When Irish Eyes are Smiling

Two Days in Dublin

Standing on the Campus of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

My Irish eyes were definitely smiling in this photo of us on the campus of Trinity College in Dublin. They may be a little sleepy-looking, but certainly, they were smiling.

We had only arrived the day before after our whirlwind trip back to the States for my Dad’s funeral. After we had gathered with my family and made all the arrangements to honor Dad, Jeff and I began planning our return to Europe. It probably sounds odd to you. But, we had excursions already paid for and knew we wanted to follow the path we had in place for those experiences. Also, we had decided months before that we didn’t want to be in America for the election.

The other choice we made was to take a slower pace of traveling back so we could take some time to rest along the way. For us, that meant staying two full days in Dublin and then three full days resting in Corfu before landing back in Sarandé. We had never explored Dublin before and were very much looking forward to wandering to get a feel for it.

Funny side story, we arrived October 31st, America’s Halloween, which isn’t celebrated in the countries we’ve visited so far. However, when we checked-in to our hotel, the receptionist told us that there was going to be a parade starting at 7:00 pm down the street if we wanted something to do. We were tired, so we decided not to go and it’s a good thing we didn’t as I discovered a few hours later on social media news networks that the whole thing had been a hoax. Hundreds of people had shown up for a parade that wasn’t. Dirty little pranksters anyhow 😂

The next day, we slept in and decided to investigate the campus of Trinity College, and the “Book of Kells” exhibit in the afternoon.

The Entrance to Trinity College

Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is an amazing college known around the world for its academic excellence. Famous people such as Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Beckett graduated from Trinity.

The architecture is stunning, with the majority being neoclassical. However, the oldest buildings are Georgian, named for the first four King Georges of England. You can see a great example of this in the background of the first photo with Jeff and I.

We made our way to the ‘Old Library’ as it’s named, to experience the “Book of Kells” exhibition. Never heard of the “Book of Kells”? I hadn’t either until Jeff told me about it. And because I want to share correct information with you, I’m going to let the actual exhibit speak for itself.

I have never seen a book so artistically intricate and colorful as this one. It is truly a masterpiece! I am a lover of all things bright colors, so this utterly captivated me.

And the way they created the inks and pigments to write on the vellum (aka calfskins) is wildly fascinating, too.