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The smattering of rain last night turns into a steady, cold rain today. I decide not to put off Dublin. After breakfast I take the DART to Dublin and slosh about the city in very unpleasant weather. The train is crowded with a wide range of travelers but it runs along the coast and moves us quickly into Tara station, perhaps 20 minutes. The Tara station is alongside the River Liffey, so my first steps in Dublin are delightfully familiar because I have seen many photos and videos
of the Liffey, especially from east looking west onto the 'AF Penny Bridge as I was. My first stop with the aid of a very good map book loaned to me by a mother/daughter duo who are also staying at my B+B is Trinity College. Trinity was established by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. One enters through a formal, massive-doored entrance, and therein is the green, treed, and cobble-stoned interior of Trinity. It is perfect. It is sequestered from the world; here one is free to investigate ideas. Or at least it gives that appearance. I seek out the library and its Book of Kells display. This remarkable 9th Century 4 volume book of the 4 gospels of the New Testament is beautifully displayed in huge color enlargements, highlighted text, and annotation. The beautiful colors, the ornamentation, and the artistry are breath taking. Some of the most ornate of the 680 pages are estimated to have taken well over a month to complete. That puts into perspective the time, talent, and patience that went into the text. The exit from this display is through the Long Room, a room of the College's oldest books stacked floor to ceiling. St. Stephen's Green is a busy park today over noon hour, but everybody is passing through. Nobody is sitting in the rain. It is a beautiful, clean, well-groomed oasis, complete with water, swans, and ducks. St. Patrick's is also well groomed, but I have its grounds completely to myself. Nobody has shown up on this wet day. Amazingly
the cathedral, named for one of the Catholic Church's most famous saints, is actually of the Church of Ireland. Sometime after Cromwell's sacking of Ireland, England must have gotten dibs - and held on ever since. Near O'Connell street is the famous Abbey Theatre, a very bland and unimaginative "restoring" of the old theatre. O'Connell street with its famous Post Office is a bustling boulevard. I take photos of the post office, famous for its role as a starting point for the 1916 Easter Uprising. There are still obvious bullet holes in the front columns. I mail post cards to son Mike and Mami, Colleen, and Marcia, hoping the postmark will be memorable. I take the 'Af Penney bridge over the Liffey and stroll through the Temple Bar area - a section of shops and pubs and narrow, meandering streets. It is famous for its night life. I watch a seated blind panhandler
share a hot sandwich with his collie. Literally the collie is eating off of one end and his master is working on the other. An Irishman and I have a laugh together and chat briefly about Irish collies. I return home around 5:00 p.m., get out of my damp clothes and wet shoes, lay down, and read for a while. My multi-purpose biking shoes are wearing out fast and, in fact, are coming apart. I'm very disappointed in
them; I may have to buy a cheap pair of leisure shoes to help me get by. I decide to get nostalgic tonight and also eat cheap. I do Burger King and feel no guilt. I nod off, finish The Butcher Boy, do journal, and hit the sack reading by 10:35.
Good, busy day, but I'm pooped out. |
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