Dublin

Today, Eric and I parted ways. My brother and I went on a tour that included Dublin Castle and the Book of Kells, and Eric went off to check out Guiness. The city, which began in the 8th or 9th century, is divided in two by the River Liffey (pronounced with a short i sound, as in "if"). One side of the River is mostly very old, with cobbled streets and on the other side of the river, there are both old and very interesting looking new buildings.

We went to Dublin Castle which dates back to the very beginnings of the city. Over the centuries, the original stone and mostly wooden structure was replaced by stone. It was a large rectangle with a huge round tower in each corner.

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This is the only remains of the castle. There was a fire in the mid 1600s and in order to stop the fire from spreading, they blew up parts of the castle. Between the fire and the blowing up, there wasn't much left. At that point, it was rebuilt and looked as it does today.

Inside, there are very grand rooms with spectacular chandeliers that are used today by the government for ceremonial purposes. One room, used for state dinners, must be 70 feet long at least! 

   

The chandeliers here are all Waterford crystal.

After we left the castle, we drove to Trinity College. It is extremely old as it was started in 1592 by Elizabeth I. The long room in the old library, which is huge, is older than our country!!! It was begun in1712. The Long Room is almost 200 feet long and houses the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is the 4 gospels and was created by monks over 1,000 years ago.