Late Wednesday - Waterford and Youghal

Waterford was wonderful. The signs to get to Waterford Crystal were very good and we only got turned around once downtown and we did the right thing by turning left when we really wanted to turn right and had to go around the block once to fix a small directional error.

While stuck in traffic I kept busy by reading historical signs on buildings. General Richard Malcahy was born on Manor Street and there was a sign about the War of Independence on Henry Street. I am quite sure that I would have enjoyed staying in Waterford, lots of history there too.

We arrived at Waterford Crystal about four in the afternoon. I have never seen so many really gorgeous large crystal chandeliers. Such a sparkling experience. We wanted to go on the tours but found out that the factory had been shut down after the purchase of Waterford crystal by KPS. The store will stay open but all the crystal was now being made in Poland. This made us very sad and we determined to only buy crystal made in Waterford. We browsed for an easy 30 minutes and when we found out that with the purchase of a mere 200 Euros they would pay for the shipping, we got down to some serious shopping. Maureen got some crystal wine glasses and a collection of other treasures for her family. I got two star Christmas ornaments for the kids at Christmas that had been made in Ireland. We bought each other a small crystal vase and had the stars and the vases, engraved by Nick Cody who was a great character. We talked about the dangers of driving on Irish roads and maybe how having something to drink made them braver and so faster on their narrow laneways. Maybe they should not allow drinking and driving? Well Nick said in a most serious way and with a look of true horror” If you take away my drink, I might as well be dead!” It made me wonder how he had such a steady hand for engraving and he said it was, again, his drink that gave

such a steady hand. Amazing stuff this Irish drink, better than all the pharmaceuticals developed to calm the nerves. It made you braver, calmer and according to Nick, happy to go home to your wife of thirty years. Happy with all of our purchases and wondering how long it would take and what mode they would use to ship everything to Maureen’s we departed Waterford and after a small consultation with the map were on our way to Youghall.

The sun had come out and although getting lower in the sky it was beautiful. So we were driving along when we came to a curve in the road and as we started to drive off the road I mentioned this to Maureen immediately who replied

‘I’m just checking what gear I’m in. If I have to drive with my left hand you should have to write with your left hand’. So I did, for a whole half page, which turned out legible, almost, and Maureen’s addition to the end of the page was ’- and Dennie - you’re such a good sport’. Those things that I noted with my left hand : rain, Lemybrien, saw a grocery store first one and a Texaco.

In between Lemybrien and Dungarvan are at least eight traffic circles. Now they were little traffic circles and the signs were good but really, eight? We have traffic circles in Edmonton and they do keep things going so I can only assume that the area has lots of traffic and so lights or stop signs would be prohibitive to smooth moving traffic.

Dungarvan is a beautiful town with the big harbour. Even in the rain. Even in the pouring rain. Could easily have stayed there but we were aiming for Youghal. We came to a very large bay and saw the town of Youghal on the other side. The long bridge across the large Blackwater River was impressive.

We drove through town and ended up staying at the Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel in a room with a view of the bay and park. Parking was a little difficult as there was a slight incline and there was a pole in our parking spot. well not in it but very close to the front of it. Maureen did do a good job considering left handed gearshift and a standard vehicle.

We learned that you pronounce Youghal as yawl not yougal. We had dinner of potato skins and our first 1/2 pint of Murphy's at the almost empty bar in the hotel. There is something to be said for traveling in the off season.

Lots of attention because you are the only tourists. I like Murphy’s better than Guinness. The bar was pleasant although a little slow, but I think that was due to the fact that the bar maid was the cook and check in attendant as well. She wore many hats. After a leisurely dinner and one more 1/2 pint we tidied up the car and organized our souvenirs. I organized my suitcase and wrote out some of my postcards to mail the next day and we hit the bed early.

Wednesday Afternoon, Three Counties - Wicklow – Wexford - Waterford

We left our lovely scenic road and got back onto the N11 shortly after we left the beach.

It was not as terrifying as yesterday but still not as comfortable as we would have liked. We pulled into Carters Café that is right in Arklow on the N11. We figured that we couldn’t get lost. Lovely planked wooden benches and great baked potatoes and apple juice for lunch.

