My soul rejuvinating (if not sleep rejuvinating) trip to Ireland
Here follows a massive ramble about my holiday... just warning you.
July 9th~ We arrived in Dublin in the pouring rain (no I wasn't shocked) and were extremely fortunate not to have been diverted to Heathrow. Not two hours after we landed the radar systems at the airport went screwy and everything was diverted. It was supposed to be fixed, but the next day the same glitch happened again. I am so relieved we missed the whole mess.
We managed to make it to Dun Laoghaire alright, though we did get thoroughly soaked hunting for our B&B. Umbrellas were acquired when we made it back into Dublin and meandered around for a bit on the north side of town. I found a kickin' set of Wellies which I can't wait to wear in Berens. We missed the walking tour (a theme for our visit in Dublin) but managed to stay on our feet and awake until about 7. We crashed when we got back to the B&B and had a decent sleep. It was a nice quiet neighbourhood.
July 10th~ We took the DART train into town and took a tour of Trinity College. The buildings are quite impressive and since it was convocation day, there were lots of people in robes wandering about. They looked much snazzier than my graduating robes. Still, at the ceremony graduates are called up by grade, not alphabetically by degree, and I can't imagine how humiliating it would be to be called up last. Not a bad motivator for studying actually. The library was incredible! Two stories tall (26 shelves of books from floor to ceiling) and twenty sections long, it's the longest single room library by a whopping eight feet. The book of Kells was interesting. I can't imagine having the patience needed for the artwork and illuminations in the thing. I think some of the monks needed better things to do with their time, but then I guess I'm not that pious, heathen that I am.
From Trin, we went to Christ Church Cathedral. There are lots of artisitic and archetectural things to ramble about, but what really impressed me were the tile patterns and ornamentation on the floor! I spent as much time looking down at the floor as I did looking up at the massive ceilings and whatnot. The crypt was also intriguing with plenty of artifacts to look over. Not bad, for a church.
Dublin Castle was only veiwable by guided tour, so we were crowded through rooms with about 30 other people. It was fancy as one would expect a castle to be, but I was actually a bit disappointed with the tour. It only showed a few rooms and our guide's Polish accent was a little thick. The most interesting part of the tour was actually underground where we got to see the original foundations of the castle wall and tower. Much of the rest of the buildings have been rebuilt after fires and whatnot, but the foundations have real character. Absolutely massive (about 6 metres thick at the base) it shows just how much work it would have taken to build the original thing.
Returning to Dun Laoghaire, we went to a children's summer music camp recital. It was fairly typical of these sorts of things, and for the most part the performers were quite good. One girl who sang though... ouch! Not being mean, but I hope for her sake that someone lets her know she's tone deaf. She was probably about 12 or 13 and tried really hard, but was painful to listen to. I felt embarrassed for her, but I'm not sure she realizes she wasn't off key, but not in any key. The really little kids did the Witch with the Wobbly Wand, which was absolutely adorable and had some fairly talented 4-7 year olds in the group. The older group did an adaptation of High School Musical 2 which was pretty good, even if the boys seemed less than completely enthusiastic about it. On the whole, a good recital.
July 11th~ Went first thing in the morning to Kilmainham Gaol, which was fascinating. There are several different sections of the prison that really typify the different treatment and theories on imprisonment over the past 400 some years. The oldest part of the gaol is really cramped, dingy and depressing, but the Victorian portion of the facility is very bright and not especially intimidating. There was lots of history about the famine and the risings and several cells with names of significant people who had been imprisoned there. Though it had been abandoned for most of the 20th century, it was actually old inmates (mostly political prisoners from the struggle for independance) that sought approval and funding and did the restoration work. The museum exhibit was excellent and this was one of the best sites we went to in Dublin.
We missed the walking tour (again) and meandered through the George street pedestrian mall before making it to the National Archeological museum. The building itself was incredible, but there was no photography and any books were about the collections, not the building. Not to say that the collections weren't great. There were all kinds of fabulous artifacts ranging from bronze age gold torcs to ornate christian goblets and whatnot.
I survived driving from the airport, where we picked up the rental car, back to Dun Laoghaire. The motorway that circles Dublin is useful, and I'm glad I didn't have to drive downtown, but drivers in Ireland are NUTS and clearly can't read posted speed limits, especially in construction zones! Back in Dun Laoghaire, we went to a really neat performance called 50 ways to leave Dun Laoghaire. It was a location specific peice and was done in the Ferry Terminal. Only 6 actors played all 50 people leaving on the ferry and it was fabulous! It's a bit hard to describe, since it was kind of all over the place, but the venue set up some really great stuff. My favourite part was the suitcase rummaging symphony. Once again, hard to describe, but really excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
So ends the Dublin/Dun Laoghaire portion of my trip.
