Today was a super busy day! In the morning, we took a bus to Newgrange. It is a huge burial ground. The really cool thing is that on the winter solstice, the sunlight comes into the chamber 20m in and illuminates the entire room. Given that this was built 500 years before the first pyramids in Egypt were built, before the wheel and horse in Ireland, it is an absolutely phenomenal creation. Additionally, the stones are from 20-70 km away and they estimate each of the 4 ton stones took 80 men 5-7 days for 3km travel. The inner room has a ceiling that is 6m high and leak proof with three small little alcoves with basins in them. It is a really cool place but a little claustrophobic as it has one entrance.
From there, we rode the bus to the National Museum where we saw four bog bodies. It is amazing how much scientists can determine from looking at these very worn remains. There were also a lot of relics, gold, and medieval artifacts in the museum. After the museum, we went to see the book of Kells at Trinity College. First we walked through an exhibit that explained what the book is, how it was made, etc. Then we got to see the book. Given its size, it has been divided into four (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) books. The book is handwritten and features lots of beautiful pictures. In person we got to see the books of Mathew and Mark. Afterwards, we walked through the library which looks like the stereotypical university library, complete with ladders to get the really high books.
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| Ireland's oldest harp |
We had a break so we walked around for a bit before stopping at a restaurant. I got a pot of tea there since I had seen a burrito place where I wanted dinner. Then we went to the burrito place where Kimmie and I got dinner. We then made our way to a pub in Temple Bar where we began our musical pub crawl. It was way more interesting than I was expecting as they explained the music, the instruments, and the traditions throughout the night.
