Kilkenny, Ireland - Thursday September 8th & Friday September 9th

After catching a train from Dublin to Kilkenny, Thursday evening, St, his wife and I went out for a nice dinner and just relaxed for the night. On Friday, St offered to take me around Kilkenny area to see a few interesting and historical sites.

Kilkenny itself was a unique town and when I was there Kilkenny was having a city wide party because the town's handball team won the national tournament just a few days ago. Through out the entire town there were these dark blue and yellow flags, and I mean every where. There were flags hanging out the windows, hanging from the trees and somethings string of flags stung from building to building across the street.

Tourist Train with the Town Flag

Beautiful Church in Kilkenny

On Friday the first place we went to was the Brownshill Portal Tomb. To many people this place has a lot of history and mystery. When you first see this area, it really looks like a regular field, with a walking path. Once you get to the end of the walking path you see a huge pile of rocks that looks completely out of place. There are no similar rocks around the area at all and many historians wondering how did the rocks get to this area. 

A portal tomb is so called because the entrance to the burial chamber is marked by a pair of tall portal stones and covered with a single massive capstone which rests on the portals and slopes downwards towards the rear. The capstone at Brownshill weights about 150 tons and is probably the heaviest of its kind in Europe. Most portal tombs were surrounded by a mound or cairn of smaller stones. Though no trace of this mound survives here. the artist's impression gives some idea of what the tomb might have looked like about 5,000 years ago.

Next in Kilkenny we went to Kilkenny Castle, which is a castle next to the river and a great tourist spot in Kilkenny. When you look at the castle it really has a great medieval time look to it.

Again the castle did not allow for me to take pictures. But there were many different rooms, in many different colors. The best place was the long room which has the name implies was a long room with a gorgeous white marble fireplace in the middle of one wall with very detailed carvings on it. All long the walls were many different portrait paintings of the pst people who once lived in the castle. It was amazing to see all the history.  And the view from the castle was great.



Behind the castle there was a large garden and park, where many people were playing and having picnics. There was also a beautiful water fountain and flower garden.

After a nice relaxing time in Kilkenny (St) drove me to the local train station so that I could get on the train to Galway, which is a beautiful town on the west side of the country.  (St) helped me get my luggage on the train and then I was off to the three hour train ride to Galway.

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland

Ok, now back to my adventures.  I have been doing a lot of traveling, working and writing. I am hoping to have my first scientific publication out in 2012. =) 

On the afternoon of September 8th, I made my way back to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Earlier that week I had tried to enter the church but it was after 5 pm and everything was closed. That adventure was posted on the blog titled "September 5th: Dublin, Ireland".  But this time I was there at 1pm so I had plenty of time.  This Thursday was a beautiful day with the sun shining and few clouds in the sky.  The gardens around the church and the church itself looked amazing.

I made my way around the church to the front entrance. Now some of you may not know but in some Churches like this one during viewing hours you have to pay an entrance fee usually about 5 euros or about $7. Honestly I do not mind because I believe a good portion of the money collected from the entrance fee is used to maintain the building.  Once inside the church I was aw struck by how large it was. There was even a small gift shop in the back corner of the church.


When you think about a huge cathedral you invasion beautiful cathedral ceilings, decorative walls and huge stain glass windows and that is exactly what I saw once inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

As I started to walk around the cathedral I started to notice the large amount of history on display in the cathedral. I have always had an interest in history and that is one of the many things I love about Europe, the unique history that the USA does not have.

IMAGE 1

These two granite stone was located in the vicinity of the church that was here before the Cathedral was built in 1192. When it was unearthed in 1901, the stone on the left [IMAGE 1]  covered the remains of an ancient well. It may have been the well where St. Patrick baptized converts in the fifth century.

IMAGE 2

The  second stone [IMAGE 2] probably marked the grave of an early Christian. Scholars believe the stones were carved some time between 800 and 1100. Where the stone was quarried remains a mystery. only 32 stones of this type have been found in Dublin; six are located in St. Patrick's Cathedral.





Through out the Cathedral I saw many statues many were of past Archbishops of Dublin.

 
Even the floor of the Cathedral was a decorative tile and there were decorative arches throughout the Cathedral. 

In the Cathedral there were many different historical artifacts one was a Carved Oak Chest created in the 14th Century. 

This chest was used to protect the Cathedral's vestments, silver and important legal documents from loss, theft, or being eaten by rodents. It is decorated with four carved panels depicting mythical beats on top, a stallion in the lower left and a goat in the bottom right.

In the front of the Cathedral there was a magnificent alter and choir area, it was amazing to see the unique architecture and beautiful stain glass.

On each side of the main alter are a small chapel area, each one had a unique name and style.

  

In St. Patrick's the Lady Chapel has played a unique role in welcoming believers of other denominations. Having the persecution in France in 1666 Huguenot refugees were grant used of the Lady Chapel for their services by the Dean and Chapter. The Huguenot exercised a very important influence on the cultural and commercial lid of the country. Services in French continues in the Lady Chapel until 1816.  For a few years, the Lady Chapel was used as a Chapter House. In 1845, Dean Henry Pakenham undertook restoration of the Lady Chapel which was conducted under the supervision of architect Richard C. Carpenter.

It was great to see such history and beautiful architecture. I really enjoyed learning all the history and took so many pictures and videos. After spending about 2 hours in the Cathedral, it was time for me to head back to the hotel and get ready to leave with my co-supervisor (St) to Kilkenny, Ireland.