Pop’s Page

There was a long pause on the actual trip between Day 1 and Day 4 because of long travel schedules. In the beginning was the Word….”

These were the opening words (but in Latin) in beautiful illuminated text that we observed first hand from Ireland’s greatest treasure: The Book of Kells dating from 800 AD, on display at Trinity College Dublin. The scribe, a anonymous monk, worked countless hours to produce not only a faithful copy of Scripture, but also a work of art in its own right. I was struck by magnitude of his spiritual discipline that has been lost in our age, even in the church.

After a good night’s sleep, and a HUGE (off the diet) Irish breakfast, we set out to hit all the high spots of Dublin: Trinity College (with its famous book), the Museum of Ireland, with artifacts dating to 2000 BC, and a modern sight: the Guiness Brewery. This has the best view of Dublin (7 stories, a tall building for this city)and as a freebie, you get a fresh “pint of bitters,” to use the last line of C. S. Lewis’s tale, “Out of the Silent Planet.” The Guiness is so thick that we didn’t bother with lunch.

Yesterday, we toured the Dublin Castle, another incredible historical site with artifacts dating from the Vikings all the way up to modern times and the independence of Ireland from the UK. The guide was both wide and deep in his knowledge and a nonstop talker (like many of the Irish). So far, however, no Flanerys have shown up on our radar. Probably have to find them next time in Western Ireland.

David has already taken 4 rolls of film (unfortunately mostly of yours truly in awkard poses that he so loves to capture) so we will have plenty to share on our return–after a due process screen by me.

Tomorrow we leave VERY early for Edinburgh. David has shown me the forecast: snow for the next several days. Here in Dublin, however, the day has been totally free of rain, with bright sunshine. Incredible, but cold, particularly on the open upper deck of the tour bus we joined. (Interesting fact: we already passed by 3 Burger Kings–it’s just like Texas!!)

I’ll end this here. To those expecting the usual report from Puddleglum, be it known that this day has been the BEST possible (so far). A rare thing when Puddleglum travels…..

With all the travel tomorrow Day 5’s report may have to await Day 6.

CapnDrinian