We got hot chocolate and pastries at a little coffee chain called Costa Coffee, which was actually right next to a Starbucks. Funny. After breakfast, we headed across the street to Trinity College. It was quite nice to be on another university campus again actually.
I did not know this until we heard about Trinity College, but apparently the Book of Kells is housed in the university library. If that means nothing to you, you should just know that it's a big part of AP Art History, and the nerd in me let out an uncharacteristic peep of joy when I first heard that it was in Dublin.
Sadly (or lamely, more like), the university library is closed till tomorrow because of a "bank holiday." What the heck is a bank holiday? A quick Google search taught me that it's officially a public holiday, but it's known colloquially as a "bank holiday." Well, this meant that much of the city was shut down, which explained why every shop down many streets were still shuttered up.
Nevertheless, we took pictures on campus and just strolled around. Along the way, we ran across a ton of these "solar compactors." There is a solar panel on top of these rubbish bins! If UW thought it was green, they need to get themselves some "solar compactors" in Red Square, in the Quad, and around campus.
We left campus after that and headed to the National Gallery of Ireland, which charges absolutely nothing for admission. I was so thrilled to save money. The exhibits were pretty fantastic too. Many of the works were not visible because they are renovating the building, but it was still chock full of good stuff. Sadly, no pictures were possible, so I could not record any of this.
I did learn quite a bit about preserving watercolors from light over-exposure though—there was a special exhibit on the work of J.M.W. Turner. If you've never seen his work, Google his name. They're fantastic.
In another wing, I also learned quite a bit about Irish painting in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. One famous artist was Jack B. Yeats, whose style changed drastically over his career. I must say that I like his earlier paintings much better (I am not a huge fan of more modern art), but there was one particular piece that caught my eye—About to Write a Letter. The link is tiny, but it's a neat painting.
After we left the National Gallery though, we could not visit any other museums because of the "bank holiday." Lame. So we just walked around instead. We headed in some random direction, hoping to find something good for lunch. I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to try other fish & chip places, so we stopped at Beshoff Bros, which apparently is a bit of a chain fast-food restaurant. It was not that good and did not compare at all to the fish & chips we had last night. Still, it was filling and cheap.
We walked around a bit more after lunch and just jumped on a bus to head toward the Guinness Factory. Once we got there though, we found out that was closed as well, so we just walked. Across the street was a nice church, so we explored that. From there, more walking brought us to another church, which turned out to be the famous St. Patrick's Cathedral. It's where Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels among other works) was the Dean in the 1700s. Actually, he's buried there too.
The cost of going in was 4,50€ for students, but it was on our list of things to do, so we went in. We spent about an hour walking around the church, taking pictures, and exploring all the artifacts there.
Not only is Swift buried in the church, but his works are displayed throughout as well. He wrote a famous satirical piece called A Modest Proposal about how to alleviate poverty and hunger in Ireland, which is actually quite amusing and in some sense vulgar. Fun read. The original book was on a bookshelf though, so I took a picture of it.
After the church, we headed out on a random bus and headed down toward Dublin Port. We had no clue what was even around there, but it seemed like a good place to explore. It was such a long walk, and my legs were killing me. But it was a good place to explore. There's a big ferris wheel there, and I also got some good shots of the bridges and a large ship along the way.
Sadly, there was no bus back, so we bought a ticket for the tram. Thankfully, Olivia figured out how to buy a single ride ticket, which was much cheaper than the all-day ticket. I have to say that the tram is extraordinarily new and in very good condition.
We headed to dinner after that and, after some difficulty deciding, we went to the Old Storehouse Bar & Restaurant. There was a dinner special and live music, so it seemed like the right place to go to dinner in Dublin. I had a nice Irish beef burger and fries and two pints of Guinness. Good stuff.
Tomorrow, we plan to hit up the spots that were closed today, and I am most excited about the Book of Kells. I really hope we can take pictures of it, but somehow I doubt they will allow it. If not, that will be my first picture I post tomorrow.
Until then,
Sam
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