Did I mention we went to Dublin???? It is the capital of Ireland and is on the east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey. It boasts many historic buildings, including St Patricks Cathedral founded in 1191. I am still amazed by the structures that can last so many years if taken care of. How many centuries is that ....way too many to think about how they did that construction...all by hand. No bulldozers or cranes back then. This picture is from Wikipedia, as my shots were blurry from the rain. We only had a little rain and this was one time. St Patrick was not Irish, he was born in the UK, but he was a 5-century Romano-British Christian missionary in Ireland. He came known as the primary patron Saint of Ireland. when he was 16 he was captured by Irish Pirates and taken as a slave and was taking care of animals. When he escaped he went back home to the UK, became a cleric, and eventually went back to Ireland
We stayed at a beautiful hotel called the Royal Marine Hotel...overlooking the water.
Look closely at the last photo... I think that gentleman was a year-round resident, I had wanted to talk to him, but I couldn't disappoint Stuart and be late for the coach ride around the city. This is the afternoon we had free to explore on our own. That night there was an extra excursion to the Guinness Storehouse. Anna and I opted out of that to go to see the Book of Kells, which was much more important to me as it is the glorious manuscript from 1185. A little history from the official guide, which explains it so much more than my "AWESOME!"
This is an inspiring symbol of Irish creativity and national pride. All other medieval manuscripts are in the shadow of its enigmatic imagery, vivid colouring, and expressive intensity....AWESOME....It combines pages of the ornament with the transcription of the Gospels to provide visual elucidation for an audience that expected to find colour and splendor in a church...AWESOME....
I could go on and on about the awesomeness of this beautiful book, but as you can see from my pictures it really was awesome. the Illuminators who created the artwork and painted and transcribed these gospels were so talented, many say it's really a book done by Angels.
The above pictures are from the official guidebook by Bernard Meehan. You see the exhibit is in the Trinty Collage and has a beautiful display of all things you need to know, but the book itself is in a small room with special lighting so it can be preserved forever. They do change the pages every day or so, so you can see different illustrations. Anna & I were in awwe. I am not sure why, but I do not have a picture of the stones that they used to create the inks.....(maybe I wasn't allowed to photo them???).
Below are
the pictures that I took....they are from the exhibit rooms. If you think that scribing is easy ....Aha..this is my try at doing one of the letters. No wonder it took years to finish....Maybe if you are the illustrator that was designing it, but the swirls and curls get very confusing.....I am still going to try......
From here we were directed to the Library. I was not expecting this library., This Library serves Trinity College and The University of Dublin. It is a legal deposit or "Copyright" Library", under which, publishers in Ireland must deposit a copy of all their publications there, without charge. The library supports the learning and research of the College and its reputation is international.
I was NOT ready for this, are you? Can you imagine the number of books contained on
these walls? Unbelievable!
On the outside of the Library,
they had some beautiful flowers, not sure what they are, but maybe you will know. Yes that day was cold, and rainy.....but we didn't care were in Ireland.
We stopped in a mall...I think I was looking for hearing aid batteries, and look at how victorian it was..
Then we went back to the hotel and walked around a bit...look at this giant seagull....AND the Palm tree. Never thought I would see Palm trees in Ireland.
We had decided to spend our free time at the Book of Kells and was too late back to go on the Guinness Storehouse and dinner, everyone who went said it was interesting. So we were on our own for dinner. We found a wonderful restaurant which I can't seem to remember the name of , so I'll get back to you with that. But the appetizers and drinks were very much like home....although I did ask for an Irish Cosmopolitan....and got one!
Next is the Ring of Kerry...15 as you can see we packed a lot into every day and enjoyed every minute!