Death Trees and the Book of Kells

 This gorgeous tree is an Oregon Maple, and two of them flank the square by the old library.  They helped to soak up the water which runs under the college and used to threaten the structural integrity, and because of that, and because they're planted over an old cemetery, they've gotten far bigger than Oregon Maples do in North America.  Mmm, delicious dead monks. 

Dave brought us around the corner, away from the beautiful old buildings and to the hideous 1960s buildings. There was no cohesion between the architectural styles, and they reminded me of a certain other campus some of us may be familiar with.  The new library looks like city hall plaza in Boston. They have another building that houses the social sciences, which was supposed to be modeled on the hanging gardens of Babylon, but the concrete mix was so abrasive and toxic that all the plants they tried to grow on it died.  :( 

We had to queue up for about 30 minutes in the chilly air to enter the old library to see the Book of Kells.  It's an illuminated manuscript covering the gospels, created on calf vellum circa 800 AD, probably on the Scottish island of Iona, and moved to Ireland during viking raids.  During the medieval period, it was housed in Abbey Kells in, well, Kells, from which it gets its name.  Fearing further viking raids, it was eventually moved to Dublin and Trinity College for safekeeping.  It's been divided into parts, two of which are on display, and two of which are locked away for safe keeping.  Don't ask Dave the tour guide where.  He doesn't know. 

The page we saw was St. John, on the left here.  The ornate detail is mind boggling, and these monks must've had hands a neurosurgeon would envy. 

The library also houses other illuminated manuscripts, as well as oodles and oodles of old books, which Trinity college students have access to.  I imagine them to be full of silverfish, so this is probably not as appealing as it could be. 

After our trip to Trinity college, we meandered around aimlessly for a while longer, unable to make any sense of our map, crabbiness setting in at a dangerous level.  Lizzie genius-ly hailed us a cab, and we made it back to the hotel for a nap and then dinner.  I had some weird vegetable matter which I did not understand, but was delicious nonetheless.  Now we are watching the Irish version of Cops (they say fuck a lot) in preparation for further adventures tomorrow, once we catch up on some sleep.  Hooray!