Ireland 21Aug

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Flew from Gatwick to Dublin today on Ryanair. Many thanks to Mark and Charly for getting me there on time. Ryanair was a little delayed and was the only flight on the board of 50 flights that didnt have a gate allocated. I wasnt nervous at all. It was the first big flight i had been on where there were no seats allocated. i was about 8th in the queue, so got a window seat in the third row. flight was good, got the Airlink to Dublin city and found Trinity college ok. Room is small but quite adequate. Wandered around for the afternoon, got my bearings.

Stopped into see the Book of Kells in the library. Also got to see two other books (but dont have my notes with me right now). These are simply unbelievable. They are so beautifully detailed and neat, even by todays standards. you would have a tough time to say they were handwritten and drawn, they were perfect in every way. not bad considering they were handwritten using feathers on taught calf skin. There were 4 distinct people or roles in authoring each page. The first guy did the writing, the second the pictures (illustrations). A third did the colouring, forget what the fourth did. Colouring in that era was not the simple faber and castel selection we are familiar with. They had people bring rock/material/gems from all over the world to get the various colours required. Blues and purples were later additions to the colours, not that you would tell from the amazing results they achieved.

Wandered down to the Temple Bar precinct and found a place for dinner. As the phrase goes, 'when in Rome' so i found an authentic irish pub (The Quays Pub) and ordered Beef and Guinness Pie. Was delivered within 40 seconds. The glass of Guinness took a little while longer, and they are right, it does taste better over here.

Retired to my room and went to bed early. Needed an early night to compensate for all the early starts.

Pics coming soon

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