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.
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