Dublin Church Crawl

Dublin again. Yesterday morning we met Dunlop (our history prof) under the Trinity College bell tower for a bit of a walking tour. The weather wasn’t very conducive to our purposes, as it sprinkled/poured rain the entire time we were there. This was tragic because we’d gotten used to sunny, short sleeve weather the past few days. Cold+Wet+Excessive Walking=Miserable.

Ok, enough complaining. Our first stop was McD’s because some people didn’t use the bathroom BEFORE we left the Y. This is understandable as it was incredibly early (we had to catch an 8:30 a.m. DART… I know… Cry me a river). While McD’s on Grafton Street isn’t terribly historic, they do have really nice bathrooms.

After the pit stop, Dunlop took us to see some sort of monument only to discover it had been plowed over to make way for new luxury apartments. As one might imagine, urban development at the destruction of historically significant sights is one of his pet peeves. We listened to him rant a while before going in to Dublin Castle to check out the tour times. We were supposed to go to Dublinia, a Viking museum, but for some reason, Dunlop was just not down for that and since Dr. Harbin wasn’t there, he took us to Dublin Castle instead… but more on that later. We took our tour later that day.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral was the first destination on our list that we’d actually planned to see. I’d seen it from the outside before, but I hadn’t seen the inside yet because they charge admission. I figured I’d wait and go inside on the ISP buck (er… euro). Here’s a photo of the Cathedral (note the nasty white color of the sky):

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Looking around at all the relics and plaques was interesting. The object that intrigued me most was the Door of Reconciliation. Apparently during the 15^th century, the Fitzgeralds of Kildare and the Butlers of Ormond (yes, the people from Kilkenny Castle… it all comes together) were feuding and the conflict escalated to violence. When Gerald Fitzgerald (tee hee) saw that things were getting out of control, he pleaded for truce with Black James of the Butler clan through the closed door of a Chapter House in which James had taken refuge. James refused to open the up, so Gerald hacked a hole in the door and thrust his arm through it, offering his limb in peace. James obviously took this gesture the spirit in which it was intended and opened the door in reconciliation. This situation gave rise to the phrase, “to chance your arm,” which means taking a risk for reconciliation in the hopes that someone will be there on the other side.

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Our next stop, Christ Church Cathedral, was a three minute walk from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Dublin is quite distinct for being one of the only cities to accommodate two cathedrals of the same denomination (Church of Ireland… think Episcopalian). It’s also quite interesting that they’re so close to one another. St. Patrick’s is considered the national cathedral while Christ Church is the diocesan cathedral (where the bishop of Dublin and Glendalough sits). We didn’t get a chance to look around Christ Church because we took part in the Eucharist (my first time in such a service). It was an amazing spiritual experience although quite different from anything I’d encountered at CFC, MAC, or New Hope Waimea.

After the service, we went into the crypt for a quick history lecture, but time was short because we were due for a 2 p.m. tour of Dublin Castle.

Dublin Castle has been around for ages. How long? I don’t know. I hope that won’t be on the test. Anyway, it’s been used by both English and Irish governments and is still used today for many government functions. In fact, we even got to see the room where Mary McAleese (Ireland’s current president) was recently inaugurated for her second term. I’m not really sure why Dunlop insisted on skipping Dublinia, but for whatever reason, we got to see a bunch of old rooms with really odd color schemes. Have I mentioned that I’m a little sick of seeing castles?

By the end of the final tour, I was exhausted and ready to head back to Greystones. The weather went from bad to worse, but fortunately we were on our way to warmth. PJs and a down comforter never felt so good.

On Thursday we leave for Kerry and Cork. We’ll have six days on the road, at which time I should have a sizable update to post. Please pray for safe travel and health.