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Day 27 found us back on dry land in Dublin. The stay in Amsterdam was fun, the cruise to Iceland was fantastic, and now we're ready for phase 3 here in Dublin.
We started out trying to figure out what everyone (cab driver, hotel reception, man on the street) was talking about when they said we had to see the book of Kells. In all honesty I had no idea what it was. Just a book? At any rate, it is housed in the Trinity College library and because our hotel is literally across the street from college and because we arrived at the hotel at 9AM and couldn't check in yet, we ventured over to see what was so special about the book.
Well... The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels of the Christian New Testament, currently housed at Trinity College. The work is the most famous of the medieval illuminated manuscripts for the intricacy, detail, and majesty of the illustration. It dates back to the year 800. It was a fascinating tour. As you might imagine, I couldn't take photos of the actual documents on display, but the library and the exhibit were fascinating.
In addition to housing the Book of Kells, the Library is the permanent home to the Brian Boru harp which is a national symbol of Ireland (and a major part of the Guinness logo) and a copy of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
I have a few photos below of the main library hall which was enormous and you could just feel the weight of history in the place.
From there we headed to St. Patricks Cathedral which had a great self-guided audio tour. The cathedral has a fascinating history and is still open for daily religious services.
Being exhausted from taking in so much history :) , we scouted out what looked like an authentic pub. Well the Hairy Lemon fit the bill and the fish and chips were great.
Keeping up the church theme, we had reservations for dinner at the Church Cafe. The owners took a 300 year old church and transformed the interior into a very contemporary dining experience. And they did it while keeping the true nature of church in tact.
