DAY 2 - KELLS, TRINITY, and HOWTH (pronounced HOEth)
We woke in the morning to a continental Irish breakfast. I had poached eggs, the traditional meats (black and white pudding, sausage, bacon), some fruit, and an espresso. I learned that Dublin, despite being very tea-oriented, has the most amount of coffee houses per capita in Europe. It’s just behind Seattle for the U.S.
We then loaded up the buses and then drove our 45 minutes back into the city to pick up Kay, our tour guide for the day. She took us to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and we traveled through this marvel quite quickly. Kay toured the building with us and then gave us a quick splash of 15 minutes for us to take in the beautiful church. Inside some of the highlights for me was the beautiful tile, the WWI shrine (most of the Irish are ashamed of their ancestors who fought in the war because it was an English war that occurred the same time as their Easter Uprising in 1916), and the gothic pillars. The flags adorning the cathedral were both unique and splendorous. Quite a beautiful but small cathedral, it lasted through the British occupation because it was converted from Catholic to Anglican, which it remains to this day.
After that, we traveled to the Phoenix Park to catch some ice cream and a beautiful view of the mountains. This came from a man-made hill with a mammoth cross at the top of it. I took a second to just enjoy the view and say a bit of a prayer. We didn’t need a cross there to remind us that this was God’s country, but I did take up the reminder’s message.
We then gathered our group, which is often easier said than done! The idea is to move quick and the tugs and pulls for each of us to snap a great selfie, scratch one’s spending itch, or to just enjoy a view or the gorgeous, amazing sunshine.
We spent much of the rest of the day on a splendid bus tour. Kay was very apt at infusing some humor and jokes into her story weaving of the buildings, the history, and the people that Dublin has such a rich (but not often told) history. Very nice to just bask in like the sunshine of words as well.
Kay then dropped us off at Trinity College. Again, another quick tour of the site, especially of note is the Book of KELLS. It’s hard for me to get into something so small and so stuck on one page with swarms of dozens vying for the best spot to look at the ancient artifact - probably even more difficult for the kids to get into it. That said, it’s important to note the cultural significance of the place and this text. If one can’t tell, the culture is very tethered to a Catholic consistency of character. That’s abated a bit now in 2019; though 78% consider themselves “Catholic” (as Kay said that’s how people identify) with not much practice behind the identification, some of the older folks see that as a missed opportunity. The younger folks, however, don’t eschew it - maybe they just embrace it a bit differently.
Probably the highlight of the College was the upstairs library, which is as cavernous as it is voluminous. The story is that George Lucas took a Go-Pro up there and (illegally) recorded video that he used in one of the Star Wars movies. I’ll have to look into the authenticity of that claim. Still, I didn’t really care for the pop culture reference. I enjoyed walking past the busts of many major authors (many of whom I didn’t recognize - but I did find a Cicero to snap a pic with). I also really enjoyed thinking what Thomas Jefferson would’ve thought of a room like this, seeing as we’re just a day away from American Independence Day and I always seem to be thinking about its great author on this day.
On our drive to HOWTH, a small fishing village just 30 minutes from Dublin, I really took in the brilliant green of the landscape. Contrasted with the bright sunshine, I couldn’t help but to wear a smile upon my face as we danced in and out of the shade of smartly placed trees in even more quintessentially placed parks. Nobody ever says they enjoy a “Coach” ride on a tour (our driver, Sean, says “commoners ride on the bus, we ride coach because we’re guests”) , the lack of skyscrapers sets Dublin up with a very homey feel.
But Howth. Oh man. What a cool place. We dropped off for fish and chips, which was a great filling meal. Afterward, we walked along the bay and then the Sea of Ireland. I stayed with Eliza, Emma, Kyra, Kyle, and Yu Lin, and we walked up and down the seaboard and just took in the beautiful green, amazing hills, and fantastically expensive houses with the most verdant views. I snapped a few photos of Healey, Semmel, and Lewis as they were having fun dipping their fingers in the water. Gorgeous lighthouse. Gorgeous islandscapes. Gorgeous sunshine. It was a soul-boosting experience.
We then returned for a bit of a walk around Dublin, on a different side than we’ve already toured. We checked out the city hall, which was an exquisite marble building. I particularly enjoyed the notion that their founders - and founding - was greatly attached to the Greek decor and design because of their democracy. While the United States’s roots can be tethered to 1776 or sooner and Ireland’s is 1916 or sooner, all of our Founders are dressed in similar Greek robes and tunics. O’Connell is the George Washington of the Irish Republic. It was an amazing building in the Ionic structure and a true gift to just pop in and see. I particularly liked a modern painting that I took a “bouncer” pose in front of.
Dinner was a bit better than last night - it was rice, pork, and mushroom sauce. Some people like to have a dinner choice and wish they had one, others like the decision having been made for them. For me, I just order whatever the folks say is good, anyway.
After dinner, we did our last walk of Grafton Street. I stopped in a souvenir shop with many of the kids and we loaded up goods for our family. For myself, I found this scarf that spoke to me, a great t-shirt, an Irish Viking hat for Jonah, a gift for Devin (she’ll see it when she gets home, because she’ll probably read this), and a card explaining the last name of my Irish ancestry, Daly.
I got a funny spoon for Sean, our bus driver. We’ll present it to him when we depart from him tomorrow evening, as he’ll leave us when we take the fairy to Scotland. Jalyn, one of my former students and the oldest student on the tour (he’ll be a PSU freshman next year), will present it to him. Can’t wait!
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