We had to decide if we were going to go to Wexford town or continue on to Waterford. We figured we would have a better idea of how much time we might have to spend in Wexford or if we would just continue on to Waterford, if we decided to go there, by the time we got to Enniscorthy .

We were not booked in anywhere that night so we could stay anywhere we liked. The N11, which was the green road on the map, looked straight and although the highway was divided which was very nice, we seemed to pass through many little towns with lots of curves.

We decided to keep a list of things to ask someone at some point. Things like:

What the heck is traffic calming?What are the rules for passing here?

Which lane is the slow lane because they all seem to be going too fast for us?

How do I use this phone card? it is an Irish calling card.

Do they always flash yellow?

What the heck is the speed limit here? Maureen at one point in a particularily stressful point on the road asked ”I should be in fifth gear?’ We laughed a lot. The sun came out and it was lovely.

Suddenly there was a traffic circle looming in front of us. Panic set in, the car stalled, a big truck was coming, we couldn’t read the signs fast enough to figure out which exit was ours. But we’re Alive! Maureen got the car started, the big truck did not hit us and we found an exit onto an undivided highway. Now you are probably wondering why the fear of traffic circles. Well usually there is no problem but we had to do them backwards to what we would normally do them, so, think about it. Left handed stick shift, left hand lane, driving from the right side of the car. Yikes!

‘The truck coming toward us is on the wrong side of the road’ flashed through my mind and exits my mouth before I figure out or remember that everything is OK,we are on the other side of the road right where we are supposed to be. We passed through a very pretty little town called Camolin. I wrote Calomine in my journal and just realized it was different when I looked at the map while writing this.

There are so many little towns that I would love to explore but, so sad, no time. In between the towns are lovely farms with cows and horses. Picturesque. I also found while looking at the map that we had actually taken a wrong turn out of the last scary traffic circle off of the N11 and that is how we wound up on the undivided highway on our way to Ferns. A small detour but well worth it.

The next Traffic calming sign brought us into Ferns.

We stopped at this great little church right on the road and took some photos of our first celtic cross. So exciting. There were ruins behind the church and graveyards both old and new. A thatched roof cottage at the end of the churchyard with pink flowers all in front. Maureen wanted some pictures for a friend of hers on Salt Spring. I just wanted pictures of everything. We only stayed for about 15 minutes but it was a great break.

We left ferns about 2:10 according to the clock on the church steeple and continued on into Enniscorthy, which seemed quite large after the small towns that we had been in.

I found out that it is the Second largest town in County Wexford. Its history goes back to 465 and is one of the longest continuously occupied sites in Ireland. We did not stop here but went straight through. Now when I say straight through you have to understand that Enniscorthy is hard to get through. There was lots of traffic and we thought the road signs were hard to find. Having said that, we did not stall and we only misread one sign so only had to go around one block to figure out how to get through downtown. But as Maureen said, we 'Made it through Another town Alive!' We followed the river Slaney that flows through Enniscorthy, went over the bridge and decided that if we wanted to get to Waterford that afternoon we had better not go to Wexford.

We took the N30 turn going to New Ross and Waterford and were back on the highway. Saw a sign that said 100 Km. Who the freak drives 100 km an hour on these roads?

I prefer 70 in a country where the roads are narrow and they all seem to drive two inches from each other.

It was raining and I saw a silver tree. Art on the side of the road. Again, did not have time to get my cameral out.

A few scary spots where the road narrowed into what seemed like a one lane road

but were very pretty. The scenery was lovely with more hills coming and the road getting more twisty and curvey. Clonroche was a small town high in the hills and was very charming. Again my camera was not handy. So Maureen says

‘You have got to be at the ready to take pictures or they are gone’

and a new phrase is born. ‘At the Ready’. Maureen decides that the phrase that I use the most is actually the word ‘RIGHT ‘ with the appropriate back of my right hand waving Maureen over to the right of the road.

We laugh a lot at this.

