Swiss Family Pletcher: Ireland

Today we were in Dublin for our second day. We did three things today. We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Kilmainham Gaol, and Dublin Castle. We were also supposed to see Christ Church, but it was closed for an event. We also did a ton of walking around Dublin, just looking. We ended our day having dinner in an Irish Pub and the food was fantastic. Tomorrow we head out of the city and on to Carlow, Ireland.

I don't know how we missed this, but we didn't take a picture of the outside of St. Patrick's cathedral. But we did take some pictures on the inside. St. Patrick's cathedral was built in 1191.

There were hand stitched kneeling pads on the back of every chair for parishoners to use.

This is the Door of Reconciliation. This is where the Irish phrase "to chance your arm" comes from. Here is the story:
In 1492 two Irish families, the Butlers of Ormonde and the FitzGeralds of Kildare, were involved in a bitter feud. This disagreement centred around the position of Lord Deputy. Both families wanted one of their own to hold the position. In 1492 this tension broke into outright warfare and a small skirmish occurred between the two families just outside the city walls.
The Butlers, realising that the fighting was getting out of control, took refuge in the Chapter House of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The FitzGeralds followed them into the Cathedral and asked them to come out and make peace. The Butlers, afraid that if they did so they would be slaughtered, refused.
As a gesture of good faith the head of the Kildare family, Gerald FitzGerald, ordered that a hole be cut in the door. He then thrust his arm through the door and offered his hand in peace to those on the other side. Upon seeing that FitzGerald was willing to risk his arm by putting it through the door the Butlers reasoned that he was serious in his intention. They shook hands through the door, the Butlers emerged from the Chapter House and the two families made peace.

This is a picture of the Burial place of Jonathan Swift - the author of "Gulliver's Travels". Before he was a writer, he was a priest, and this was his church.

Inside the cathedral, they have a display of some of Jonathan Swift's books and also his death mask.

Mat and I liked this. Johnathan Swift actually sat in a rolling chair while he preached his sermon so that he could go up and down the isles waking up parishoners.

This is the Tree of Remembrance. It allows visitors to remember anyone in their lives affected by conflict. The saying is "old soldiers do not die, they simply fade away" Arlington put Pap-pap's name on the tree.

Handwritten music from Handel's Messaiah.

Organ from 1901. We loved the "organ fund" barrle in fund (it was a Guiness Beer barrel) The knobs on the side of the organ were neat. We love that you can add Tuba and flute sounds.

There is a kid's section in the church. The kids enjoyed doing some activities.

You can't see the organ in this church - it is fully hidden. It has 4000 pipes. But this is the spiral staircase that leads to the organ and only the organist can go up there.

After we left St. Patrick's Cathedral, we headed to Kilmainham Gaol. The Gaol is a prison. This prison is no longer in use, but it held a lot of famous Irish prisoners, so you can tour it. It was built in 1796 and used until 1924. This prison held men, women, and children. The youngest prisoner was 5 years old. Children were often put in prison for several months for stealing - especially during the Potato Famine.

The largest part of the prison. This section housed many political prisoners, especially during the 1916 Easter Rising when Ireland went to war to become a republic.

We tried to leave the kids in one of the cells.

This is the yard where the executions took place.

This is the list of political prisoners that were executed after the 1916 uprising

We did walk by the Guinness Factory and the past the place were Arthur Guinness lived. We didn't tour the factory becuase Mat and I aren't beer drinkers, but the factory was huge.

Our last stop was Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle has had many famous visitors and folks that lived and worked here. One was - Bram Stoker (the writer of Dracula - and who was from Dublin). He worked here as a tax clerk, hated it, moved to England and wrote Dracula.

Erected in the early thirteenth century on the site of a Viking settlement, Dublin Castle served for centuries as the headquarters of English, and later British, administration in Ireland. In 1922, following Ireland’s independence, Dublin Castle was handed over to the new Irish government.

In the "down under" of Dublin Castle. This is all that remains from the original castle that was built in 1204. The rest of the castle burned to the ground in a fire. (shocker)

This is the organ inside Dublin Castle's church. (it no longer works, unfortunately) And also a view inside the chapel. The chapel was made of all wood, even thought it is made to look like plaster. The architect found that the ground would not hold a heavy structure, so he had to be creative.

The symbol of Ireland - the Harp. You know what else has this symbol? Guinness. Except their harp is reversed

Throne room at Dublin Castle. Queen Victoria did sit here. She was short, so the stool underneath the chair would have been for her to prop her feet on.