Dublin

We arrived in Dublin today in time to get to Trinity University.  We went on a tour led by one of the students, a senior named Donald.  He was very informative and had lots of tidbits to share.

There was maintenance work being done in the square while we were there so there were fences up and backhoes going. The project that they were working on was the maintenance of the cobbled area.  Of course, those need maintenance and repair once in awhile, too, so it was rather interesting.  They tear up the cobblestones in an area, then re-lay them within a frame to keep them tight, then sweep a black compound over them to fill in the gaps.  I suppose on a subconscious level I realized that some kind of upkeep was needed but never really put much thought into it.  When I am in an old city that has cobblestone areas, I just walk on them oblivious.

He also pointed out that one of the buildings was built with the 1st floor open as the area was close to a marsh.  In 1832, two maple trees were planted that were given to the university from Oregon, good 'ole US of A.  These two maple trees sucked up so much moisture, that the area dried out and the 1st floor was able to be closed in.  I can't remember how many years it took, but those trees are still there and they are huge.

There is also a sculpture called the sphere in a sphere.  It looks like the Death Star but it isn't.  The artist made a dozen or so matching pairs of these type sculptures and placed them in related places.  The match to the one at Trinity, Ireland is in Berkeley, Calif.  It was placed in those two places because it is the Berkeley Library at Trinity and the city of Berkeley, both of which were named after the same man.

The tour ended with the library and the Book of Kells.  He said the book isn't famous for being the oldest as there are others older by a century, but because it has the most elaborate and intricate illustrations. The Book of Kells is the Gospels; Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John; and dates back to the 6th century. The tour of the book begins with displays about how it was done and descriptions of some of the pages and the significance of the drawings.  Once you get to the book, it is under glass with people crowded around it and only about 2 people can really see it at a time because you have to lean over it to see it.  It is impressive but without the preliminary display you walk through, it wouldn't have meant much as you can't really get a good look at it.

the Long Room

Then you leave that area and go into the Long Room.  That is one impressive collection of books and it is only a part of it.  Trinity University has been the official collector of books for centuries.  The Long Room houses about 200,000 of the oldest books in order of size, no less, and there are 4 1/2 million books housed elsewhere. You don't go in and get your own book, obviously.  You make a request and someone (gloved) gets it for you as these are very old books.

After that, we walked around the area a little.  Got dinner.  Retrieved the car from the "car park" at an astronomical cost, drove through the crazy and confusing streets of Dublin to our hotel for the night, and breathed a sigh of relief that we had arrived in one piece.  Tomorrow we plan to take the bus into town if we can.

downtown Dublin

Ha'Penny Bridge

The "peckish" made me laugh

the famous Temple Bar which is the source of the area's name