There are now bigger trees that look old. It also seems that there are no telephone lines. We realize that we have not seen a lot of telephone poles or lines anywhere on our trip. They do have phones here. How does that work? Where are the phone lines? In Canada you can go beside any almost highway and see electric or phone lines.

Now the road reminds me of Vancouver Island. Very Malahat. Big trees and big hills. Beautiful

We both decide that when you rent a car in a foreign country you should get a little book to acquaint you with the local traffic signs and rules.

We arrive at the port town of New Ross which is a newer town and is not impressive for us who are seeking history and old things. We drove along the quay (dock) past the ‘Dunbrody’, a replica emigrant ship and over the river Barrow on a long bridge to the town of Rosbercon. I found out when I got home that there is a lot of history in New Ross.

It dates back to the 6^th century, the middle ages. From what we saw from the car, it really didn't look that interesting.

After Rosbercon we were on an almost divided highway which always seemed like such a treat after the narrow roads. Emerald green fields, yellow gorse on the hills, Queen Annes lace and pink dogwoods(?), palm trees and those lovely bushes with white purple flowers along the roads.

AAAHHHH ….another circle…. Oh no…. two of them….. they really should put the road signs at the circle exits, not after them. We really do have to thank the Irish for their patience with terrified tourists driving their roads.

Then.... a Major Junction..... But there were good signs there. Next stop Waterford.

Our First Irish Beach

After Breakfast and our walk to the church we packed up and got ready to leave lovely Wicklow. One of the things that we made sure to do was to figure out the windshield

wipers. That done we sallied forth fairly certain that we would be much safer today. We would not crash into some thing or someone while trying to get the wipers to work in case it rained. We could see out of the windshield properly even in a downpour and as a bonus we would not run out of windshield washer fluid.

The skies had turned grey and the rain had begun again. Now let me share with you a well-known weather fact in Ireland.

The weather changes quicker than you can say faith and begorrah. Usually the first wave is sunshine, warm and bright with promises of basking on beaches and ice cream cones to stay cool with. Then those lovely clouds build up and start to roll in and are then followed by the rain. We found that usually it was softly at first working up to a sometimes very much harder downpour before the

clouds would roll away again to have the sun reappear to a sparkling, fresh green landscape. Of course there are the days where the skies just turn grey and the rain spits out in a steady patter with the wind gusty and cold. Our day seemed to be shaping up more like that but we didn’t mind because we were on an adventure.

So with our day shaping up to be grey, rainy, windy and with that kind of open ocean beach cold that can creep in and chill you to your bones, we drove out of Wicklow

on the scenic road, which, on the map, was highlighted with a green colour with a yellow line in the center. It looked wider on the map. It was narrow, maybe 15 feet wide with hedges nearly touching the car or at least it felt like that. There were curves and small rises with little stone walls and trees that seemed to be close enough for me to touch if I put my hand out the window.

We were quite concerned that we might run into someone coming from the opposite direction and then where would we go. This road was much narrower than the roads we were on yesterday.

We were looking for lovely Brittas bay beach the Wicklow tourist office had told us of a little further up the coast or the beach just past Brittas which was supposed to be even prettier with easier road access. It really wasn’t that hard to find.

When we got there we were surprised to see an RV parked in the small gravel parking lot. I was very glad that we had not met them while driving on the road. We were not sure that we could have handled that. The beach was lovely even though it was cold and windy and rainy.

I took some photos with my waterproof camera.

I took off my coat for a moment and tried to get a close up of a wave crashing on the rocks but only really succeeded in getting a little wet. There were plaques in the rocks with peoples’ names on them. Maureen thought maybe they were

for sailors who had died. I thought maybe memorials for people from towns and farms nearby and maybe that was their favorite spot, in the summer. Back in Edmonton and in Comox we have memorial benches with peoples’ names and sayings on them, so maybe that was what these were.

Needless to say we stayed on our first beach for about half an hour and turned the heat on in the car when we continued on our way. Our first encounter with St George's Channel was very rewarding.

Day Three - Wicklow - Early morning

I wake up early. This is a fact of life that I thought I might share with you.

