Sheer awe.

If Sunday was the most beautiful day-trip thus far, today was by far the coolest.

I got an early-ish start, and was out the door by 11, and in the city center by a quarter to 12. For the first time I DIDN'T get lost coming out of Pearse Station (for some reason I can usually never tell which direction to head toward when I come up from that station...), and I made my way to Trinity College. Good heavens. I don't even want to attempt writing about today because it's too difficult... BUT. The public awaits. (paha... sorry. Self-important moment is now finished.) But really, it IS difficult. I followed the signs labeled "BOOK OF KELLS" into the library gift shop, where I studied the over-priced knick-knacks for awhile before purchasing my ticket and going into the exhibition. It was all very well laid out; before coming to the Book itself, you go through a maze of rooms describing the history of the book (and other illuminated manuscripts of note), and then the description of how such things are made and why, and then the technical de-coding of the pages on display. They show you what to look for; like how any time "Jesus said" or "I say" is written, that word is strongly emphasized; or how you can tell which scribe did what on the page, judging by how complex it is, or how colorful, etc. And they show you what each icon on the pages means, so that even though you can't read the Latin, you can get the gist of what the page says. Then you come to a little room in the back with a huge glass case...

The binding on the Book of Kells has long since been broken, so the pages were put into two stacks so that two pages were on display - one to show a picture and the other to show text. Every day they turn a page; today the text was Mark 6:3-15. And the picture page was open to the most famous one: an entire page dedicated to Jesus' name, with a bunch of small images alongside it. It was really amazing.

After studying that for awhile, I went upstairs, turned a corner, and stopped dead. I wish I could have taken pictures of the Old Library - but on second thought, pictures wouldn't have done it justice anyway. I can't really describe that room, or even why it made me feel the way it did - it was just incredibly... incredible. Even just the sheer expanse of the room; the length, but also the vaulted ceilings made of dark wooden arches. The bookshelves that reached up as high as you could turn your neck; the light that came in through the long windows, bathing the covers of books that are hundreds of years old in the early afternoon glow. The white marble busts of all the literary Greats of history. The smell. THE SMELL! AGH. I probably looked really stupid, just standing there in the middle of the doorway, staring ahead of me. I'm not even kidding - my heart was literally pounding. (A library WOULD do that to me...) You really just can't imagine such a reverent, awe-inspiring place until you stand inside of one.

After walking up and down the library about five times, it was time to pull myself away. So I left the campus (campus. Pf. Can you imagine going to SCHOOL THERE?!) and crossed over to Grafton Street for some shopping. I managed to spend a lot of money, somehow, and all I have for myself is a little stack of second-hand books. Hmph. I need at least a key-chain before I go. I brought a key-chain in Prague that had a picture of Charles Bridge on it, but the picture has worn away and now I just have a key-chain with a plain metal oval at the end of it. Lesson learned: get key-chains with engravings or raised surfaces - not just ink.

Anyway. After shopping and a heinously over-priced lunch at a Dublin fast-food place, I wound my way down to Christ Church Cathedral. I was there before, but for whatever reason I didn't go inside. So I did today - the fare for getting in was a pleasant surprise, by the way... only 3 euro for students! That's another one that's tough to describe. It's a truly magnificent cathedral - everything you look at just takes your breath away. And it's so old! And still so perfect! It IS kind of weird how everything in Roman Catholic churches is dedicated to/commissioned by/in memory of somebody or other, though. I think church-goers would be much more able to focus on God when they see the beautiful interior if somebody else's name wasn't written on it.

All of that aside - BEAUTIFUL place. I wish all churches looked like it.

I walked back along the Liffey then, crossed over, and walked up O'Connell Street. It was strange to see it so (relatively) empty, after being one of the half-million who turned up there on St. Patrick's Day. I went up there looking for the Dublin Writers Museum, but had a rather difficult time finding it. I found the Garden of Remembrance, though, which was dedicated to the Irish men and women who were killed during the revolts of 1916 and onward. (OH! Another reason the Old Library was amazing: it had one of the 12 remaining copies of the Irish Declaration of Independence that got the ball rolling toward their freedom. And I got to read it. Pretty darn cool.) Unfortunately the garden was gated off (I'm not sure when it IS open), but I sat down next to the fence for about a half hour, just looking at the garden and listening to all the different languages of the tourist groups that passed me by. At 5:00 I stood up to walk back down to Pearse, and then - duh. The Writers Museum was right across the street. Everything closes at 5, though, so I'll just have to go back some other time. I felt pretty stupid after that, though. Oh well... at least I got to rest my feet.

It was quite a walk back to Pearse Station, and then I had to stand in the train because I have a habit of heading back JUST as the 9-to-5 crowd is fleeing the workplace... which means that I have lots of company on the journey back home. They're all very well-dressed, though, I'll say that for them. Ahem. Anyway.

Dinner was just ready when I got back, white brings us pretty much up to date. One thing that was nice - Carole told me that Mark said to her, "Laura took great care of me." without even being asked about it. That made me feel pretty special. :)

And tomorrow's Friday. I have no idea what to do with it... I've seen pretty much everything that I'd planned to see in Dublin (darned Writers Museum excluded)... and I'm a bit tired of Dalkey and Dun Laoghaire for the time being. Hm. Well, I'll sleep on it.

Have a good afternoon, everybody. Read a good old book for me. :)