Traveling with Laura

I spent the day today in Dublin, learning about scholars and prisoners, and of course doing a lot of walking and sightseeing along the way.

I could have easily slept a couple more hours this morning, but Dublin was calling. I had breakfast at the infamous Bewley’s on Grafton Street. The café is known for its baked goods and beautiful stained glass windows. I had a scone with butter, jam, and cream along with a hot chocolate before walking around a bit en route to Trinity College.

I visited Trinity College on my last trip to Dublin and remember being impressed by the history and culture of Ireland’s oldest university, established in 1592. Despite having almost 25,000 students from 110 different countries, only about 3,000 live on campus, and those are all upperclassmen. I learned about the four original schools at Trinity and their evolution into the 24 schools they have today, as well as about some of the college traditions and architecture. The tour lasted about an hour before depositing us at the Old Library and Book of Kells. I had no interest in the historical exhibits and bypassed those to see the book itself and the Long Room. The Book of Kells is commonly thought to have been produced in a monastery on the Island of Iona in Scotland around 800 AD and then moved to a monastery in Kells, Ireland. The book is an intricately written and illustrated manuscript of the four gospels. The Long Room is being prepared for a three year restoration project, so many of the books have been removed, but I was able to admire the space and see the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and Brian Boru’s Harp, now the national symbol of Ireland.

I wasn’t overly hungry, but wanted a snack before my afternoon activities, so I stopped at Pret a Manger for an apple cinnamon yogurt bowl and iced mocha. Then it was off to visit St. Kevin’s Park, which contains the ruins of a church from 1750. While you can’t go inside the structure, you can peek in from the outside. The small park surrounding the ruins is filled with blooming roses. 

Since I visited Christ Church yesterday, it was only fitting that I visit Dublin’s other major cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, today. The two churches are just a stone’s throw apart, and both are historic Church of Ireland churches, but St. Patrick’s is the National Church of Ireland. Inside, the cathedral was packed with people. I dutifully picked up the included audio guide, but gave up on it about 2/3 of the way through. I sat outside in the sun of St. Patrick’s Park for a few minutes and then hopped on a bus to Kilmainham Gaol.

Kilmainham Gaol has a fascinating history. The hour-long tour covered everything from the people who purposely committed crimes during the potato famine so they would be guaranteed meals and shelter, to the execution of 13 men who were key players in the Easter Rising of 1916. Those men were executed just two weeks after the rebellion, with no opportunity for a trial. My favorite story of Kilmainham Gaol is of the wedding of Joseph Plunkett to Grace Gifford on the eve of his execution. The two were married in the gaol’s chapel and given just 10 minutes to spend together before his execution.

After somewhat successfully navigating the public transit system (Google Maps does not seem to be particularly accurate, nor the bus schedules reliable), I made it to my local pub, McCafferty’s at the Barge. The pub is just up the street from my hotel and I was hungry. Dinner consisted of beef, pork, and chicken sliders, an Orchard Thieves cider, and bread and butter pudding. It was fine, but not memorable in the least. The rest of my night was spent back in my hotel room, relaxing and (hopefully) catching up on sleep.