I know that lots of people don't wake up early so I have learned to deal with it. I have become adept at being very quiet as I get ready and leave to explore whatever area I find myself in so that I am not under foot, as it were, while others are sleeping.

Watched the sun come up over the harbour through the clouds.

Sidenote:

Wicklow Head ,which is just outside of town,

is the most Eastern mainland point in Ireland.

I went down the stone steps to the river and tried to walk along on this little path. A very little path, actually, an almost non existent path. I imagined seeing fish and looked for otter or seal or some other form of wildlife, but I saw none. I knew that seeing beaver was pretty much out of the question. The bird sanctuary was just down the way and I could hear lots of birds but I did not

see any. I thought of going back inside to get my underwater

camera to get photos in the river but it was dark and I thought that the photos would have turned out as little black windows of nothing. maybe I should have tried it .

The 'path' didn't go very far, so, instead of courting a wet and muddy calamity, decided it was best to come back and explore the dryer side of the B&B.

The B&B was lovely with antique desks and interesting decor. The

dining room was setup for breakfast but I was the only one up.

Very quiet, very pleasant.

I headed up the hill to see what was there. Streets in Ireland are very narrow by Canadian standards. They are charming and full of character but very narrow. The street was walled for a good portion of the way with the front doors to houses being right on the narrow sidewalk. I think they also have access to the street from their homes through a side courtyard with gates to the street.

The Hill was steep and long. The sun was up and the dew on

the plants growing on top of the walls was lovely, all sparkly and fresh. They cover the stone walls with a smooth cement-like parge. It looked interesting, like grey icing on a cake.

I did notice this water cover on the sidewalk. In Edmonton,

the water covers are just plain metal covers with Edmonton

on them. Here they are little works of art.

(when I got back to Canada my Aunt Nancy asked if I

brought one home with me as she thought they were lovely

too.

I explained to her that getting through airport security might have been tougher carrying a piece of iron that probably weighed five pounds. They probably would have noticed it on the x-ray machine as I only had carry on, I travel light. Even if they had of let me take my

little souvenir of Ireland back with me, what the heck would

I do with it? use it as a trivet?)

The name of the street is Church Hill road for a good reason.

At the top of the hill is Wicklow Parish Church.

A wonderful old church with the graveyard beside. The graveyard was locked so I thought I would try the church. To my surprise it was open! It was wonderful. A whole new place to explore, with respect I might add.

On the outside of the church was a plaque to Robert Charles Halpin, Master mariner, born February 16, 1836 at the Bridge Tavern (we were there last night).

He was the captain of the SS Great Eastern which laid the

transoceanic Telegraph cables in the late 1800s. I looked

him up when I got home and found out that he was one of the

most important mariners in the 19th century. By laying those underwater cables he was instrumental in connecting victorian age continents and helped make the world the global village it is today. How exciting for those folk.

At the front row of the church in each aisle was a tombstone in the

floor which I had not seen as I was so busy looking at the ceiling trusses , the very pretty stained glass windows and the impressive giant organ at the back in the loft. When I realized what it was, I jumped. Kind of like walking on someone's grave,well actually, it is walking on

someone's grave.

Now there possibly are some of these in old churches in Canada but I had

never run across one (bad pun) before so I was surprised.

I do recall reading that this sort of thing was done by the wealthy patrons of parishes way back when. The stone on one aisle was from 1771. This church was old! It was for a Robert Baker and his two daughters, Mary and Judith. I wonder how many genuflections have been done on that stone? I was the only person there and it was very quiet, peaceful really. I walked all over that church. Through one door, which went out to the graveyard I think, there was a small foyer type room with an arch from

the original church in 1700s. The outer door was locked so I am

not sure if it opened onto the graveyard or not. I went up the stairs to get some pictures from the loft only find a that the door at the top of the stairs to was locked.

When you think about it, the fact that the church was open was

amazing. In canada and the States churches are locked up all

week except for services. The Organ was huge and the wooden rafters were beautifully done. The church was very well kept. The sun was getting higher and I thought I should probably get going to see if Maureen was awake yet. I took a few more pictures and headed back down the hill.

