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A Little Light Sight-seeing

I spent the Fall 2008 semester abroad in the UK with twenty-five other students and two professors. We did our coursework on the road, traveling to various cities while studying the literature and drama of each region.

We spent five days in Dublin. The plays we saw there were rather heavy, so I tended towards the light-hearted when it came to sight-seeing.

We stayed at the Harding Hotel just across the street from Christ Church Cathedral. It had a lovely atmosphere: classy with a hint of contemporary style, such as the glass “planks” inlaid in the wood floor. The bar downstairs could get a bit noisy, and the internet connection was pretty inconsistent, but overall, it was one of my favorite hotels. The church bells from Christ Church, the large rooms and the decadent breakfasts more than made up for any inconveniences.

Trinity College has an exhibit on the Book of Kells, an illuminated Bible manuscript. The exhibit had a lot of explanation and history. We learned how vellum is made, the history of the manuscript and others like it and the meaning behind a lot of the symbolism embedded in the illuminated margins. I had a much greater appreciation for the Book of Kells by the time I got to see some of its pages. The bookworm in me also reveled in the Long Room, home of 200,000 of the college library’s oldest books.

I did most of my souvenir shopping for the semester in Dublin. I found lovely silver Celtic knot jewelry in stands on almost every street. Though I normally avoid (overpriced) gift shops, the one at Trinity College had some very nice merchandise: I found my dad a silver-colored pocket watch with the Claddagh symbol on it. I also discovered Penney’s, a department store with cheap prices even considering the unfavorable exchange rate.

After doing more shopping in a few days than I had the entire semester, I needed a break. So, I walked around St. Stephen’s Green, a serene park in the middle of Dublin. I strolled and allowed myself to be soothed by the sound of running water.

It might be fortuitous for me that I live about five thousand miles away from the Queen of Tarts, because I went there an inordinate number of times during those five days. Why, you ask? Blackberry and apple crumble with cream, chicken and stuffing sandwiches on focaccia bread, raspberry scones with butter and raspberry jam, and many other reasons I never got a chance to taste. I wasn’t the only one smitten by the monarch. One day, we even held class at the Queen of Tarts.