Dublin Part 1

We spent Christmas abroad this year in Ireland! Lyndon is doing a study abroad in Paris for his last semester of law school (double yay on that one. Yay for last semester and yay for Paris!) and we were planning on doing Christmas in Paris. While we were living in Cambridge I had the idea to spend Christmas in Paris that year, but it didn't work out. So this time we were for sure leaving NYC and going to spend Christmas in Paris. But that did not work our either because Lyndon's sister and her family announced that they were moving to Ireland. So we thought hey spend Christmas with family and see Ireland. So that is what we did.

We spent the first part of our trip in Dublin. It is a fun city. Not very big, but after living in NYC not too many cities seem as big. I did a lot of research before our trip over there and was really excited. I had a long list of things to see. We got to see some, but not ton in Dublin. Jet lag, the weather, and then the little problem of everything closing really early kind of put a few kinks in our plans. We went to one museum and it was closing at 4:30 pm on a Saturday. We knew from living in England that places close early, but 4:30 on a Saturday? When asked why they close so early their response was "it's dark outside". Well yeah, it's winter, that's an incentive to stay open later. Come on Ireland you are not farmers anymore. Electricity is here and has been here a long while. We left pretty bemused. Even with things closing early we enjoyed our time in Dublin immensely. We took a ton of photos so I am going to do several posts with our favorites.


Grafton Street is where it is at. It is the most popular street in Dublin and probably the most famous I think. It is where all the good shopping is. The street is closed off to traffic which is grate for the shopping. Bewley's Café and Oriental Express restaurant is located on Grafton Street. It is a pretty famous café in Dublin. We stopped and got some hot chocolate there, but I bet the food is a lot better. We found a much better place to get hot chocolate in Ireland. The whole time we were in Dublin there were carolers caroling up and down Grafton Street. The place was decorated beautifully for Christmas and it was impossible not to be in the Christmas spirit.

Eyeing the pastries at Bewley's Café and Oriental Express on Grafton Street.

 
Pictures of the window display at Bewley's. The one on the right is totally me right now.

We missed out on the 5th Ave shop windows this year, so I was really excited to find some nice displays in Dublin. This is a picture of the window displays at Brown and Thomas. It is one of Ireland's most luxurious stores, at least that is what my travel book said. Looks like it though from those displays.

 
 

 
 
I hope that these photos illustrate how into Christmas the Irish are and how it is impossible not to be in the Christmas spirit while there. That top right is not the best quality, but that is how Grafton Street looked our first night there. It was really magical, Christmas magical.
At the top of our Dublin list was a visit to Trinity College Dublin where the Book of Kells is housed. Lyndon has been to Dublin before, but only for a day or so, and missed out on seeing the Book of Kells. We got lucky and were able to both get student prices with our Columbia ID cards (spouses get one and it is finally getting some good use).

At the gate about to enter Trinity College. The Campus was lovely. Very similar to the Cambridge and Oxford architectures. I have really missed walking those beautiful campuses. The architecture is very uplifting and really does inspire the mind. Lyndon's College in Cambridge (Downing College) was a similar architecture style to Trinity College's.
 
      



Clover for Ireland!
 
No pictures in the Book of Kells exhibit. Sorry, but we were able to take pictures in the long hall which is pictured above. The long hall had on display a lot of original music pieces written by Irish composers as well as poems and other literature. Busts So a little back ground on the Book of Kells. It's historical significance is that it is the manuscript of the four gospels transcribed in Latin by Irish monks. In the Middle Ages, Ireland was a relatively peaceful place where isolated monasteries were able to flourish in the arts and sciences. They created many beautiful illuminated manuscripts expertly enameled in complex patterns and pictures. Unfortunately many of these manuscripts were destroyed, but the Book of Kells is one of the oldest and best examples of these truly 'de luxe' sacred works of beauty and truth. (deluxe in Latin means 'from light' and was originally used to describe the brilliance of illuminated manuscripts.)
The most famous page of the Book of Kells (which we did not see) is the Chi Ro page. Chi and Ro are two Greek letters that represent Christ (the first two letters of Christ in Greek). In illuminated gospels the Chi Ro page often has the most intricate decorations. In the Book of Kells it is especially beautiful.

This is one of the manuscripts from the long hall.

We really enjoyed Dublin.



 

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