Say no to drive-by tourism

Day 1 of my ending days in Dublin (written 9/30 because of spotty internet connection since 9/26).

Last night I considered going on a day trip to monastic ruins/the Wicklow mountains with a fellow hosteler I met from Idaho, but this morning I opted out. There's too much I want to do in Dublin.

Here's what I did do:

In my room I met two Spaniards (from Valencia and Basque country) who invited me to join them on their morning plans to visit St. Stephen's Green (a park) and Trinity College. 

Itsaso, 29, works as an au pair in Southern Ireland. She and Enrike (who took the photograph) have both moved to Ireland for work. 

Saw this awesome mural of Cuchulain along the way to Trinity College. Enrike (22) and I both wanted pictures of it. 

Also ran across a statue of Molly Mallone! I learned that she was a real person. Itsaso kept referring to the statue of the famous prostitute and i had no idea until we reached the statue that she was referring to the subject of the song "Cockles and Mussels" that I've sung about a thousand times.

The hostel breakfast was pretty scant (bread and orange juice) so we stopped in this cafe with pretty faux stained glass windows for a bite. 

After second bfast we went to Trinity college to see the Book of Kells exhibit. 

This trip has done more to pique my curiosity about certain things (including the troubles in the past century, the making and writing of the Book of Kells) than to really inform me about them. I feel I have a lot to research when I return home. I did not have enough time before my jail expedition to do justice to the Kells exhibit but what I did learn was that there were three "authors" of the Books of Kells, each with a different job. Author 1 was not artistic and just copied biblical passages in irish regular and mini script. The book dates back to 800 a.d. and was written in Latin. Author 2 went back and drew the illustrations, picking out certain words and letters to add detail to. They had a cool poster of the Book of Kells alphabet putting all of the illustrated letters on one page in alphabetical order. Author 3 went back and painted gold over some of the illustrations. I met a guy in the hostel who works at a renaissance fair in Austen and was proudly showing me his beautiful leather-bound journal. I told him later that the book of kells is like the ultimate journal. Of course, you couldn't take pictures of the book itself. Here are pictures of their incredibly gorgeous library called the long room.

Ireland's oldest harp, also known as Brian Boru's harp, dating from the 14th or 15th century. (This is important to them because the harp is Ireland's national symbol. I found out on our way back into Dublin from tour that this large white bridge at the far edge of town that has a lot of extra wires going up one side is supposed to be shaped like a harp. Go figure.) 

I fought my way outside, got a little turned around on the way back to the hostel and made it back to meet my friends who were embarking to Kilmainham Gaol only a few minutes late. One perk of getting lost was stumbling across this pub : )

Kilmainham Gaol is way the heck outside of the main city center. We left at 12:40 and arrived around 1:30. We found out later it would have been 5 minutes by bus but none of us were against walking. 

If finding our way to the jail was a little confusing, finding my way around the inside was completely baffling. I slipped away to the restroom right before the tour and walked around 3 floors before I found my way to my tour group. I think it's a European thing to spread things out and try to compensate with a lot of signs that then peter out halfway to your destination. Anyway, here are some pictures of the jail:

The cells themselves were really dark and depressing but this main area where the guards managed a surprisingly modern system of distributing food to prisoners has been the set of several films - can't remember their names.

Our Tour guide emphasized that all of the prisoners (mostly captured IRA members) were ordinary men, they were not trained military professionals. 

Visited the condemned man's cell where Robert Emmett was held. He was 25 when executed and educated at trinity college. He chose to represent himself  and, like his rebellion, failed, but the speech he gave has been quoted by many activists like mlk jr., gandhi and lincoln. His most quoted line from that speech is:

"When my country takes her place among the nations of the world, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written." 

He and James Connelly are two of the most famous prisoners who were executed at Kilmanhaim Gaol. They were both important leaders of the IRA who wrote passionately about the fight for Irish independence from British rule. 

When Connolly was captured he was wounded so badly he went to the hospital instead of jail. He was basically on his deathbed anyway but was such an important figure that the British wanted him to be executed at Kilmainham. So, British officers hauled him over there where 12 other members were to be executed. He couldn't walk to the other side of the courtyard so they put him against the wall at the side closest to the gate. He fell down though when they tried to stand him up and fell out of a chair when they sat him in a chair so they tied him to the chair then executed him. This was apparently the tipping point in public opinion and people were against capital punishment after hearing stories like these, so there were no more executions at Kil. gaol after this. Crazy Irish. 

The jail closed in the 20's then the restoration projects began in the 60's. This is some recent stuff. 

Got some much-needed down time in the afternoon then out with Nerida and Emily for dinner. They're crazy too.