16 May – Wednesday
Our last full day in Ireland was spent in Dublin, where we made good use of the Hop On Hop Off Bus. A cold, wet and miserable day, we made our first stop at Trinity College to view the Book of Kells – impossible to describe the illuminations and comprehend the sheer work that went into producing these manuscripts/books. Then on to the National Library, where we spent some time searching the records for Michael Ross Connell. Although we found the parish records for Dunlavin in 1851 without any trouble, the writing was too faint to be legible. So it would appear that the origins of Michael, and his mother, will remain a mystery. The Natural History Museum has displays of gold jewellery dating back more than 3000 years, plus human remains (or parts thereof) over 1500 years old – all discovered in Irish bogs! Even clothing from the 17th Century has been recovered from bogs, looking exactly as it did when buried. A quick visit to Dublin Castle in the freezing rain, to discover we couldn’t enter owing to a private function. So it was on to St Patrick’s Cathedral, which together with Christ Cathedral, are both Church of Ireland (Anglican) cathedrals, not Catholic. The tour continued to the Guinness Brewery, Kilmainham Gaol, National Museum, Jameson Distillery and Parnell Square. We gave the Guinness Brewery as miss, as the weather was so unpleasant.
Our last full day in Ireland was spent in Dublin, where we made good use of the Hop On Hop Off Bus. A cold, wet and miserable day, we made our first stop at Trinity College to view the Book of Kells – impossible to describe the illuminations and comprehend the sheer work that went into producing these manuscripts/books. Then on to the National Library, where we spent some time searching the records for Michael Ross Connell. Although we found the parish records for Dunlavin in 1851 without any trouble, the writing was too faint to be legible. So it would appear that the origins of Michael, and his mother, will remain a mystery. The Natural History Museum has displays of gold jewellery dating back more than 3000 years, plus human remains (or parts thereof) over 1500 years old – all discovered in Irish bogs! Even clothing from the 17th Century has been recovered from bogs, looking exactly as it did when buried. A quick visit to Dublin Castle in the freezing rain, to discover we couldn’t enter owing to a private function. So it was on to St Patrick’s Cathedral, which together with Christ Cathedral, are both Church of Ireland (Anglican) cathedrals, not Catholic. The tour continued to the Guinness Brewery, Kilmainham Gaol, National Museum, Jameson Distillery and Parnell Square. We gave the Guinness Brewery as miss, as the weather was so unpleasant.
1 comment:
Sounds like you guys are having a great time! I'm very jealous. I've now got the new blog address bookmarked, so I'll make sure I check it every morning, and I'll go and subscribe now to make sure I get the alerts!
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