Skip to main content

Trinity College and the Book of Kells

Image
By
It wouldn't be a visit to Dublin without heading to Trinity College.  John and I have taken multiple people there, and it never disappoints (although getting there and finding parking can be a problem).


The best part of it all is the The Long Room of the library, and the display of The Book of Kells.


A shot of The Long Room from the entrance.
 The books in this library are still used and accessible to the Trinity students.
There is always some exhibit in The Long Room, and this time, it was an exhibit of Irish authors and first edition copies of their books.  There were also some first edition copies of books by English authors (seeing as Ireland wasn't independent from England until 1916).  What a trip it was to see a first edition copy of The Hobbit.  We also learned that Eoin Colfer, one of Ethan's favorite childhood authors who happens to be Irish, doesn't pronounce his first name E-O-win (as we always thought), but pronounces it Owen.  Yep, that Gaelic will always throw us a curve ball :-)

Check out the staircase!
The Long Room is something you would imagine in Harry Potter.  In fact, one of the Star Wars movies duplicated the look of the room, because, let's face it, it's just super cool.



Then it was onto The Book of Kells.  I can't possibly describe it myself, so here's a bit already written:  The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament.  It was created in a monastery in Ireland and was created around 800 A.D.  I would love to show you pictures that I took, but pictures aren't allowed, so here are some off the internet, illegally taken by others:


It is actually very moving to see the beauty of the book.  I can't really explain why in words.  Perhaps it's because the words of Christ that we find so beautiful and perfect are given the honor they deserve in art.  I could have stayed there for hours, looking at the different pages and reading about the monks' methods for creating them.  It's very beautiful.

We decided to forego the Viking Tour this time around.  Things aren't cheap in Dublin, and The Merry Ploughboys had been expensive enough.  However, it wouldn't be a stop in Dublin without a visit to Hard Rock Cafe.

 So, we hopped in the car and headed north.  And yes, the traffic signs honestly say, "To the North" on them.

 I can't tell you how delightfully surprised we were with our rental home in Northern Ireland.  Pictures can show you only so much, but as we pulled into the parking space, we were thrilled.  The views were unbelievable, and the furnishings were just perfect.  And honestly, after staying in different hotels every night and spending more hours than we wanted to in the car, it was good to have a place where we could settle in for a while.

Plus, I was happy to see that the Dublin tradition of painted doors extended into the north country.  In fact, I had bought chocolates of the doors in the Trinity book store, thinking that I wouldn't see them again :-)

It may seem old fashioned, but I still use a map to navigate when we are in Ireland.
Of course, John couldn't wait to get his running shoes on...and he convinced Ethan to join him.  What a perfect way to end the day!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Like Dominos....

By
It all began with glare.  Simple, obnoxious, I-can't-stand-it-anymore glare. Our 60" rear projection TV in the family room was basically unviewable except after 10 o'clock at night.  The glare from the windows was making it impossible to see anything during my 10 minute lunch break each day, and something had to change. Too, the TV didn't fit in the entertainment center from Germany.  John, wanting bigger and better, hadn't considered that the space is only 40" wide.  For the past five years, I have been nagged by 6" of overhang on both sides of the TV stand. I went to Lowe's to price blinds.  $1,043 for five blinds, and that was at 20% off. I figured a new TV would be cheaper than that.  I was right, even with the state-of-the-art receiver and new HDMI cables that sly salesman told us we needed to have. But where to put the old TV?  It just needed a quiet, dark place to retire. Glo's bedroom.  Her TV was a relic from the paleoneoneand...
3 comments
Read more

The Quest for Birkenstocks

By
One of the main reasons I go to Germany every couple of years is to restock my supply of Birkenstocks.  I started buying them when I lived there, and I basically can't live without them now.  It just about kills me when a pair runs its course and needs to be thrown away.  I think in my lifetime, I've thrown away only three pairs.  One that never was quite right (the straps were plastic and would cut into my skin after a long day), one pair that I wore gardening one too many times (the brown dirt stains wouldn't come out of the white leather), and the pair that I was wearing when I broke my ankle (they were an unfortunate casualty of broken ankle PTSD because those purple and blue paisleys go down as one of my favorite pairs of all time).  I only threw out the garden ones a couple of days before I left for Germany, because I knew I would be getting a new pair. The only store where I have ever bought my Birkenstocks is Hoffmann's in Speicher.  (Well okay, t...
2 comments
Read more

Thinking Beyond Ourselves

By
In our church, most adults hold a “calling”.  What this really means is they have a job, or a specific way to serve within the local congregation.  We believe that this calling is inspired from God—it’s a specific way that he wants us to serve, so that we can either learn and grow ourselves, or so that we can help someone else. I have had more callings in the church than I can count, and with few exceptions, I have loved every one of them.  I have come to love people (adults, teens and kids) who I might never have met.  I have learned much--from how to organize a Christmas music program, to how to make a Sunday School lesson meaningful to apathetic teenagers.  I have served as president of the children’s organization, and I have been the leader of 30 young, single adults. With every calling comes a lot of work.  Of course, the amount of work one puts into a calling is up to an individual.  I choose to put everything into a calling.  I give up ho...
3 comments
Read more