Monday, August 20, 2012

Farmland and Fountains (08.18.12 - Pt. I)

08.18.12 - Pt. I

This morning, we ventured out first to Trinity College before leaving Dublin. Entering by the sports fields, we drove around the old buildings and parked near one of the main squares. We were all excited to see the Book of Kells, however noticed the line’s extremely long wait to get inside. It had only opened about ten minutes prior to our arrival, but none of us wanted to wait that long to get inside.

Instead, we walked around for a bit and took some photographs. I never thought I could say a dining hall looked so exquisite, but it certainly did! I was surprised to hear it had been a monastic site prior to being school, but perhaps it’s because it would have looks so different back in the 1500s.





After this trip, we started our day’s drive. Leaving Dublin along the costal suburbs, we stopped in a place named Dalkey, a scenic seaside town, and one of the chicest places to live. Here, we spotted people fishing on the coasts, and a few islands where some are known to picnic on nice summer days. The remains of a 14th Century church stand on the main island.




Leaving the little stop, we spotted Enya’s rather dramatic house over a large gate.



 The next suburb over was Killiney, which is where Bono has a house. We couldn’t see any of it, and I didn’t bother to take a shot of just his (currently being repainted) gates. Many seaside towns followed, but the drive along the shore soon turned inland. Farmland filled with crop, cows, and sheep were everywhere. Gorgeous mountains rolled in the background.



During our drive through the country, we stopped in Enniskerry, where Powerscourt is. This residence is now part of the state, and open to the public. The Georgian gardens are worthy of an entire day’s walk, the acres of land divided into different types of gardens.







This included the Japanese garden:




And the Italian garden:



Of course there were many more, but we didn’t have time to visit. The main fountain, says the guidebook, was said to have been inspired by the fountain in the Barberini Plaza in Rome, but I really don’t see the resemblance. Either way, it’s still gorgeous:


This blog is so long I think I will break it up! Will work on my second half later :)

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