So, I made my way to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The line may have been long but the teenage guy I stood behind had a wise persistence and focus about him- better known as 'the nicest way I could think of to describe the annoying ability to Yo-Yo'. And Yo-Yo he did. He made all of the older people in front of him nervous and completely ignored their discomfort- all to my inner-child's pleasure. Ah, personal entertainment.
Quick tangent: I also saw a seemingly-important street fountain by the Bank of Ireland in which someone felt they should take it upon themselves to add dish soap, which made me laugh.
Moral of that story: It's really all about the little things.
Here I am, about to see a monumental literary relic, and I'm giggling about fountain suds and awkward string object magic. Oh, me.
Update: Turns out, there was a foam party on the Trinity College campus tonight. (Big devastation: I wasn't invited.)
But to be honest, the Book of Kells is breathtaking. It's basically Christian scripture made pretty by some of the world's best monk artists/calligraphers, all in one location. The media they used was incredible- drawings of saints had this crazy affect of floating on the page by use of different inks on vellum and the entire process of the art followed biblical beliefs. Past the Book of Kells exhibit was the, "when I'm a billionaire, this is the first room I'm building in my house."- The Long Room. This was an enormously grand and beautiful part of the Trinity College Library. Cathedral ceilings, bookshelves after bookshelves for what looked like a mile; Each one had their own statue and pair of ladders/stairs lined with exhibits of very cool artifacts such as early literature, the oldest human giant skeleton display, and the oldest Irish harp known in existence. I just metaphorically pushed up my taped glasses and snorted shamelessly. Geeking out to this was definitely a highlight of my day.
Past this, I hopped into an Apple store to charge my phone where I sat and talked to the people working there about what I should or shouldn't do for the rest of my stay. More and more people have told me to avoid Cork. Does anyone have input or a reason beside the Blarney Stone to go there?
Let me know.
It was starting to get into the afternoon so I made my way toward the Guinness Storehouse to meet Ryan. On my way, I walked through parts of Dublin Castle and the courtyards of the Dublin Cathedral (St. Mary's? Need to check).
Anyway, after my long walk to the Guinness Storehouse, Ryan ended up not making it so I took the tour with a large group of college guys from England. They were hilarious and made the self-guided tour of the museum a lot of fun. The 7th floor of the Storehouse is a bar and the equivalent to the Sears Tower in Chicago; expansive 360 degree views of the city. The weather was beautiful in the afternoon so I got some great pictures. I just sat there with my free end-of-tour Guinness and took it all in for a while. On my walk back to the hostel, I walked through a small, lower-middle class neighborhood just to see how life is outside of the tourist areas. Just pretty standard; kids playing, people walking their dogs, everyone seemed to know each other. There was a really old man struggling to cross the street so, of course, I offered to help. In the most kind-hearted way, he turned me down saying he only had to go to the building in front of us. So, as I crossed I kept an eye on him as he tottered and slowly made his way but this woman, also kind but stern, was like, "Shove off now, dear. He'll be fine. He lives in this building." She saw my hesitation and was like, "he loves his walks to the store. It keeps him going." the whole thing was so innocent like I had accidentally walked in on a-day-in-the-life of Dublin suburbia, like I shouldn't have disrupted. Cool moment.
I finally got a chance to nap after this. I made plans with Ryan to meet up with him and his friend, Charles, and go to Temple Bar. They came and we walked through town again on a mini-tour of the things I had seen that day on the main strip. My inner-mom came out and made them walk through the Trinity College campus and explained Dublin Castle as we passed for their own good (as if I gave them medicine or something but I knew they wouldn't go themselves. :) ) We finally arrived on the main strip of the Temple Bar area, walked the streets, and Ryan picked a bar called, of course, Temple Bar (I admire his simplicity). It was a bit touristy but the craic singers were actually incredible and we got a nice little nook in the back of the bar where we drank reasonable amounts of Guinness and Jameson/gingers. Besides how much they made fun of my "I've only gotten 5 hours of sleep since Wednesday morning- lay off me" abilities to speak French, I had a really great time out.
I came back to an empty room as one girl from Mexico was out celebrating their Independence Day and the other three girls from Portugal are very to themselves (though, they were great to help me pick out my outfit for the evening.)
Ah, well. Today, I think I'm going to make my way to the James Joyce museum, take Ryan and Charles to the Mercantile, tour Jameson with them and head off to Galway. Sounds like a plan. Ok, more updates later.
Fun! My uncle lives in Ireland & has 2 acupuncture practices. I should have sent him off a note to see if he was in Dublin this week...
ReplyDeleteLoving your blog & pictures! Keep 'em coming.
Lynne