I saw one car drive by and it drove fast, everyone here drives fast.

Although it is possible that due to the steepness of the hill the little car

had to gun it to make it to the top. I also met a young man on his way to school. I asked him where the school was and he said it was on the other side of the hill past the church. He did not go to the Catholic school on the top of the hill across from the church.

The sun was warm and the birds were singing. It was a beautiful day to explore. I love seeing new places and imagining what it must have been like to live in past times.

Whenever I visit places with lots of history, I remember things that I learned in school. Facts that when I learned them I thought

I would never use. But when you are walking down the street where those historic things happened it puts things into a new perspective. I still don't necessarily use that information, but it does make it more personal somehow. That is how they should teach history, with students going on world tours. When I got back to the B&B I got out my journal and entered the previous days and my mornings adventures. Maureen was just getting up and we had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast, fruit and tea, but no potatoes. The Irish don't eat potatoes for breakfast.

We didn't know that yet so were kind of let down. Well I was, Maureen loves scrambled eggs so she was as happy as a clam. After breakfast we decided to go back up the hill and see the church. I got a few more pictures in the sun and showed Maureen the stones in the church which marked graves. She was much more nonchalant about them than I had been, but she had probably seen them in France so it was not new to her.

The First Hour of Driving and Finding Respite in Wicklow

The new renault was great, very comfy and smooth. The roads were much narrower than what we were used to and we were driving on the other side of the road which just seemed wrong. There was an election going on and there were signs everywhere. Vote for O'Brien, Vote for Cahill. There were real estate signs mixed in with the election signs. It made finding our highway signs that much more difficult. We were certainly not the fastest car out there and I think that the daily commuters from Dublin and the surrounding area may have cursed us upon occasion. I am also sure that probably the majority were used to tourists learning to navigate their roads as many drivers were very patient with us. Thank you.

It rained off and on, sometimes very hard, and Maureen could not figure out how to keep the windshield wipers going so had to keep turning them on which seemed to use more windshield wiper fluid each time she turned it on. She voiced more than once that she had some concern that we would run out of windshield wiper fluid before too long if we couldn't figure out how to keep them turned on.

We past signs for wonderful sounding places like Ballybrack, Shankill, and Bray.

What romantic Irish sounding names. We went through Kilmadanoge and Rathnew.

we wondered how do you pronounce some of these names? We decided that before we ran out of windshield wiper fluid, we would spend the night in Wicklow and pulled into town. We found the Beach which was stoney and ate some cheese and bread in the car while relaxing from our exhausting adventures of driving in Ireland for about one hour.

The water matched the grey skies but we were happy to see the ocean. Our first glimpse of the Atlantic from Ireland.

Then to find a place to stay the night.

We checked out the Bridge Tavern hotel which was very old with lots of character and they told us the hotel up the road was having a special. We went there but it was full because they were having a special. The lady at the check-in gave us a list of bed and breakfasts in the area and recommended the Aralee House River lodge B&B . "Just find Church hill road and they were halfway up the hill". We navigated our way to the B&B and they had a room with parking in the rear of the house. There were palm trees and flowering bushes and a stone staircase down to the river just off the parking area. Very nice. Our room had two wonderfully comfortable beds and was white. White bedspread, pillows and walls, all white and very bright. We parked the car and walked around town as it is a good sized town but not so big as to be intimidating. Decided dinner was in order so walked down the hill and onto the main street to find french fries. We found a bookie place to place race bets and we found a fast food place but then thought that maybe we wanted to sit down, so ended up at a little place with great food. The Sign said The Coffee shop but the menu said something else. We were so busy chatting and eating that we did not realize that the time was slipping away and we closed the place.

It had stopped raining and the night was dark with no stars when we walked back up church hill road to our B&B.We both settled in very quickly and fell were fast asleep in no time at all.

Woke up to a lot of yelling and carrying on outside our window at about midnight . Seemed that there was a party, maybe a graduation or something and the young men who were quite happy about something were going to their friends house to continue the party. I sure hope they made it. I had no trouble getting back to sleep as the beds were very comfortable.