July 9th~ We arrived in Dublin in the pouring rain (no I wasn't shocked) and were extremely fortunate not to have been diverted to Heathrow. Not two hours after we landed the radar systems at the airport went screwy and everything was diverted. It was supposed to be fixed, but the next day the same glitch happened again. I am so relieved we missed the whole mess.
We managed to make it to Dun Laoghaire alright, though we did get thoroughly soaked hunting for our B&B. Umbrellas were acquired when we made it back into Dublin and meandered around for a bit on the north side of town. I found a kickin' set of Wellies which I can't wait to wear in Berens. We missed the walking tour (a theme for our visit in Dublin) but managed to stay on our feet and awake until about 7. We crashed when we got back to the B&B and had a decent sleep. It was a nice quiet neighbourhood.
July 10th~ We took the DART train into town and took a tour of Trinity College. The buildings are quite impressive and since it was convocation day, there were lots of people in robes wandering about. They looked much snazzier than my graduating robes. Still, at the ceremony graduates are called up by grade, not alphabetically by degree, and I can't imagine how humiliating it would be to be called up last. Not a bad motivator for studying actually. The library was incredible! Two stories tall (26 shelves of books from floor to ceiling) and twenty sections long, it's the longest single room library by a whopping eight feet. The book of Kells was interesting. I can't imagine having the patience needed for the artwork and illuminations in the thing. I think some of the monks needed better things to do with their time, but then I guess I'm not that pious, heathen that I am.
From Trin, we went to Christ Church Cathedral. There are lots of artisitic and archetectural things to ramble about, but what really impressed me were the tile patterns and ornamentation on the floor! I spent as much time looking down at the floor as I did looking up at the massive ceilings and whatnot. The crypt was also intriguing with plenty of artifacts to look over. Not bad, for a church.
Dublin Castle was only veiwable by guided tour, so we were crowded through rooms with about 30 other people. It was fancy as one would expect a castle to be, but I was actually a bit disappointed with the tour. It only showed a few rooms and our guide's Polish accent was a little thick. The most interesting part of the tour was actually underground where we got to see the original foundations of the castle wall and tower. Much of the rest of the buildings have been rebuilt after fires and whatnot, but the foundations have real character. Absolutely massive (about 6 metres thick at the base) it shows just how much work it would have taken to build the original thing.
Returning to Dun Laoghaire, we went to a children's summer music camp recital. It was fairly typical of these sorts of things, and for the most part the performers were quite good. One girl who sang though... ouch! Not being mean, but I hope for her sake that someone lets her know she's tone deaf. She was probably about 12 or 13 and tried really hard, but was painful to listen to. I felt embarrassed for her, but I'm not sure she realizes she wasn't off key, but not in any key. The really little kids did the Witch with the Wobbly Wand, which was absolutely adorable and had some fairly talented 4-7 year olds in the group. The older group did an adaptation of High School Musical 2 which was pretty good, even if the boys seemed less than completely enthusiastic about it. On the whole, a good recital.
July 11th~ Went first thing in the morning to Kilmainham Gaol, which was fascinating. There are several different sections of the prison that really typify the different treatment and theories on imprisonment over the past 400 some years. The oldest part of the gaol is really cramped, dingy and depressing, but the Victorian portion of the facility is very bright and not especially intimidating. There was lots of history about the famine and the risings and several cells with names of significant people who had been imprisoned there. Though it had been abandoned for most of the 20th century, it was actually old inmates (mostly political prisoners from the struggle for independance) that sought approval and funding and did the restoration work. The museum exhibit was excellent and this was one of the best sites we went to in Dublin.
We missed the walking tour (again) and meandered through the George street pedestrian mall before making it to the National Archeological museum. The building itself was incredible, but there was no photography and any books were about the collections, not the building. Not to say that the collections weren't great. There were all kinds of fabulous artifacts ranging from bronze age gold torcs to ornate christian goblets and whatnot.
I survived driving from the airport, where we picked up the rental car, back to Dun Laoghaire. The motorway that circles Dublin is useful, and I'm glad I didn't have to drive downtown, but drivers in Ireland are NUTS and clearly can't read posted speed limits, especially in construction zones! Back in Dun Laoghaire, we went to a really neat performance called 50 ways to leave Dun Laoghaire. It was a location specific peice and was done in the Ferry Terminal. Only 6 actors played all 50 people leaving on the ferry and it was fabulous! It's a bit hard to describe, since it was kind of all over the place, but the venue set up some really great stuff. My favourite part was the suitcase rummaging symphony. Once again, hard to describe, but really excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
So ends the Dublin/Dun Laoghaire portion of my trip.