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Published: August 27th 2007
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With time to sleep in, we made sure we didn’t set the alarm till 8:30am this morning, and headed down to breakie just after nine. I love the little pork sausages here, and will miss them when we head out of the UK for a month and a bit. The full English/Irish/Scottish breakfast definitely sets you up for the day - if you can fit it all in!
After breakie, we decided to walk to Trinity College - and were only disorientated for 10 minutes or so - we realised that we needed to cross the river in order to get to the college!! It was fun to walk down O’Connell street though, and get lost in Dublin City for a few minutes.
Over the bridge, we got our bearings, and headed to the college. Luckily, we were there fairly early and didn’t have to queue for too long. I think this place is a must see attraction in Dublin - the college grounds are beautifully maintained (thanks to all the ‘stay of the grass signs‘) and the buildings look lovely. The old books are kept in the Library, and after walking through a historical display on the books
you can head into a room that houses 4 books on display.
The history was quite interesting - some of the monks died writing these scriptures because of the dangerous inks they used. The books have elaborate drawings and are written in a decorative, cursive writing that has withstood over a thousand years of time so far. The colours are as vibrant as they were back then - including the blue ink that was only found in Afghanistan, and transported here, even back in the 10th century, though there are works housed here from much earlier times.
The Book Of Kells is a written version of the first four books of the new testament. It must have taken years to copy these passages into the book, decorating the pages as they went. People who wrote these scriptures were definitely held in high regard in the monastery, over other craftsmen, such as builders and masons.
The four books on display are a little hard to linger over because of the amount of people in the room, but you can see each of the books, opened at different pages each day. We got to see the immense detail put
into the paintings - but unfortunately, you can’t take ANY photos!
Upstairs from these ancient books, are more ancient books! Trinity College has an immense library - they even had to expand the shelves up into the roof to house the full collection. As soon as you step into the grand, arched room, the smell of musty old books hits you like a tonne of bricks - I loved the smell! It would be wonderful climbing the ladders, reading some of the titles that this collection must house!
On our way out, Iz and I gloated as we saw the huge line of people waiting to get in - that’s the great thing about being an Aussie - we’re normally up before everyone else, even when we sleep in. We made our way out of the campus, and over to Dublin’s famous statue of Molly Malone, of ‘Cockles and Muscles’ fame. I got a quick photo next to the buxom delivery girl, before we headed down Grafton Street.
This street is famous for its buskers and shopping. We got to see a variety of perfumers, including a string quartet, some Latin ‘dancers‘, your usual statues, and a
weird dragon. I really had my heart set on finding a nice piece of Celtic jewellery to remember my Ireland trip, but the only thing I could find that closely resembled the sort of ring I wanted cost 2000 Euro - I don’t think so! Instead, we headed back to our hotel for a bit of a catnap.
KB and Ryan buzzed at reception a little earlier than expected, which was great. We hadn’t seen them since getting lost in Westport. They had enjoyed their days of driving through the sights of Ireland, but were definitely excited about heading home. I can’t blame them - they have a wedding to plan J
We all headed down to a HUGE tourist shop that houses everything Irish, and got some funny photos (yes Iz, you would make a great wee leprechaun) and a small trinket or two, before feeling the hunger pangs hit. We had been told about a little Thai restaurant not too far away, and being sick of pub grub and Italian food, we headed to Thai Spice - YUM! Good choice guys!
After our meal, and an ice-cream stop, we went back to ‘theirs’ so the
boys could have a last game of cards, and KB and I had a gossip. It was lovely relaxing with the two of them, and a bit sad to know that we wouldn’t be seeing either Kristelle or Ryan for a while…at least not till their engagement party. When the boys had finished up playing cards, there were hugs all round, then Iz and I retired to our 4th floor room for some zzz’s. I can’t believe we hit Europe in two nights - woohoo!
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