Day 7

We left Ireland at about midday, after a relaxed morning in which we said goodbye to Dublin and to our hotel.

The view out our hotel room window. 

The toilet, which had fortunately been sanified for our protection. 

The Dublin airport. 

I had a window seat on the flight back, so I had an awesome view of Ireland as we flew over it. 

Ireland lost most of its forests to centuries of logging (which is why they had to use peat for a lot of their fuel and buildings), and they are still in the process of restoring their tree population. This was especially obvious when looking at the countryside from above. 

'Til next time, Ireland. 

The coast of Greenland!

We flew into Boston at around 8:00 that night, and I didn't get home until 11. It felt like I'd just left, but since it was only a week-long trip, I'd been expecting that. Overall, it was a wonderful trip. It was a great introduction to Ireland, a great singing trip, and though it had all felt a bit rushed, it just make me more eager to come back to Ireland and spend more time. There is a freaking Viking museum in Dublin. I need to see that. 

Day 6

Our last full day in Ireland.
We got up early (as usual) and headed out of the city for our last look at the Irish countryside.

A beach just outside of Dublin. The tide is really low. 

Our destination was Glendalough (or Gleann Da Loch, "Valley of the Two Lakes"), the site of an ancient monastery dating back to the 6th century CE, the early days of Christianity in Ireland. Monks apparently did all sorts of superhuman things here. For instance, Saint Kevin, the founder of the monastery, is said to have stood in meditation in one of the lakes for so long that birds built a nest in his hand. Pretty hardcore.

Our visit was very rushed, since we had to hurry back to Dublin for a concert, which was too bad because the place was very scenic and interesting. 

The monastery's central tower is really well-preserved. 

The cemetery. A lot of the gravestones are marked with Celtic crosses.

We then returned to Dublin for our last concert. This one was performed in Christchurch Cathedral. This had, in my opinion, the best acoustics of all the places we sang in Ireland, and the concert was a lot of fun. 

There were some neat crypts that housed an exhibit detailing the church's extensive history.

We then went on a tour of Dublin Castle. It doesn't look much like a castle, but it's a very old and important building that has been renovated several times- most notably in the 1600s, when the inhabitants tried to put out a bedroom fire using explosives. It used to house the British viceroy, back in the far-off era before 1922 when southern Ireland belonged to England. These days it's used to house important visitors, and is also where Ireland's presidents are inaugurated. 

There were people building sand sculptures in the courtyard. Considering how often it rains in Ireland, this seemed like a futile task. 

The president seal. Ireland is the only country to have a musical instrument as its national symbol. 

The Irish constitution, which is much less sexist than the American constitution. Note the repeated use of "Irishmen and Irishwomen". Probably because it's from the 20th century, not the 18th, but still. 

The throne, which used to be reserved for visiting British royalty. These days it would be really awkward and tasteless for the Queen to sit on it, so it's mostly there for show. 

The room where the president is inaugurated. Ireland has had nine presidents since gaining independence, two of whom were women. 

After this trip, my roommate and I ran to a bookstore, where I picked up a little book of Irish folklore. We then had our farewell dinner, and prepared for leaving in the morning. 

Day 5

First thing in the morning, we went on a driving tour around Dublin. Dublin is an ancient city- in the 9th century CE it was the area's largest Viking settlement. The name was originally "Dubh Linn", which means "black pool", because of dark water of the River Liffey. I love Viking stuff, so I was really looking forward to seeing Dublin. However, the problem with driving tours is that things go by the windows quite fast, so it was hard to get pictures. The trip left us with very little time to walk around the city, so it was hard to get an impression of it, beyond it being very old and not too big. There are a lot of cool little shops, and some very fun statues with amusing nicknames. I'll have to return to Ireland so I can see more of the city. 

We did have some time to walk, however, in Phoenix Park, a large green space in Dublin that houses some very important buildings and landmarks, and some really nice views. 

The sun! This was the warmest day yet.

The Pope came to visit, and tooled around the park in the Popemobile, so they built a giant cross to celebrate the occasion.

There was a big kitchen garden in the park, which included a whole section of just clover. 

This is the Whitehouse, the presidential residence. We stole the building design. 

Some pictures of Dublin. I didn't get nearly as many as I thought I did. This is O'Connell Street, one of the main roads. They're doing construction to expand the tram line.

