We started at Trinity College with a tour conducted by a delightful young art student. The college is around five hundred years old, but most of the building are less than half that age. It's a beautiful campus as far as the older structures are concerned, but the newer buildings are downright ugly. She left us at the college library where we were on our own. First we saw the exhibit on the Book of Kells. While there were only two pages of the actual book on display, there were a number of other books and a wonderful educational exhibit on the history and process involved. This book was created in the ninth century by monks on the island of Iona and transported to Kells for safety. It was stolen and eventually it ended up in the Trinity library and they refuse to return it. This exhibit is a must see when you visit Dublin. The work and artistic craftsmanship that went into it is remarkable.
The library itself, called The Long Room, is claimed to be the largest single room library in the world. It contains over 200,000 volumes, mostly in Latin; and they are shelved according to size. Therefore, it is very little used by students and researchers. It is still an impressive looking library.
We then took a walk down Grafton Street, which is a pedestrian only avenue of several block. It is home to a large number of upscale shops (including Marks and Spencer; gotta stay out of that place) and is teeming with humanity; a people watcher's paradise. We had lunch at a pub and were shocked at the price; $55 for an ordinary lunch. Ireland is even more outrageously expensive that the UK. It'll be great when and if the dollar comes back.
Then it was off to the National Museum of History and Archeology. The exhibits there covered Ireland from Paoleolithic times through the medieval period. Definitely a worthwhile experience.
By this time, we were pretty tired, so we drove back to Rossnaree, a pub dinner, and bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment