Ireland Day 6 - The Liberties

We started our day with a long walk from O'Connell St. to Heuston Station and the nearby museum of modern art. As with all modern art, I found it to be pretty hit or miss (though the hits were plenty impressive) but the best/creepiest part of the museum is that it's housed in an old military hospital (the Royal Hospital Kilmainham) so it's a little like looking at art in the middle of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The 'formal gardens' also feature some cool sculptures.

Next stop, for me, was the Guinness Storehouse, where I snapped plenty of images for use in my upcoming class this fall.

I also got a picture of a nice quote from Rupert Guinness:

We are brewers and always have been; and in our brewing we have sought, and we seek, to ally the traditions and craftsmanship of the past with the best that science has to teach us.

The tour itself was actually pretty interesting, though I suppose my expectations were set pretty low. I particularly enjoyed the tasting, when we sniffed, swished, sniffed, then drank. The typical pint is too full to allow for swishing to pop a few bubbles, so it was kind of cool to notice the increase, and change, in odor when that famous head goes down a bit. The gravity bar, where you get your pint, was a bit too overrun with tourists to allow for any sort of quiet reflection, but it does provide for some nice pictures
















While I was drinking, Mom was checking out St. Patrick's Cathedral, which we'll come back to, because I trekked over to meet her and we went next door to the small Marsh's Library, which everyone should go see.

The exhibit changes every 6 months, but the one I saw included Newton's Principia Mathematica! Be still my heart! I just stood there grinning like an idiot with my little sweaty palm pressed against the glass. The librarian, and my Mom, laughed at me a bit. But a few cases later were copies of Chaucer and Shakespeare and Mom let out a little gasp too.

After Marsh's closed we headed back to St. Patrick's

for evensong. Now that's my idea of religion. Seriously - the sopranos hit notes that made me feel closer to God. And I'm not using hyperbole.

We rounded out our day, and kept up the musical theme, with some lovely authentic Irish music back at Kiely's, where I was pleasantly surprised to find a colleague of mine playing a bodhran!