This weekend was a couple days full of adventures around Dublin. We were planning on going on a trip to Trim Castle, but we missed the signup due to lack of internet in London last weekend. Oh well, another trip for another free weekend. On friday, I went to the National Museum of Ireland- Archaeology and History.
The museum shows treasures of Ireland ranging from the Stone Age up to modern times. The museum boasts of its broaches, chalices, and other examples of Celtic metalwork. The most famous work in the museum is the Cross of Cong, which we actually learned about in our Irish history course here.
Furthermore, I also toured Dublin Castle, which hosts state dinners, foreign dignitaries, as well as all of Ireland’s important inaugurations. Built on the spot of the first Viking fortress, this castle was the seat of English rule in Ireland for 700 years. It is located at the cross of the Poddle and Liffey rivers, giving the city its name after the black pool that resulted from their intersection, dubh linn in Irish. I touched on this place a little when I first got here, posted pictures of its courtyard.
I had no idea what I was walking into when I got there. I thought it was just a medieval castle, similar to the other ones that I have gone through. Instead, it is very elegant and used for the events stated above. It was very cool and was built around 1230. Most of the original castle is gone but a few parts still stand strong! Wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, however here's the gardens behind the castle. Looks a bit like the quad at U of I?
Directly on the Duhb Linn Gardens (shown above) behind Dublin Castle is the Chest Beatty Library. Chester Beatty was a rich American mining engineer who retired in Ireland in 1950. He left his priceless eclectic collection to Ireland as a charitable trust.
My travel book boasts on its "small collection", but I'd beg to differ. The top floor focused on great religions of the world, displaying Islam Calligraphy and Asian Christian manuscripts. The bottom floor is an exhibit dedicated to "the written word", showing off books carved out of jade, ornate snuff bottles, and even the oldest surviving copy of St. Paul's letter to the Romans, dating back to 180 A.D.
Next on my own mini-tour of Dublin, I stopped by Dublin City Hall, the very first Georgian building in the city. City hall overlooks Dame street, which is the southern border of the Temple Bar district. When you step inside, under the grand rotunda, there are paintings telling the city's history surrounding a lovely statue of Daniel O'Connell, the liberator of Catholics in Ireland in the 1800's.
After City Hall, we stumbled across Christ Church Cathedral. Sadly, it was closed for tours for some reason or another, but we still got to read some plaques and circle the outside. Christ Church occupies the same site as the first wooden church built on the spot in Viking times by King Sitric. The church boasts its having the tomb of the Norman warlord Strongbow, another man we've learned about in our Irish History course, famous for leading the thin edge of the English military that dominated Ireland for centuries.
Now onto some more things that I have learned during my stay in Ireland:
- All of the Guinness in America is not from Ireland. It is made in the Czech Republic. Perhaps that’s why people say the Guinness in Dublin is the best in the world. Also ironic that the Irish drink American beer (Coors, Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft) and the Americans here drink Irish beer (Guinness and Smithwick’s)
- J-walking in Dublin is more of an art than a science. But it’s a necessary art, because you would never be able to walk around the city without it. It’s funny because they have paint on the street telling you which way to look but plenty of people still screw it up. It’s not very hard: just look both ways and be quick.
- While the Irish speak English, there is definitely a language barrier at certain points. Sometimes it’s hard for me to simply understand the accent while other times I just simply don’t know what the words or phrases they say mean. But I’m learning…
- I love having the tax included into everything. If a price tag says €5, you pay €5 but having coin money in denominations as high as 2€ stinks, you actually have to keep track of your coins.
- Many people don’t think about mountains when they think of Dublin, but the Wicklow Mountains are just south of the city and can be seen from many places around the city and at UCD
- 21 is also a big birthday year over here in addition to turning 18. The clubs here have age requirements that vary up to 21. So you can be 19, legal to drink, but not allowed to get into certain clubs on certain nights because you aren’t 21. So on their 21st, they celebrate
- Irish girls wear way too much makeup and dress very scantily but Irish people can tell an American just by looking at their face, not even their clothes or listening to them speak. Also, Irish people say Americans have no taste in footwear
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