Dublin is notable for its Georgian (the British king, not the country or the state) architecture, which is exemplified by these brick buildings with lots of chimneys on top. The windows on the top floor are smaller than on the floors below, to create the illusion that the building is taller than it really is.  

This is a house where James Joyce spent some time. There he is. 

We then visited St. Peter's Cathedral. There has been a church in this location since the 5th century CE, and this specific church has been around since the 13th century. It is very big and dramatic, and filled with lots of cool stuff. Many important Irish religious and political figures are buried there, and it houses a variety of historical artifacts. We had a little bit of time to wander around the church, then we sang there, to the surprise of the tour groups that kept wandering through. The acoustics were fantastic. 

This is a harpsichord used by Handel. Saint Patrick's cathedral was the site of the premier performance of Handel's Messiah. 

Jonathan Swift's death mask. Swift was a dean of the cathedral, and apparently he had a lectern on wheels, so that he could be pushed around the room during his sermons to make sure nobody was sleeping.

Knights!

We then went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. I was very excited about this because, while I'm usually not that interested in Christian history, the Book of Kells is remarkable. It's a religious text that was copied down by the monks of Iona in the 9th century CE. The monks moved to Kells after Vikings attacked, and brought the book with them. It ended up in Dublin in the 1600s, and now lives at Trinity College. There's an awesome animated film (called "The Secret of Kells") that plays with the basic story of the book's history, and of monastic life in Ireland back in the day. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the book, but it was stunning to look at up close. The illustrations and illumination were extremely intricate, to the point where it was hard to even read the Latin, and the colors were still remarkably vivid. Also, the drawings featured a lot of bug-eyed animals wearing distressed expressions. 

We also got to walk through the Trinity library, which was having an exhibition on mythology in literature. It's like they knew I was coming, or something. I could have spent hours there, regardless of the fact that we weren't allowed to touch the books.

Aw yeah.

We didn't get nearly enough time at Trinity, but this is just another reason I'll need to come back to Ireland someday. 

Day 4

We started our day by leaving Limerick City and driving out to a Benedictine monastery. It's quite old (several centuries), but was designed to look older, which is why it looks like a castle:

We spent the morning in a singing workshop with an expert in traditional Celtic music. She lives at the monastery (in fact, she's the only woman who has ever been allowed to live there), and I was worried that this would mean she'd be very Christian, but she wasn't. She was spiritual in a way that encompassed a variety of religions and philosophies, which was fantastic, and she taught us all about Irish history and musical traditions. I've always loved Celtic music, and hearing her sing just made me love it even more. She taught us several songs, explained their origins and significance, and- my favorite part- sang us an ancient, pre-Christian lamentation, one of the earliest forms of music, which was incredible. 

What I hadn't realized was that the revival of Celtic music and folk song traditions is relatively recent. Irish culture was suppressed by the British during the days of the empire, and even afterward,  well into the 20th century, the Irish considered their traditional culture to be unsophisticated and better left behind. Fortunately, this is no longer true. The Irish language is a mandatory part of the school curriculum, and we were told that there are now huge numbers of people who are interested in learning Celtic folk songs, and maintaining the Irish musical tradition. 

After the workshop we were taken to visit the monastery's small icon temple, which was pretty cool, and then we were invited to attend a church service and hear the monks sing. They were quite good. I wondered if this was only a select few of the monks, or if the monastery's admissions process included a vocal audition. 

We performed after the monks, though I'm not sure we sounded quite as good. The audience didn't seem to mind, though, and it was fun. 

We then left the monastery and headed toward Dublin. On the way we passed through the little town of Moneygall, which has the high honor of being the home of some of the ancestors of Barack Obama. The town is very proud of this. 

The Obama ancestral home. 

The Obama Cafe.

And, most notably, the Barack Obama Plaza! Which isn't much more than a fancy rest stop, but the sentiment is there. 

Inside the plaza, in addition to the fast food, is a little exhibit about Obama's Irish heritage, and about Irish immigrants abroad in general. It's quite nice. 

Barack "O'Bama". 

Then we continued on to Dublin. Here is some more awesome scenery and cows. There has been a lot of both. 

It took us about two hours to reach Dublin, and we didn't get to see much of it before getting to our hotel. But here are some pictures anyway.  

More pictures of Dublin tomorrow!