Day 4 - Sunny Dublin

The Spire (background)

After two days of clouds, we have a bright, beautiful sunny day for our touring. Still a bit cool, in the mid-60s, but it is almost a perfect day by Irish standards. Jeanne and I took a Free Walking tour of the south side. Dubliners are divided by birth as either Northsiders (on the north side of the River Liffey) who are the more working class half of Dublin or Southsiders  who are the richer, more posh class of people. The tour started at Millennium Monument which is commonly called “the Spire” but of course in true Irish fashion is commonly given more irreverent nicknames. The Spire is more commonly called “the Stiletto in the Ghetto” or “the Pole in the Hole” and a couple of even more colorful names that I’m not going to repeat but that are really funny.

James Joyce Statue

And while we are talking about irreverent names I’ll just list a few of the more colorful ones they use for statues around Dublin. The James Joyce state shown here is called “the Prick with the Stick.” The Molly Malone statue below is called “the Tart with the Cart.” The Anna Livia monument is a personification of the River Liffey but it is more commonly called “the Floozie in the Jacuzzi” and we saw one on our first night that is called “the Hags with the Bags.” I think you can get the picture. Yes, I like the Irish sense of humor and their stupid nicknames!

Trinity College Campus

After our walking tour we visited Trinity College, the most prestigious college in Ireland, to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an elaborate version of the four books of the gospel drawn by monks around 800 AD.

Long Room at the Old Library (Trinity College)

What makes that interesting is that it was done in the middle of the dark ages when doing works like this had become a lost art. However because Ireland was so isolated from the rest of Europe, including the monks at the Kells Abbey, that skill was not lost.  They show a different page of the book every day and today it was Luke 16, verses 10-22. All done in Latin so it was unreadable to us. The Book of Kells is considered Ireland's greatest treasure.

The Book of Kells is housed in the Long Room of the Old Library at Trinity College, which you might recognized from the Harry Potter movies.

Molly Malone Statue

"Molly Malone" (second verse)
She was a fishmonger
And sure, t'was no wonder
For so were her mother and father before
And they wheeled their barrow
Through the streets broad and narrow
Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"
Alive, alive, oh
Alive, alive, oh
Alive, alive, oh
Crying "cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"