Madeleine à Paris: Dublin

On the Monday before the New Year, my parents and Nancy headed stateside, while I hopped over to Dublin to meet my friend, Mimi.

Monday night we explored the city, and Tuesday we woke up bright and early to see the sights. Our first stop was Trinity College.

Founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, it is the oldest university in Ireland, and houses the Book of Kells (Latin manuscript with crazy extravagant illustrations of the four gospels of the New Testament, transcribed by Celtic monks circa 800). Unfortunately, the buildings were closed for the holidays, but we could still walk around the grounds.

After heading to the National Gallery and grabbing some Thai food for lunch, we headed over to Christ Church Cathedral. It was nice to get inside for a little bit; I don't think that the picture does justice to the cold, windy, rainy day.

The inside was pretty incredible. The floor really set Christ Church apart from other Cathedrals I've visited.

Just like in London, Dublin was full of Christmas trees.

After Christ Church Cathedral, we headed over to Dublin Castle. This is a view into the courtyard, where there was an exhibition of angel sculptures.

The 8-ft-tall fiberglass angels were installed for Dublin Castle's Beacons of Hope Exhibition, intended to raise the spirits of Ireland and bring about a new sense of positive thinking.
http://angelsbeaconsofhope.ie/

First built as a defensive castle at the beginning of the 13th century, and housed the English and then British royalty when they came to check up on Ireland. It was also a hot spot during the attempted 1798 rebellion and was officially handed over from the British to the Irish in 1922.

The Castle now houses active government proceedings, but you can still take tours of the inside.

This is the throne, which was too tall for the Queen of England, so I'm pretty sure they ended up sawing off part of the legs, and adding a step stool to help her gracefully get seated.

We had wanted to visit Powerscourt Castle, outside of Dublin, to see French-style gardens on the grounds. Because of the weather and a few bus confusions, we begrudgingly settled for going to Powerscourt Townhouse, an old-townhouse-turned shopping center for some pretty incredible hot chocolate.