How I went to Ireland and it was nothing like the Lucky Charms box

For once in our lives, the flight did NOT beat the sunrise. I had lots of time to sleep before we left for the bus around 1 pm. The bus ride was around 2 hours long, and since the bag I was carrying had precious cargo, I couldn’t use it as a pillow, and contented myself by listening to the dulcet tones of the guy in front of me to the right, who was jamming to what must have been a really great album.

We reached the airport and boarded our first flight, which would land in Toronto. There were TVs, but since I had no headphones, I passed the time reading (hooray for summer reading). We touched down in Toronto, and after avoiding the horrible burger place and finding other food, we got on our second flight, which would take us to Dublin. If you have ever tried sleeping on a plane, it is not very comfortable. You can either put the table down and rest your head and arms on that, and wake up with severe scoliosis, or lean back and sleep in an upright position because the person behind you kicks your seat when you move it back. Nevertheless, I woke up in Dublin around 6 hours later.

We took a bus to the City Centre, and the first thing I noticed (apart from the Age of Ultron poster) was that it was quite cold for “summertime”. I also noticed that, for no discernable reason, there was a tall silver pole in the ground. It looked to be at least a mile long. We dropped our bags at the hostel and began our walk to the Dublinia, pausing to photograph the Irish ducks in the river. The Dublinia, near Christ Chruch Cathedral, is a museum covering the Viking and Medieval history of Dublin, using life sized talking dioramas, interactive exhibits, and costumes. The first floor covered the Viking era, discussing the shift from raiding to trading, and outlining the history and eventual defeat of the Vikings. The second floor was about medieval Dublin, from the Anglo-Norman conquests to the Black Plague, and the various charming cures recommended for diseases and health problems- for instance, those with toothaches were advised to touch a dead person’s tooth, and if that didn’t work, to simply yank the problem tooth out. Meanwhile, insomnia was cured by taking a mixture of nettles and the white of an egg. Lepers, however, could not be cured, because they were bad people who were being punished, so they were simply given a bell and pushed away from society. However, such potent cures could only be used if the planets were in the correct alignment. If not, too bad. One wonders why so many people died.

From there, the exhibit moved on to crime and punishment. Stocks were primarily used in these days, and at one point in history, people who set fires were punished by being thrown into them. As extra incentive to not break the law, the heads of those executed were put in windows. As you can see, this was a charming time period.

Also covered were some of the conquests made by various kings in pursuit of Dublin. In addition to all the bloodshed, new monarchs were crowned, including King Lambert, a 10 year old boy ordained the king of England. His reign only lasted a month, however, before the unfortunate king became a kitchen servant to his usurper.

After this, we headed up to the third floor, which was about archaeology, and how the past of Dublin had been uncovered. Once finished with the exhibit, we climbed several flights of stairs to the top of St. Michaels Tower, which offered a great view of Dublin. Next, we crossed a decorative bridge into Christ Church Cathedral. We wandered around for a bit, looking at the huge organ and the baptismal font, before descending into the crypt, which housed a large number of artifacts, as well as a mummified cat and mouse that had perished after getting stuck in an organ pipe.

Since evensong was at 6, we decided to search for lunch first. We found a small place called the Queen of Tarts to eat at. Afterwards, we went to the Record Tower and took some pictures before heading back to Christ Church. We got there a bit early to look at the statue outside, a controversial piece depicting Jesus as a homeless man sleeping on a bench. When it was first installed, a woman called the police, because she thought there was an actual person sleeping on the church grounds.

Evensong was lovely, and the choir sang quite well. Once it was over, we went to the National Gallery, particularly to look at the Vermeer they had. The other paintings were great as well, but the Vermeer was the highlight of the exhibit.

We limped back to the hostel and immediately fell asleep to get rested for the next full day of our journey.