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!

Day 3

(My internet connection was terrible last night, so now I'm a day behind. I figured that would happen at some point. Fortunately, we changed hotels today, and the wifi is much better here.)

We got up early, yet again. All of our days have been early. This has been a very exhausting trip, considering how much time we've spent sitting on the bus.

We left our hotel in Killarney and drove from Kerry into County Cork under shockingly sunny skies. The countryside was stunning as usual, though our tour guide, who is from Kerry, insisted that Cork's landscape isn't nearly as nice.

Our first stop was Blarney Castle, which houses the Blarney Stone, one of the biggest tourist black holes in Ireland. Legend says that kissing the Blarney Stone will give you the gift of eloquence. Considering how many people have kissed it over the centuries, it'll probably also give you plenty of other things. I wanted to go into the castle just to see the dang thing, but the line was so long that I ended up taking a walk on the grounds instead. I spent most of my time in the poison garden, which was even more interesting than the castle and certainly less crowded. 

Blarney Castle. 

A terrifying sign. WHERE IS THE OXFORD COMMA?

AAAAAAH! Poison Ivy! Tons of deadly plants in this garden, and this was the only one with a DO NOT TOUCH THIS PLANT! warning on the sign. 

Trees with sweaters. 

We then drove to Limerick City, where we would be spending the night. It's a nice little city on the River Shannon, with a bunch of walking streets and practically no restaurants open past seven. We finally found a place to eat that had live celtic music and really good food, though, so it ended up being a great night. 

I also saw the biggest, most vivid rainbow I've ever seen. Way to be stereotypical, Ireland. 

There are two of them up there. Ridiculous. 

Day 2

We had a long day today. We left the hotel at 8:15, had rehearsal, then headed out on a tour of the Ring of Kerry. This took us through a lot of little villages, and way up into the mountains (Well, not way up- Ireland's highest mountain is just under 4,000 feet), and along some narrow winding roads. The countryside was pretty spectacular, and it was very, very windy.
(Sorry for the relative shortage of pictures. The Internet was being uncooperative, so I did what I could.)

This is a platform, in the town of Killorglin, erected to hold King Puck in the annual Puck Fair. King Puck is a wild goat that they kidnap from the mountains, pamper, then stick up high to lord over the town for three days. This festival is around 400 years old, and I may have to come back to Ireland just to see it, because it sounds awesome.

There are a lot of peat bogs in Ireland- peat was actually their main source of fuel and building materials after the early settlers chopped down all of the trees- and we spent a little while hanging out in a reconstructed bog village. It made me want to re-watch The Secret of Roan Inish.

We then headed up into the mountains. The landscape was pretty spectacular. We stopped at the excellently-named Dingle Bay for some pictures.

We then went to lunch in a little restaurant on a beach. Don't let the palm trees fool you. They must have gotten lost on their way to somewhere warmer. But at the very least, the sun came out.

Back up in the mountains, we stopped for some more pictures, and to fight some more wind.

Farmers mark their sheep with natural dye to keep track of them. It's shearing season, so these ones are all shockingly nude.

As an aside, I really want to come back here and do some hiking. The mountains are beautiful, and some of them are completely tree-less, so it looks like you could just stroll to the top. Apparently a lot of people hike here, and the only obstacle would be the weather. We were told today that it rains here twice a week- the first time for four days and the second time for three.

After completing our circuit of the Ring of Kerry we returned to Killarney, where we've been staying the past two days, and went on a little horse-and-buggy ride through the Killarney National Park. Most of the trip was through the woods, and the trees looked very much like the trees at home, if a little greener from all the rain. We stopped by Ross Castle, a 15th-century structure originally built by the family that ruled the Killarney area at the time, then we returned to town for dinner.

Flying bicycles in Killarney.

Ross Castle.

Molly, our frenetic horse.

After dinner we went to a very nice celtic music show. The sun sets very late here this time of year, but by the time we left the show, it was already dark. We have another long day tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. The trip is already going by really quickly.