First Time Driving In Ireland

Took the bus to the Hertz rent a car on South Circular road. passed some pretty doors along the way. I was worried that we would not find the right stop but eagle eye Maureen got us there safe and sound. Only about 14 blocks away from the college.

We got there around 430 so had time to get directions out of the city. They gave us this little map which made it look easy.  Just left out of the lot. left at the corner, across the bridge, turn left, follow the Grand canal past five bridges , then turn right onto the N11 which at some point turns into the M11 and your out of town. OK, sounds easy. We are packed . We are ready.  Three lefts, five bridges and a right, how tough can this be?

We exit into the street, South Circular Road and realize that everything is backwards to what we are used to.  

We are on the wrong side of the road. 

We are each on the wrong side of the car.

Maureen is driving with her left hand doing the stick shift. The traffic, which all seems to be hell bent for leather, is all driving two inches away from our vehicle on all sides. 

Maureen says" tell me how close we are to anything on your side of the car". I tell her we are too close to everything on my side of the car.  She says " I am used to having the car end at my left side and so can't quite get  where the car ends on your side" which is of course the passenger side of the car over there.

 I'm thinking "Oh great, I am going to die!" 

At one point there was a bus that pulled up beside us that was literally two inches away from my side mirror. I held my breath as he pulled away. 

We did manage to go around the correct  corner in the left lane. We did cross the bridge  and we did manage to turn left in the left lane so that we could follow the Grand Canal. 

What turned out to be a little confusing on top of everything else we were dealing with at the time was that there seemed to be too many bridges as compared to the little map that the Hertz guy gave us  and no sign for the N11. 

We saw swans. We saw people walking with carriages and people fishing and more swans. We passed six bridges and then our road kind of vanished in an odd corner turn which we took because we didn't see the sign but it seemed to be well travelled and everyone else was going that way.  That would have been Upper Leeson Street which I looked up on a map later but which we did not know at the time. We did not see any signs until we were about 15 blocks past the odd  corner. Both of us  had had at least ten heart attacks and we had, of necessity,  worked out a code by that time.

Maureen decided that my yelling TURN or MOVE OVER was not the best advice, not so useful really, she thought that maybe my just saying left or right would be best. Sometimes tis the simple things that really do work well. 

Finally a sign, but it was a bad sign as it was half covered by trees so we were in the same boat not really sure we were going the right way. Then, suddenly, there were too many signs and we were trying to drive slow enough to  find our sign and where it was pointing without stopping all traffic.  Needless to say we did find the N11  and so the M11 and bravely headed off into the Irish countryside, seekers of adventure us.

The Long Room Library

After leaving the Book of Kells we went up a grand staircase and onto an impressive landing with giant wooden doors. The doors were open   and beyond them was the Long Library.

It is the most impressive library I have ever seen. It is the only library in the world where the books are sorted by size!    All dark wood with a high vaulted ceiling.  At one end on the second floor, not accessible to the public, is the book repair area and behind that, the study area for scholars using the material from the library and another area on the opposite end is for study of the manuscripts that are kept in the basement area of the building. 

In all there are over 200,000 books and 1/2 million manuscripts.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Again no pictures are allowed to be taken so I will look for public domain pictures to give an idea of is beauty.

The construction of the original Building, designed by Thomas Burgh, began in 1712 and was finished in 1732.   After its completion the acquisition of the books which formed the foundation of the library was undertaken and it is now one of the finest collections in the world.  Of course if you had been collecting books for going on three hundred years I would expect you to have a nice collection too. the original ceiling was flat but in the 1800s it was changed to the barrel vault that is there now.

There were glass cases running down the center of the main aisle filled with books. The theme was Mysteries. There were first edtion Miss Marples, Inspector Poirots,  Sherlock Holmes, Ebenezer Scrooge and many many others. There was also murder mystery type paraphernalia.  It was all dreadfully fun and extremely interesting. 

