We've had rain on and off during our stays in London and Edinburgh, and it was good to have a mostly sunny day in Dublin on Thursday. So first, a few sights that any rain-conscious tourist would appreciate:
Blue sky!
A pub with flowers!
I don't know . . . decorative footprints set into the pavement.
OK, there was more purpose to the day than just enjoying the sun. Trinity College of Dublin was founded in 1592, before there were any universities in London (though St. Andrews in Scotland had Trinity beat by 182 years). We had a fine 30-minute tour led by a PhD student, who was both informative and amusing. (I encouraged him to come to Alcatraz so that I could return the favor.). Here's the bell tower, which graces one of the large squares of the college:
Our tour ended at the old library, whose most famous possession is The Book of Kells, a stunningly illuminated medieval book of the four gospels. Not surprisingly, no photography is allowed in that part of the library, so you'll have to look it up to see how beautiful it is, not to mention how much work it took to copy the text and create all those tiny elaborate illustrations. But one entire floor of the library is a single 200 foot-long room with some huge number of volumes on its high high high shelves:
and busts of Important Scholars among the old volumes:
Finally, on a walk on the north side of the River Liffey, we came to the Garden of Remembrance, which commemorates all the strife between the English and Irish. The sculpture, above a long reflecting pool, shows swans or geese rising up, with people falling and straining against the violence:
We've had a very interesting week of Scottish and now Irish history, and my simple conclusion is that the American colonies were very fortunate to get shuck of the English as early as they did. Of course I knew that invasions, suppression, and revolts happened over the centuries in the British Isles, but actually Being Here makes that knowledge a lot more immediate and painful.
We ended the day in St.Patrick's Cathedral, with the Evensong service. Choirs singing in church affect me strongly, so I look for these opportunities, and I never knew until today that Leonard Bernstein wrote at least one Anthem for Anglican choir and organ. (It was not reminiscent of West Side Story.) Thanks to the Guinness family, the church was significantly restored in the 19th century, and a large park was created beside it:
I too seek out opportunities for evensong and similarly find it very affecting.
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