Dublin - Day 2 — Patti Part Two

I had a full list of places to get to today, and inspite of not getting a very good nights sleep (jet lag I curse you) I was determined to cover lots of ground - and I did! No secret that I love museums so I had three on my list. First up The Book of Kells in the Trinity College Library. Maybe not technically a museum but it felt like one. The Book of Kells is a 1200 year old version of the four gospels elaborately inked and illustrated by a group of monks, considered by many to be the finest piece of art from the Dark Ages. It’s written on calf skin and while you do get to see it in the exhibit no pictures are allowed. In the room preceding the actual book there is a great exhibit walking you through the process and details which helps you understand what an amazing book it is. The intricacy is incredible.

Trinity College and bottom left is an example of a page from the Book of Kells.

The other part of the exhibit is seeing what is called The Long Room of the Old Library. It was built between 1712 and 1732 and is nearly 200 feet long. It contains over 200,000 books, most of them very old. The central walkway is lined with marble busts of famous philosophers and writers, some of them dating back to the 1700’s.

Do you see there is no J in the row of letters on the bookshelf? The Latin alphabet has no J - I learned that today.

Next on my list - The National Museum of Archeology . This museum shows off the treasures of Ireland from the Stone Age to modern times. I also learned a lot about what a bog really is, and that because of the composition, things are naturally preserved better than they would be normally, including dead bodies - of which I saw a few😳 I also learned that there is a reason leprechauns look for a pot of gold. Ireland doesn’t have much in the way of natural gold so all the more reason to look for it I suppose. (I made up the part about the leprechauns but the other part is true.) The building itself was really beautiful too.

I decided not to take any pictures of the dead preserved bodies - you’re welcome!

My third and last Museum was The National Gallery of Ireland. Did I mention all the National Museums are free? And everything I did today was in a very compact area so easy to walk between all the sites. This is their museum of art, and I loved it. They had some really great collections and the building has recently been redone and was gorgeous. While they had works by Monet, Picasso, Caravaggio etc, they had a large collection of the Irish painter Jack Yeats that was impressive.

Right across the street from the National Gallery is a pretty little park called Merrion Square. Built in 1762 it is surrounded on three sides by elegant Georgian houses all distinguished with colorful doors - the somewhat famous Doors of Dublin. I had read about them and loved seeing them. Some of the houses have had famous owners. The top right blue door #58 housed Daniel O’Connell one of the key figures in the Revolution of 1916 that was jailed and executed at Kilmainham Gaol. Bottom right black door was owned by William Butler Yeats the poet and playwright.

In the square there is a cool statue of Oscar Wilde lounging. I walked through the park to check it out.

Next I walked down the street to St Stephen’s Green. Kind of like the Central Park of Dublin. The park got its start in 1664, and has a great history ever since then through the revolutions and now in more peaceful times. Even though it was overcast and chilly there were lots of people eating lunch on benches and walking through the park.

Next up a little window shopping on Grafton Street. They have closed Grafton to all but pedestrians and there are lots of great shops and restaurants lining it from Trinity College down to St Stephens Green. Since Christmas will be here soon it was very busy and lots of people out and about.

Last but not least I headed to Christ Church Cathedral to hear a free concert by the Cathedral Girls Choir. What a nice way to wrap up a busy fun day. The Cathedral occupies the same site as the first wooden church built in 1030 and is huge and Victorian in design. Pictures aren’t allowed during the concert - they actually don’t call it a concert - they call it an Evensong. It is really a religious service with lots of beautiful singing.

This picture is just one small piece of the huge church.

Inside the church after the service was finished.

You might be wondering - is she not eating? Well I’m not doing a great job of stopping for meals. I had so much I wanted to see today that I just grabbed snacks when I needed to revive myself. But contrary to what I had heard I would say Dublin appears to have some great food. I got some recommendations from people that work at the hotel and I’m hoping to actually go get a decent meal tomorrow. I have added it to my list!

Well that’s it for today. So far Dublin has exceeded my expectations as an amazing place. The people are so nice and it’s been really easy to find my way around - except for the one time I kind of went in a circle tonight😊 I need some sleep!