I love libraries anyway but this one is most certainly my favorite. I really wanted to go past the ropes and pick up a volume of anything just to leaf through the pages, but I controlled myself.  I did ask about their location system . Each books dimensions are measured when it comes in to the library and it is then assigned a location based on that.  The largest at the bottom and smallest at the top. Very fun. So the only way you can get a book out is to go to the catalogues with the help of the staff and look up its location on the shelf. of course us everyday folk cannot just go and get a book out. scholars and researchers allowed only.

When we were through there we departed through the gift shop picking up t- shirts and postcards and family histories too.  A most wonderful gift shop with lots to entice.  It was raining outside so we went to the arts building and had a quick bite to eat before heading off to  Hertz to get our car. Thank goodness for umbrellas.

Tuesday afternoon - The Book of Kells

We went into the gift shop and purchased our tickets to see the Book of Kells and the long Library. 

It is dark as you enter. There are wonderful displays and historical notes around the room with so much information about the Book of Kells, the Book of Darrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels  and the Book of Armagh  that it takes an hour easy to take it all in. 

 I know I have to read more about the history of the books. It turns out there are 4 copies of the book which I did not know. They have two on display in the inner sanctum and the other two are safely stored away.

There is no photography allowed so I will try to find some public domain photos to add to the blog. 

After we admired all the photos and tried to take in all the information in the first room we entered the inner sanctum which holds two copies of the Book in their protective  glass box with its special lighting focusing on each book.  It is all very theatrical but obviously necessary to protect the 

books.  

Marvelous! Fantastic!  Incredibly beautiful! 

 

Need I say more? Are you getting the idea that these are worth seeing?

  Each book is opened to a different page and they change the pages every so often. One will show an Illustrated page and the other a text page. They were both  so awesome. The colours were amazingly vibrant and clear. It looked like gold leaf on one of the pages that was displayed. For a 1200 year old book it really was  remarkable. I have seen a few books on the book of Kells and the reproductions do not do the originals justice.  I could have spent another hour in there but time was slipping away so we exited, reluctantly, to go and see the Long Library.

Trinity College on Tuesday afternoon

It was sunny and warm with periods of cloud and rain, typical Irish weather. Maureen and  I went into a little book store on the corner across the street from trinity.   I picked up the little book the 'Birds of Ireland' by Gordon Darcy. All sketches and lovely. 
Also the Irish Potato Cookbook by Eveleen Coyle.  Num, num, num.  Maureen found quite a few books that she wanted.

Trinity College here we come. The entrance way or Front Arch is very cool, very wide, very old. In 1751,  any  unspent money by  the Irish parliament was supposed to be returned to the English so when the board of the college asked for financial help in reconstruction the Irish MPs were more than happy to spend their money on the college.  The English architect Theodore Jacobsen was hired and we see the results. Trinity  college is housed more impressively than any college in Cambridge or Oxford. What I thought was of all the people who had walked through this archway. Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, thousands of students who went on to do greater things and maybe some not so great.  

Originally the 150ft long structure was to be topped with three copper cupolas , one at either end and a huge one in the centre, until  someone who had political connections noted that they had never seen anything like that in  Italy . The plans were changed to a plainer front even though some of the construction work had already begun.

The sidewalks are cobbled.  Just inside the gate was a sign for tours which would start in only a couple of minutes so we decided that the 30 to 45 minutes would be well spent going on the tour. The quadrangle or  square just inside the gate came to be known as Parliament Square named after the generosity that allowed it to be built. 

Our tour guide was a postgraduate of trinity and he was very funny and informative.

Trinity was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth  to help consolidate the rule of the

 monarchy  in Ireland,  and for much of its history it was seen as the university for

 male Protestants. It was started outside the walls of Dublin in the old Augustinian monastery All Hallows and is now pretty much in the center of Dublin. Even though the Catholic Church in Ireland forbade Catholics from attending,  threat of excomunication, until the late 20th  century,  Catholics  have been permitted by the  college to enter as early as 1753 but there were some restrictions on their membership to the college until 1873.  Women were first  admitted to the college as full members in 1904 and the first woman professor was appointed in 1934.  The college is now 90% Catholic and 60% Women. Way to go us.

