So, after sleeping (sorta) and managing my way through the free breakfast line like everyone else, I finally figured out where I was going. Not only that but the new student orientations were over so when I arrived at the Book of Kells I was able to get in! Now, there’s no photography in the front rooms but it is very much a museum with details about the library and some of the books inside. “The Book of Kells is Ireland's greatest cultural treasure and the world's most famous medieval manuscript. The 9th century book is a richly decorated copy of the four Gospels of the life of Jesus Christ.” (Yes that’s a quote from the official website.) Beyond the Exhibition is the Long Room, which is where all of the books actually are and is quite accurately named. Along the sides and in front of every bookcase is a marble bust of some very well-known writers and philosophers. Now, you can take pictures inside but there are no tripods allowed, which I wasn’t too fond of but it was a very crowded room and I could easily see someone tripping and falling, which would have been funny but not well received.
After I left through the gift shop empty handed (trust me, those things are way overpriced for what they are) I headed for St Stephen’s Green and this time I made it to where I was going! Fusilier's Arch is the main entrance to the park and really a very lovely piece of work with the underside carved with names of deaths and casualties in war. The Park itself if just as scenic with flower gardens and statues and plenty of people feeding the birds. There were hundreds of pigeons, plenty of seagulls and ducks and I spotted two swans.
The actual St Patrick’s Cathedral was huge and beautiful but I didn’t go any further inside the front doors after I saw a no photography sign. Sorry but my motto is “If I can’t take my camera, I’m not going.” The park beside it made for some handsome views though! And I saw a guy arguing with his dog, he had his hands on his hips while the dog laid in the grass and barked at him, I thought that was something YouTube made up.
As I was heading towards Dublin Castle I sort of stumbled upon Christ Church which was just as magnificent as St Patrick’s and even had a tunnel bridge connecting it to the Viking Museum. Now, who turns down a Viking museum? While there wasn’t much to photograph in the Viking side (and not much to learn since I'm a nerd and sort of already knew a lot) there were some views at the top of the tower which they stressed as having 96 steps. They warned you when you got your ticket and there was a sign, 96 steps. I’m glad I’ve done the incline a few times because I felt nothing climbing those nice evenly spaced and sturdy steps.
Across the bridge and into Crist Church where pictures and tripods were both allowed, it was a very impressive space. From the ornately decorated tiles to the colorful stained glass in every window, I was very impressed!
When I finally made my way around to Dublin Castle I was getting kind of hungry. Which is probably why I didn’t stick around more than a few minutes and didn’t even go inside. I will say they’ve done “recent” renovations to the castle.
For the afternoon I mostly just wandered back towards the hostel and like three other girls in my dorm, I took a nap before dinner! I think that’s the one thing about travel that people don’t seem to do much. Everyone wants to do so many things that vacations are always go go go and there’s no time for relaxing, which should change because if I’m taking time off work I better be getting some sleep.