Day 1: Dublin

On board the famine ship. 

The weather was perfect today.  Sunny and no clouds.  We started out with breakfast at a local cafe.  No offense to Starbucks, but I don't recall my mochas looking quite like this.  (Taste was great also).

We then headed off for a tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells which is housed in a museum at Trinity. Trinity is the oldest college in Ireland, founded by Elizabeth I in 1592.  For approximately 325 years it was a Protestant only institution. In the early 20th century that ban was lifted only to be replaced by the Catholics banning any of their members from attending. The Catholic ban was only lifted in the 1960s. The campus now has a student population that matches Irish society as a whole.

Our tour was student led. Sadhbh (pronounced Sive and  rhymes with five)showed various buildings, most of which are 19th century and later.  No original 16th century buildings survive. She covered various aspects of campus life. Studies, activities, famous alumni including Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and Bram Stoker.

Museum building at Trinity. Built with various kinds of Irish granite and marble. 

The Long Room where they house one copy of any book written in Ireland. It’s being restored so all books are being removed and cleaned. Quite the job!

Our tour guides first name - pronounced Sive (like five).

We then moved on to view the Book of Kells. This "book" is actually one of the oldest, complete, illustrated sets of the Biblical Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is believed the book was started on the Scottish island of Iona by a group of Irish monks, and then eventually moved to the Irish town of Kells, where the book gets its name. In the 17th century it was handed over to Trinity for safe keeping. The book is housed in a museum that describes its origin and how it was made and illustrated.  Unfortunately, no pictures of the actual book are allowed, but the one page (pages are rotated frequently) you are allowed to see is quite beautiful.  

A sample page. 

Various letters from the Book of Kells. 

All the pages of the book are vellum (calf skin). 

Lunch was sandwiches at Merrion Park, after which we headed over to the Jeanie Johstone Famine Ship museum. Without giving too many details, Ireland suffered a potato famine from about 1845-1855, during which time about 1 million Irish died and 2 million left Ireland for mostly Canada and the US. Those that left did so on boats like the Jeanie.  About 200-300 people per boat, plus crew, and the boats are not large by any means. Numbers are difficult to estimate, but anywhere from 20-50% died on the trips to the Americas. The Jeanie is a replica of one of those boats. However it was different.  There were no recorded deaths on 16 voyages. The owner Nicolas Donovan hired a humane captain, included a doctor on each trip, and also provided enough food for each trip. All things that most other famine ship owners did not do. This was a remarkable show of compassion. Just one more comment about the famine. It's been estimated that there was more than enough food grown in Ireland during the famine to feed the Irish. However, the English, who owned all the land, continued to export much of the food, leaving the Irish to starve or emigrate.  Not much of a "choice".

Jeanie Johnston

Food provided for 4 people per week.
Other ships did not provide any food. 

Five people per bunk and three bunks to a 6’x 5’ space. 

Haunting sculpture of famine
victims heading toward the ship. 

The Chester Beatty museum was next. Chester was a wealthy American who ended up living in Ireland. He and his wife were avid collectors, and the museum shows some their many pieces. Especially interesting are collections of early Christian copies of various Biblical texts as well as ancient texts from other religions. 

Flowers from the Beatty gardens. 

Our final touring event was the Evensong service at St. Patrick's Carhedral. More on St. Patrick in the future.

St Patrick’s Cathedral.
No interior photos allowed during the service. 

Dinner was take out pizza from a local brick oven pizza place. It was nice to relax in our hotels common space and not have to worry about ordering, restaurant noise, etc.

Tomorrow we plan to visit several smaller museums and we will hear about the Vikings, the founders of Dublin.