We hit the breakfast table this morning with excitement about having real eggs and meat again! With a full day ahead of us, eating was top priority. Our guide and bus arrived before 9 AM and we were off and running!
Sally was our city guide for the day and once again we were so fortunate. It turned out that Sally (like Kevin, in Scotland) is the head tour guide for our travel company and she sets up the groups for the local guides. In other words, we got the best of the best...and truly she was. I don't think she ever looked at notes...and had a story about almost every building or park we passed throughout Dublin.
For starters, to help you get acclimated, you might want to know that Dublin was founded by the Vikings....so it is really, really old. It is on the Irish Sea (across the Sea is Wales), and the River Liffey (also known as the Sniffey Liffey, which flows out to the sea) divides the city. This is a tidal river, so the water level rises and falls twice daily. Like most cities, one area is the more professional (cultured) area and the other is more of the working class. Most of the city was rebuilt in the time of the King Georges (several of them) so we see a lot of Georgian Architecture. (red brick, similar doors, symmetrical, iron fences)
Side note...I am trying to give you the tour, but it is 1 AM, SOME of us are too wide awake to sleep, so I am sitting in the gathering area with the kids..they are trying to sync some kind of dance that I clearly don't understand...but it is hilarious!
Back to Dublin.....Sally took us on the greatest city tour and told us incredible stories about the sculptures we saw around town. One of our favorites was Oscar Wilde, reclining on a rock. We also saw the place where he grew up. We learned about many more writers, including Jonathan Swift (who deserves a blog post of his own)
Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral are the two main Protestant churches in town.
Christ Church was Roman Catholic until the Reformation. The interesting thing about both churches is that when they were renovated, the cost was paid by two of the local distillers. I just found that kind of funny.
St. Patrick's Cathedral has been a church since the 5th Century when St. Patrick (a missionary) first arrived on the scene. The original church was moved outside the city walls in 1192 AD and the massive stone building was finally completed in the 1400's. It was in 1538 when it changed from Roman Catholic to Anglican (or, the Church of England.) When it was renovated in the 1800's, it was a brewing family who funded it. Today, only about 3% of the population are members of the Anglican Church, so they depend on donations and gift store sales to fund the upkeep these days. I just find this so sad to have these wonderful buildings that were built 'for God' and yet they are so void of His presence. Evangelical is not a term you hear over here.
We also saw the US Embassy (and not because we needed it!). The Embassy is located within the huge Phoenix Park...which is something like 4 times larger than our own Central Park and is the largest free gardens in Europe. Dan Rooney (former owner of the Pittsburg Steelers) is our US Ambassador to Ireland.
All of this is set near the amazingly tall Pope's Cross. ( I will post a photo as soon as I can). We did another group shot at the base of the cross. It is so named because not long ago the Pope showed up and did an outdoor blessing for something like a quarter of a million people.
SIDE NOTE: Now they are playing Ninja. It is hard to stay focused!
We also saw a lot of government buildings and art museums. The Irish are very proud of their artists, writers, and musicians. During the afternoon the students made a trip to one of the museums, so we all did not see the same exhibits. Caravaggio, Monet, Pissaro, Van Gogh and others were on Exhibit in one of the museums!
The Trinity College Library and the Book of Kells is another one that needs a blog of its own. The Library is incredible, housing over 200,000 old volumes. I am sure the kids will tell you about it! The Book of Kells is an ancient manuscript written by monks (over 1200 years old).....think about the Monks who are copying the Scriptures in the Globe at Epcot...you get the idea! You might imagine that the sheer precision and quality of the artwork is what so impressed me. The Book of Kells is only the four Gospels and is written on calf skin, stretched thin like paper, which is the reason it even exists today. It is an illuminated manuscript, and I will just have to explain more of that later. Let's just say that it was quite the memorable moment for me! The name of the exhibit was "Turning Darkness into Light" which pretty much explains it all.
There was so much knowledge to absorb during the morning that by the time lunchtime rolled around, we were ready to bid Sally farewell and head off for some 'Irish Grub.' The afternoon was spent ..."thinking of others'.....that means, of course, acquiring souvenirs for our loved ones!
It was such a beautiful day and Dublin's main shopping area is cordoned off from cars, so it made shopping such a pleasure. With the shopping and lunch break, also came the time for the museum and checking out the outdoor sculptures.
After we met for a second time, we headed off for our last meal in Ireland. It turned out to be a delicious Irish Stew with Irish Soda Bread. Mmmmm, Incredible!
We took another long way home to the hotel and enjoyed a street musician along the way. Dublin is an interesting city, it is full of bustling night life and is beautiful under the full moonlit night.
Some of the crew turned in, preparing for an early morning wake up call!
