April 16-17 2009

Trinity College, home to the Book of Kells.


We started our trip in Dublin, Ireland. In the beginning, there were four of us, which, I've decided is about as big as a group should get. On the plus side, it's easy to break off into groups if different people want to see different things, but is also really hard to decide on where to eat, what to eat, or change your travel plans in the slightest.

So Dublin! We were couch-surfing for Ireland, which I promise isn't the least been sketchy, if you do it right. Basically, there is a website where people post if they have a free couch or bed or floor space, and how many people can fit. Then you look for people that have a lot of reviews, email them to see if you can stay at their place. It can be a really good place to meet locals who know a lot about the city your staying in. At the same time, it can be really hard to get into contact with good people. We had a rule that we would only contact people with a certain number of ratings. I would never do it by myself, but even with two people, it's okay as long as you pay attention and use common sense.

Our host in Dublin was named Derek, and he was kinda crazy. There were four of us, and he owned half of a cottage. Molly and I ended up sleeping in the entry way. He was also about a mile from town, and walking in the cold was not fun.

But Dublin made up for it. On Day 2 (the 17th), we walked into town, and stumbled across Oscar Wilde's house. Then we went to the National Gallery, where we saw a lot of cool paintings by Irish painters who I've never heard of before. Thomas Roberts was my favorite, because he painted a lot like Constable. It seemed as though many of the paintings were tinged with an inherent tiredness from so many years of war and heartbreak. Everywhere in Ireland there were reminders of a history of violence and conflict. At points, the bleakness was so overwhelming it was almost suffocating.
We also went to the Ireland National Museum, which is split into two buildings. We planned to go to the Modern museum, but ended up at the pre-modern one instead. It was certainly interesting, especially the shriveled-up bog people (that's a direct quote from my journal...)

We also saw the Book of Kells at Trinity College. There was an exhibit about the church monopolized publishing industry in the Medieval Ages, and it showed how books were made at the time. Right up my alley. The Book of Kells is a Bible I think? Or at least some of the Gospels, from 800 AD. It's in a really dark room, and they show a different page every day to minimize the exposure to light. There were lots of mistakes, which made me laugh, because everything was so intricately done, there was no way to go back and fix it. You wonder if some congregation ever had a widely different understanding of Christianity because the priest had a Bible with a critical word left out or something. Not that there was too much interpretation going on back in the day, but all the way out in Ireland, with Rome so far away? Who knows what might have happened!

The most exciting part of the exhibit was the Long Room, which was full of old books.They were constantly rotating the books, laying them flat on the shelves one row at a time to preserve them, because having them vertical is bad for the bindings. Oh the things you learn while traveling! It also housed one of sixtenn remaining copies of the Declaration of the Irish Republic, which was awesome.

As you can see, we packed a lot into our days. This eventually led to sickness and melt downs among all. Molly and I learned our lesson, and slowed down considerably. But at the time, we were so! excited! to be traveling.
I really hope to go back and actually see Ireland, the country. I'm sure it's beautiful, and I know that one day I'll get back there.
Next Time: Dublin continues!