LITERARY NERDINESS BEGINS!

Yesterday was a day filled with books! (Clearly the best kind of day.)

We (being myself, the Nancy and the Russell) started the day by indulging in a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Dublin where our tour guide Catherine told us all kinds of interesting tidbits about ye olde city, like that the Millennium Spire has 11,000 holes in the top part for the light to come out of. (I didn’t actually hear that tidbit, but my mom swears that’s what she said).

But our first real stop of the day was the illustrious Trinity College Dublin, famous alma mater of such notables as Oscar Wilde and Jonathan Swift (but not James Joyce, he went to UCD – yay famous people going to my school!). Also at Trinity is the famous Book of Kells, one of the oldest surviving manuscripts in the world. It is a copy of the four gospels copied out by Irish monks and decorated with super-swank calligraphy, portraits and other various decorations. I had thought we would stand in line for an hour, and then look at the book and then it would be done. BUT luckily we went at lunchtime, so the line was nearly nothing and there was a cool museum-type walk-through display thingy (gosh I’m articulate) all about the history of the book and how it was made. Being a bookbinder myself, I nerded out a little.

Then we saw the book and it was cool and all, but THEN… then we went upstairs to “The Long Room.” I WANT THIS ROOM. This room is almost exactly the epitome of the library I want in my house someday, except without the squishy chairs reminiscent of a Hogwarts common room. It was two reaaaaally tall stories, with Beauty and the Beast ladders to get to the upper stacks and a wrought iron spiral staircase. Each little alcove had a bust of a famous Irish writer stationed at its end – Swift, Wilde, etc. I want those Beauty and the Beast ladders. I want that spiral staircase. I even want those busts. Being obsessed with libraries, I nerded out a lot.

After my parents dragged me out of this glorious place, we had lunch. Irish stew and Guinness, the most Irishy meal I can think of. Okay, actually that’s what my dad ate. I had tomato soup, steamed veggies/potatoes and Harp. Only slightly less Irishy.

THEN THE NERDINESS CONTINUED!
We somehow stumbled upon the Charles Beatty Library/Museum, which contained the personal collection of this dude who LOVED books. He had the most eclectic and impressive personal library I’ve ever seen or heard of, including (but not limited to) illustrated copies of the Tale of Genji (Heritage moment #1) and super super old copies of the Bible and the Koran – like 100 A.D. old for the Bible and even older for other works. This dude was awesome. Bibliophiles unite!

So it was sometime after leaving Chuck’s books that Kay called to let us know she had gotten tickets to see a play at the Abbey Theatre – which was founded by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (thank you MacMac). So we went to see The Rivals, a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan sometime in the 1700s and famous for popularizing the term “malapropism,” due to the character Miss Malaprop. Awesome end to awesome day.

This is, without a doubt, the longest and nerdiest post ever.

Oh, who am I kidding? This was just day two! It will probably only get worse from here. Cheers!