Home of the Irish (Oct. 15-18)

I don’t know if it was the fact that they spoke English or that we were just really, really uncharacteristically organized, but this seemed to be the trip with the least amount of confusion and, therefore, the one with the least amount of funny things to relay to the readers of this little blog. Soooo I’m going to adopt a new kind of strategy here and talk about a few of the places we went in Dublin and the corresponding lessons on history we were given in that funny little accent of theirs.

Dublin Castle

The groundwork’s for the famous Dublin Castle were constructed by the Viking’s in the 800’s, but the Dublin Castle as we know it wasn’t officially constructed until 1204, though a fire burned it down in 1686. The ammunition chamber?? of the castle caught on fire proceeding to explode,  taking the rest of the castle down with it.  The castle was reconstructed but never returned to its natural state. Today it is used to host foreign ambassadors and as a meeting place for Ireland's president.  The tour was pretty entertaining. We learned that Margaret Thatcher stayed there in the 80’s but only at the insistence that they build a new bathroom for her (because she didn’t want to stay in the old kings bedroom).  One of the rooms had painings of all the ‘great’ Irish politicians, but one of those paintings was about 2 feet lower and partly hidden behind a door. The guide said that this was the portrait of the last holder of American territory (unfortunately I forget his name, but probably "Mc" or "O" something or rather) and upon losing the colony he came back to Ireland where he took his anger out on the people, ruling with a heavy hand. Today he is, to say the least, not the most popular of Irish figures and the tour guide had some pretty strong feelings about it even being up on the wall, stating that maybe if the handle of the door slammed into his face every time then he would be ok with it.  One of the most interesting parts of the castle was the tiny remains of a moat that used to run around it. In the 1300’s, with the Black Death sweeping the continent, it was decided to cut off the moat from the castle (before this point it had apparently run into the castle). It was though that water was the primary cause of the disease, so the taxpayers were granted custody on the inside while the non-taxpayers were left to rot on the outside. Well, it turns out that the cause of the disease was actually rats (and fleas were the vectors) and with the draining of the water the rats were trapped inside the castle. 60% of the population within the castle walls died within 2 years and, although the numbers don’t exist, those on the outside faired far better; the result: if you pay your taxes in Ireland, death will be your reward.

Chester Beatty Library

This library definitely wasn’t your common, everyday, "lets check out a book" library. There were two rooms, one dedicated to the beginnings of language and the other dedicated to the beginnings of the worlds most prominent religions (east and west) and each of the rooms contained some of the earliest, most important texts of those particular religions/languages. I thought that the “religion” room was amazing. It was divided into 6 sections, each focusing on the beginnings of their religion, and it was a great way of learning and seeing the relations that exist between them all. I was most interested in the eastern religions (such as Buddhism) and their appeal as a way of life. The higher being that they worship is within ourselves, it is our mental capacity, and through meditation one can rid the brain of all negative thoughts, freeing it to explore, to be truly happy and to help transmit that happiness, that positive energy, unto others. Islam, another religion that I want to learn more about, directly translates to mean, “submission” and that’s really what the whole religion is based on. Submitting to the will of god, to the command of god. Islam, Christianity and Judaism are essentially progressions of one another; Islam calls itself the most refined and flawless of the three because it is the newest. Although they see Christ as an incredibly inspired religious figure, he is not as important to their religion as Muhammad, the one and only true prophet.

Viking Museum

I have always had a kind of fascination/very limited knowledge of the Vikings, so I was pretty excited to stumble upon this little historical documentation. The word Viking comes from the Old Nors word “Vík”, which means bay, or inlet. The Vikings, renown for their sea faring abilities, first arrived in Ireland in the 700’s. They worshipped 3 gods, Odin and his sons Thor and Fey. It was said that if a Viking died a glorious death in battle he would go to an eternal party with Odin, but if the Viking died a calm and peaceful death he would forever remain in a cold, dark after place. Vikings rarely wore armor, but would dress in the way that they depicted the warrior god Thor – in bear fur. Before and during battle the Vikings were known for rilying themselves up as a way of inspiring fear in the opponent – the modern day word “bersurk” comes from this practice, derived from the “bear shirt” that the Vikings wore in battle.  The Vikings, due to the superior design of their ships that allowed for faster travel and superior docking, were known to be excellent traders. When the slave trade came around so many people came from the Slavic states that it is though that the word “slave” is derived from the word “Slavic”.

While walking back from the museum, I happened to stumble on a couple of tents that were part of a Viking reenactment. These guys are Ireland's equivalent of left-over hippies. I'm pretty sure that they still live like this on an every day basis, or at least they were just very convincing. One guy was making jewelry and it was actually really fun to watch him, sitting there with his tools from the 800's; I would have bought a piece... but I didn't, I guess I don't really know why. They also had a "battle reenactment" that they tried to turn into a comedy show. Let's just say it didn't work out too well.

Kilmainham Gaol

The final place we went was one of Ireland's most famous prisons (now a museum) - something the equivalent of the San Franciscos' Alcazar. It was said that kids as young as 8 used to go to the jail to serve labor sentences for crimes as petty as stealing a bite of bread. At one point, during the potato famine, the government announced an initiative that anyone caught begging would be immediately sent to jail. Well, being that jail was one of the few places where food could actually be found, it was said that as many as 9000 people occupied a mere 128 cells.

Alright, thats about all of the information that I can remember regarding this little island! Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to make it out into the country side or to the Cliff's of Moher, but I guess that gives a reason to go back in the future. Cheeros mateys