Dublin Trip: Day 2

It was another early morning for us as we were leaving the hostel at 7:30 so if we wanted breakfast we had to be up and ready by about 7:00.  I felt a little bad for the other guests who were up at the time because the 32 of us (29 students, 1 professor, and 2 PhD students) kind of took over the entire kitchen.

Newgrange

This was the day that I was most excited for, because I knew that we were going to visit Newgrange (which I think I mentioned in an earlier post).  Newgrange is one of three megalithic passage tombs in the Bend of Boyne.  It is actually a world heritage site as, I believe, it is the oldest standing building in the world.

Replica of Knowth Macehead at Heritage Center

First we saw the heritage center which had a small exhibit on the tombs.  It was pretty interesting, especially the part where there were replicas of the grave goods found in the tombs.  The most beautiful things was a mace head found in Knowth.  We had seen the real one at the National Museum actually, but that one had been broken (as, our professor alleged, UC Dublin had done the excavation of Knowth).

Me by the Entrance Stone to Newgrange

Finally it was time for the bus to take us to Newgrange.  We were only allowed to take photos of the outside.  Stephanie kindly took a photo of me in front of the entrance stone.  There are many theories as to what the designs on the entrance stone mean.  One theory is that the designs are made in an altered state of consciousness.  However, I think that the entrance stone being a map of the Bend of Boyne makes the most sense with the trispiral representing Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth.

Going inside the tomb was amazing.  It was an incredibly tight squeeze, but it was incredible to be in a building 5,000 years old.  We were told that the roof has not only stood for that long, but has never leaked a single drop.  We also got to see a demonstration of what the tomb looks like at the sunrise of the winter solstice.  "You'll have to use all of your imagination," said our tour guide, "cause all I have to use is two 40 watt bulbs."

It was still pretty incredible to go from the absolute darkness of the tomb (the tour guide warned us that some people get a little weird in the dark of the tomb) to seeing the light go through the roof box and hit the floor.  I think we were all hoping at that point to be picked out of the lottery to be in the tomb on the winter solstice.

Trim Castle

Trim during Braveheart Filming

All too soon it was time to head on to the last stop of our Dublin trip: Trim Castle.  You might know Trim castle as the place where Braveheart was filmed.  Our tour guide there was also amazing and incredibly knowledgeable about Trim.  We learned about how most aspects, even the stairs, were defensive and how there were several renovations done to make the castle even more defensive.

View from the top of Trim

Trim was by far the best cared for castle we had seen (nothing like Coppinger's Court).  We also learned that since it is owned by the Office of Public Works, it has a very low admittance fee (unlike Blarney).  However, before, when it was privately owned, the building wasn't well cared for and there was a lot of 'unwanted artwork' throughout it.  Our tour guide admitted that he snuck into the building as a kid (through what he later learned was a poop shoot), but he never carved graffiti  as he had too much respect for the building, saying he must've already known at that age what he'd grow up to do.

View from the Bus back to Cork

Finally it was time to head back to Cork, or, as we're all starting to call it, home.