Arthur, Kevin, and Fitzwilliam

I have now been in Ireland for two glorious weeks!  I'm starting to really get into the swing of things too.  The classes here are at least five times the size of SMC classes, but the lectures are so interesting that I haven't noticed.  This semester I'm taking Roman history, early European history, moral theology, and English.  They are all fascinating but I think my favorite class has to be moral theology.  I have to walk over to the beautiful Saint Patrick's which is the original college in Maynooth.  It was actually the largest seminary in the world back in 1850.  Now, NUIM has somewhat taken over Maynooth, but Saint Patrick's has kept it's independence (though it's on very friendly terms with NUIM) and is still home to seminarians.  Now imagine the surprise of 23 of these seminarians when 15 women walk into their classroom.  They had no idea what to do with us!  Even the professor was taken off guard!  However, after the shock of that first day they proved to be very welcoming and we've already had some intriguing class discussions.  I am determined to become best friends with one of them so that he can be the priest at my wedding and baptize all my babies.  My theology professor is also my only Irish professor!  Can you believe that?  I travel across half of the USA and the Atlantic Ocean to get taught by two Americans and one Brit!

After celebrating a magnificently festive Arthur's Day (as in Arthur Guinness), all of us girls took the train into Dublin to explore.  We visited Trinity College and the Book of Kells.  While the Book of Kells was very beautiful, I have to admit that I enjoyed seeing the Long Room of the library more.  It was ginormous!  It had row upon row of lovely, old, cloth-bound books that were just begging me to read them, but of course some horrible person with a sick sense of humor decided they were not allowed to be touched (now that's neglect if I ever saw it).  We also walked around downtown Dublin and listened to some bands playing along the street.

On Saturday all of us girls loaded back up onto the bus with our valiant driver Eugene and headed to Glendalough.  There was a massive bike race that day so there were definitely a few cyclists who had their lives flash before their eyes as we attempted to pass them on the twisting, narrow roads.  In Glendalough we got to tour around the monastery buildings and old haunts of St. Kevin.  There is a small chapel nicknamed St. Kevin's Kitchen because some historian mistook the chapel's bell tower for a chimney and wrote that the monks cooked their meals there.  To honor the chapel's namesake, the monks had the roof built in stone instead of the usual, less expensive wood.  There is also a round tower that would have served as a bell tower.  Fun fact: round towers are almost only found in Ireland (there are two in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man).  After our tour, we spent an hour waking down by the lakes.  These lakes, the valley, and all the trees reminded me so much of Skaneateles (see photo below).

The next stop on our tour through Ireland was Powerscourt.  We had the most sumptuous lunch inside the giant house that looked just as I've always imagined Pemberley would look.  The estate had a tall Rapunzel tower, ponds, fountains, a Japanese garden, an Italian garden, and walled gardens.  It is also home to Ireland's tallest waterfall, but unfortunately we did not have time to see it.  I really cannot explain Powerscourt's beauty with words, so instead I'm going to add a few pictures so you can see for yourself.

On Sunday we drove to Trim and saw yet another castle. It was several stories high and we climbed over 80 steps of a spiral staircase to stand out on the roof.  It also had a small little chapel with a space carved out in one of the walls that looked like a tabernacle to me.  There was also a sort of bowl worn into the stone that was used for holy water.  Many people have reported seeing the ghost of a monk in the chapel!  Before it was restored in 2000, the castle was simply locked up.  It was almost bulldozed because some people mistakenly thought the castle was more English than Irish.  Our tour guide told us that, as a boy, he would sneak past the gates and play in the castle.  He would walk along narrow ledges and jump across the gaps in the spiral staircase to make it to the top!  My favorite part of Trim castle was seeing some names carved into the stone walls from as far back as the 1700's!

CAMBELL 1743

Our last stop of the weekend was Castletown Estate (it also looks like Pemberley) built by the Connolly family.  The home was beautiful and I loved seeing the ornate and old-fashioned decor.  We weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside but if you go to http://www.castletownhouse.ie/TouroftheHouse/ you can see every room in the house.  Please especially look at the print room.  It is spectacular!  They believe the pictures were preserved because there was arsenic in the glue!  We also looked at the obelisk (aka Connolly's Folly) which is a huge structure near Maynooth that has no practical use.  It was simply built to mark the edge of the Connolly property and show off how much land they owned and to keep people employed during hard times.  The obelisk is currently the resting place of Mariga Guinness.  She and her husband Desmond bought Castletown and were partners in the Irish Georgian Society which fights to preserve Irish architecture (I believe they were the reason Trim Castle wasn't torn down).




The SMC girls have become huge fans of Leigha, Kiera, and Fiona.  As we drive to all our destinations we take turns playing music from our ipods.  I played a bunch of songs from our childhood and Disney movies and the girls went nuts!  I told them that the only reason I had the music was because my nieces love to listen to them.  Well gal pals, the Ireland SMC chicks say thank you!!!