Dublin in a Day

May 29th

The hostel provided breakfast and then we were out and ready to go by nine.

I had to take a picture of the giant murals on each landing of the stairs. This one is of Samuel Beckett. Oh the irony that he should be on our floor. He wrote Waiting For Godot. Is anyone else a little creeped out? 

We caught a cab and went over to Kilmainhamn Gaol right when it opened. This jail was used several times in Irish History during revolutions, civil wars, political unrest, and simple criminal activity. It was used for filming in several movies too after it was opened as a musuem. Although Irish politics feels very fresh, I do not know much about it. I'll be honest that I did not understand what they were talking about most of the time since they did not give hard facts, but mostly talked about the tragedy of each of the prisoners. I thought it was interesting, but difficult to relate to since they assumed people knew why the Irish were revolting.

After Kilmainham we went into St. Patrick's cathedral. The building was beautiful of course and they let you take pictures inside. That was different.

This might have been my favorite place stain glass that we have been to so far. The windows were extremely clear and told more of story than being symbolic or cruel. I loved these flags too. They were all flown at different battles in different wars and then donated to the church.

The architecture, like many of the holy buildings we have been to, is designed to make you look up to God and feel small. It is effective. Sometimes the way they portray Heavenly Father in these European church is a little scary. I felt extremely small in St. Pauls. It is very different than the close and personal feeling I had just a few weeks prior at the Gilbert Temple.

St. Paul's is another note worthy cathedral. Hooray for art, history, and religion.

Jonathan Swift. He was the dean of the Cathedral. I just knew him from Canterbury Tales (which Tracy loves by the way). You learn something new everyday.

To give you a little bit of an idea how big these buildings are. After Westminster and St. Paul's I thought it was small. Crazy, right?

Outside I got a little turned around and strode into this magical old library for directions. We all met back up on the grounds outside.

We should have more fountains. Outside St. Paul's we decided to split up. Half went to a pub for lunch and the other half went for fish and chips and then to the Dublin Writer's Museum. I went to the museum. It was fine. I saw a few writings by Shaw, Joyce, Swift, and other prominent Irish writers. The museum was expensive for how small it was though. I do not suggest it if you only have a few days in Dublin and are on a budget. When Ben, Sarah, Chelsea, and I were done at the museum we made our way to Trinity College.

This. Library. 

I do not know who is allowed to use it or if the books are even helpful in this modern age. It just needs to still be appreciated. There were busts of famous men all up and down hall. Each shelf had a ladder to reach on the books on the ceiling and then there was a whole second level above that. Each shelf was jam packed full of worn texts. This was right after we saw the Book of Kells. Also very cool.

I learned while in Ireland that the symbol for the country is a harp. Random, but that is cool. Then they had THE ACTUAL HARP in Trinity College. This harp is their national symbol. I do not even know how old it was. I could not take it in. I felt like it was having the feathers of the eagle that stood for America, but hundreds of years into the future. It sounds crazy.

Outside Trinity College. It was a day well spent. With that we packed up and headed back to the airport by bus. Ireland conquered. Back to London, where I left my heart. I am not gung-ho about Irish culture like most of the people in our group. This was a worthy trip though.

Justyne and I leaving Trinity. I love our matching backpacks. It does get a little confusing in the mornings when we are packing them though.

Traffic was awful getting out of Dublin. We spent more time on that bus than in the plane. Ireland also uses euros instead of pounds. I bought two candy bars to get rid of the rest of my change that I would not be able to use back in England. Double Decker you want to pass up. I thought Whispa was pretty good. Very similar to Hersheys.