The first two buildings that you see to the left and the right as you enter parliament square 

are the

the chapel  

and the examination hall, 

and they are basically mirror images. They were designed by the swedish architect Sir William Chambers  in 1798, and when he decided to use the same fronts for both buildings, the college  decided not to pay him as they had hired him to design two buildings. It didn't actually seem to bother him as he never  actually set foot in Ireland anyway. Too Funny. 

We proceeded down the sidewalk,  to the tower in the center of the square. It is called the Campanile and  was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1854 and was finished in 1857. very cool.   The two trees behind the tower , one on either side, are each two hundred years old.

When we turned around and faced back the way  

we had  just come we saw the entrance way. 

The music school is above the entry arch  and the Irish dormitory, where only Irish is allowed to be used on pain of fines, is to the right (the chapel building I think).  

From where we are standing by the Campanile when we 

turn left we see the dining hall which was originally built 

in the 1740's by Richard Cassells but the roof collapsed twice so it was rebuilt by architect  Hugh Darley.  

The rules around the dining hall are quite interesting. It seems that they lock the doors before dinner and if 

you are late you don't get in. Postgraduates eat free but they have to eat fast as the headmaster or provost ? of the dining 

hall decides when the dinner starts and  ends.  When he is done eating everyone else is to, so, if he doesn't like his meal   or is in a hurry they may only get five or six minutes to eat. One never knows. 

When we turn to the right from the Campanile tower 

there is the reading room which is attached 

to the long library by a tunnel and is used by postgraduates doing research.

  

We go along the museum building passing a statue on the other side of the green that was placed there because the artist said that he would not donate it if they put it anywhere near the arts building that he thought was the ugliest building he had ever seen.  unfortunately I do not recall the name of the artist. 

 Hilarious! 

The museum building  was designed by Sir Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward 

and was completed in 1857.

 

 

The architects thought that they would give the stone carvers free reign and let them design their own capitals.

There are over 180 different carved capitals around the building. I did not take pictures of all of them all only a few.

 Over one door there is a cat with a rat in its mouth , a fox and a cherub. I don't know what it is supposed to mean or signify. We did not go inside this building but I have since seen pictures and it is gorgeous inside. Great long wide staircases.

At the end of the walk at the corner of the Long Room, which holds the Long library and the Book of Kells,  is the Rubricks. One of the oldest buildings on the grounds, 1700,  it was once used as dorms and was home to some very famous people like Oscar Wilde.

  

One night,  three young  inebriated  students came to scare one of the proffessors that they did not like.

 They were at the door making so much noise that the proffessor thought that they were seriously going to harm him so he waved his gun  at them and they left only to return with a gun and  there  was a gun fight with the students ending up shooting the professor.  They went to trial but were acquitted. 

One of the boys later became a Judge and another a  parliamentarian. Only in Ireland you say. 

After this we went to the arts building which actually was  pretty ugly.  I understood what that artist meant. But there was a really cool sculpture outside the building . 

A spinning sculpture by a finnish artist? very interesting. It seems that when it was first installed the wind could turn it.  As time went by it slowed down and eventually stopped altogether. Well, the college brought back the artist who looked at it and discovered that it had filled up with water so now there are some very small holes in the base of the sculpture to let the rain water drain out. I did push the six? foot tall six? foot circumference ball, it and it did spin. Very exciting.  If you look at the reflections on the front of the ball you can see me taking this picture. 

Then our tour guide told us about the  Arts building based on the"hanging gardens of Babylon" and how it won an award from the concrete companies of  Ireland for being a great building. (It is made up of a lot of concrete). It is on Fellows Square where no one is allowed to walk on the grass except for one day a year and  is right across from the main entrance to the Long Room which holds the Long Library  and the Book of Kells. So Exciting!! We have reached the end of our tour. The long Room or Old Library was designed by Thomas Burgh and was built from 1712 to 1732. Deane and Woodward added the timber tunnel vaults in 1858 to 1860. Now  we can see  the Book of Kells! and just in time too as it is starting to rain.