A Perfect Day

I had the perfect day today filled with art, history and...shopping! We started the day with some rain and clouds, which was interesting to see after all our sunny blue skies this week. The real Ireland! Apparently we've just been lucky to visit during week(s) of summer. I curled up by the hotel window with my Irish wool throw and watched the storm for awhile. When it slowed in late morning I grabbed a cab and headed to the National Gallery. There I was lucky to see Irelands most famous painting, "The Meeting on the Turret Stairs." It's a vibrant watercolor of a scene from an old Irish ballad. A princess falls in love with her knight bodyguard, but her father the King is so upset when he discovers their love that he orders him to be killed. The painting is their last moment together and it is heartbreaking and powerful. For some reason the painting is very sensitive to light so it is only on display for 3 hours a week. If you're here try not to miss it!

After that I walked down Henry Street and enjoyed a little shopping. There are many stores that we know from the U.S. but plenty of local shops as well. I found a stylish and fun light jacket in Arnotts, which is a large and sophisticated Irish department store. Another interesting thing that I saw there was those funny little hats female Britush royalty (and others?) wear on special occasions. The ones that are a little 4 inch circle worn near the forehead with feathers or something crazy sticking up high. I passed those up, although I'm sure Maya would have loved one!

Outside it had started to lightly rain again but I enjoyed a walk over the Ha'Penny bridge (called that because it used to cost a half of a penny to cross it) to the Charles Beatty Library. The library is really a collection of rare sacred texts from the worlds major religions. I was fascinated by the earliest copies of Paul's letters in existence! They were in Greek on papyrus and they were falling apart but you could still read almost all of the text.  I also saw the earliest copies of the gospels and several other books such as Genesis and Esther. Most were from 200-250 AD. Amazing! You can't help but get choked up a little to see such precious ancient documents in front of you!

Later that night went to visit some Intel friends of ours at their home outside of Dublin. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and had the most delicious Indian food! I've also included some photos from around the city again. So many beautiful sights!