It seems like I have wanted to visit Ireland forever & finally got the opportunity. I was NOT disappointed!
In fact I think I was giddy the entire time we were there! I'm pretty sure it started when I caught a glimpse of the Aer Lingus plane with the cute little shamrock on its tail that we flew to Scotland...& the excitement continued when we left Edinburg & landed in Dublin!
We met up with our "good neighbors" & took a bus to the Powerscourt Estate outside of Dublin near Enniskerry, Wicklow County...this place was A-MAZ-ING! They gave us a beautiful suite...
I usually judge our rooms by the bathrooms...if there is a huge tub, I'm happy! But notice the black square on the mirror? I couldn't figure out what it was...
Then Paul picked up the remote & VOILA! It's a TV right in the middle of the glass!
This was the most tech-savy room we have ever stayed in! Everything was operated by a touch screen in the drawer on either side of the bed or on the wall itself...
Unfortunately, we stayed so busy that we didn't spend much time in that fancy room...there was just WAY too much to see!
We headed out for our first tour - St Patrick's Cathedral...you know the guy who drove all the snakes out of Ireland? Yep, that's the one!
The poet, Jonathan Swift, is buried here...along with many other notable people in Irish history...
Next stop was over to The Trinity College Library to see one of the most visited attractions in Dublin, The Book of Kells...
No photos were allowed of these ancient manuscripts that were incased in protective glass to keep them preserved. I snagged these google images so you can get an idea of what we saw...there were several pages of "illuminated manuscript" decorated in gold & silver & said to have been created around 800 AD...that's pretty old! The pages include illustrations & text of the four gospels of the New Testament taken from the Vulgate, the original Latin translation of the Bible. It is a masterwork of western calligraphy & ornamentation & is widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.
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| Google image |
We also saw the Brian Boru exhibit (the Irish king we fought against the viking control of Ireland) - again, no photos allowed but here is a little explanation at the end of the tour...
Then we emerged up the stairs to this extraordinary library! Each section has a bust of a noble Irish philosopher standing watch over the centuries of wisdom within the pages of these archives...it was really a reverent feeling to be here!
This Google image gives you a greater sense of the vastness of this library collection...
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| Teresa Ivory's Google image |
We had a traditional irish lunch in downtown Dublin & we happen to be there on "Bloomsday" - a charming celebration where the locals dress in period costumes (turn of the century 1900s) in honor of the Irish writer, James Joyce. Many gather & recite his works, particularly they will read parts of Ulysses. (The name is derived from Leopold Bloom, the Ulyssean protagonist.)
One of my favorite things about driving around Dublin was their beautiful Georgian doors! They are so attractive & colorful! Our tour guide told us that after King Phillip died, Queen Victoria ordered all the doors of the British Empire to be painted black as a mark of mourning/respect. In typical Irish fashion they all rebelled & painted the doors bright colors!
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| Google Image |
That evening we were bussed to dinner & a show at the Merry Ploughboy's Pub - great Irish music & Celtic dancers...
The next day we explored the beautiful gardens at Powerscourt with some friends...
The gardens are a major attraction for people from all over & it took most of the morning to explore the grounds...you can see where we stayed behind us - quite the cozy little estate, huh?
I may or may not have been obsessed with all the beautiful flowers in bloom...
I was definitely impressed with their pet cemetery on the grounds (their people cemetery was down the road by the church), but right there on the grounds was an elaborate cemetery full of centuries of noble pets. The most notable were the horse & the two cows...wow!
There were tons of interesting trees...
...but I get sooooo annoyed when people do this to the trees! It just makes me so sad. Have some class tourists!
I took tons of pictures of this adorable little castle that you could walk all the way up to the top & see great views of the garden. I told Paul I needed to take pictures at every angle so he could build me one of these at the Riverhouse with all the river rock laying around the property...wouldn't that be a great project? He just laughed...
There were tons of statues around the grounds & pretty much all of them doubled as a raven perch. I don't think that is what the artist had envisioned for his masterpiece...
That afternoon we walked up to these falls. We were told it was worth the walk, a popular attraction for the area & a great picnic spot...it was pretty & refreshing, but it made me grateful for our American landscape! We are spoiled with our beautiful waterfalls!
Next stop - Belfast!
3 comments:
I loved the doors too. Took too many pictures of the doors. We were told that the men would stop off at the pub after work and then when they stumbled home they would wander into the wrong home in their drunken stupor. So people began painting the doors to distinguish their homes. No more drunken mistakes. Whatever. They are beautiful.
So wonderful! We are planning our trip so we'll need to chat!
Beautiful and fascinating! I've always wanted to go to Ireland too.
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