Book of Kells, an illuminated copy of the four Gospels created in the 9th century. The exhibit “Turning Darkness into Light” leads into the display of the Book itself and gives a great overview of the process of creating illuminated manuscripts. After seeing how it was created, you come to the book itself. Amazing – words fail me. We saw a page from the Gospel of St. John (a portrait of the Saint) and a page of text from Luke, I think. Seeing as how it’s all in ancient Latin, I had to take their word for it. But the intricacies and incredible detail of the work really grabs you. And the color! After all these years, the colors are still very vivid.
From the Book of Kells, we were able to go into the Long Room, which houses 20,000 of the library’s oldest books. It’s a great room – crammed floor to ceiling with books, just my kind of place. The room also houses the oldest survivng harp in Ireland, it dates to the 15th century. Trivia: the harp is actually the symbol of Ireland, not the shamrock.
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum is actually in three parts spread across the city. We only went to the Museum of Archaeology, because that was what I most wanted to see. The entry floor is a marvelous tile mosaic with all the signs of the zodiac represented. The museum was fascinating. J really liked the very long canoe that ran the length of an entire wall. I liked the gold, of course. And there was plenty of it – necklaces, bracelets, etc. Beautiful beautiful stuff. But the best part were the Bog Bodies! I had read an interesting article in National Geographic magazine and couldn’t wait to see the exhibit. You really do feel ‘face to face’ with the past when you look at these people from so long ago. [We also ate a very nice lunch in the museum cafe. Lots of food for a decent price.]
Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral was lovely – a church has stood on this location since 1080. Strongbow (the Norman Richard de Clare) is buried there too, er, well, they aren’t completely sure it’s his tomb as the original was thought to be destroyed in the middle ages. But I love the romanticized story of his marriage to the warrior Princess Aoife. Strongbow came to Ireland at Aiofe’s father’s request to help him regain his throne and launched the Norman invasion of Ireland. He married Aoife amid the ruins of the battle of Waterford, which he won, naturally. Irish history has it that she fell deeply in love with him. Another fun bit in the church, the mummified cat and rat who were found behind the organ, preserved by the dry air.
Guinness Storehouse
A visit to the Guinness Storehouse is practically mandatory if you go to Dublin. As I didn’t want J to have his man card taken away, we went. I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but it was great fun! The place tells the story of Guinness over seven floors and you work your way up to the free pint at the top in the Gravity Bar. My favorite bit was the floor with all the old advertising for Guinness – Guinness is good for you! Thanks to youtube, you can view my favorite advert here.
We capped off our visit with our pint in the Gravity Bar. It is the coolest bar in Dublin – all glass offering 360 degree views of the city of Dublin. They have places marked out so you can walk around and view the city. You could see over to Croke Park, the largest stadium venue in Ireland where on Sunday the all-Ireland Hurling finals would be held. 90,000 people were coming in to watch the game. We were glad to be leaving the city!
[all the photos can be found over at myfotki. I managed to whittle our 588 photos down to a mere 240.]