Our final day in Ireland involved sleeping in, so I was all set to love it from the get go. We intended it to be a lazy, low-key day, and the fact that the church we’d chosen to attend didn’t start until 11:30 was a wonderful blessing. We got up early enough to go get breakfast (at McDonald’s again—they have the best porridge ever!), and then made our way to church. Which was…not what we expected.
The church was located in the city center, so it was near to our hostel, but it was in a rather shady part of it. The building is set in a converted garage or shp front or something (it’s a little hard to tell), and there was an awful lot of graffiti on the nearby walls, but the interior was surprisingly nice, and the people were amazingly friendly. Even better, the preacher (who being Irish, spoke with an accent that was way fun to listen to), gave a convicting sermon on being meek. Which, I, apparently, am very not. But I want to be! His insight into that portion of the Sermon on the Mount was new and interesting, and I found I really liked the way he described what meek really looked like, and what that meant for people today.
After church, we decided a little sight-seeing was in order, so we took a wuick trip to Dublin Castle. Then we made a brief stop at the Beatty library, where they have some old illuminated Persian poetry books on display. And finally, Dublin’s crown jewel: Christ Church.
The church itself is lovely, and the fact that the choir was singing when we walked in only made our trip better. We wandered around inside for a bit, then took a trip downstairs in to the crypt (where we really didn’t see any tombs, although there were an awful lot of gold treasury type things behind glass to look at). I found out that the Hallelujah chorus was written in Dublin in the 1700s. and was first performed at Christ Church by the Christ Church and St. Patrick’s choirs.
After sight-seeing we made an attempt to look for yarn for my mom, which failed miserably. Apparently the stores are closed on Sunday, because Ireland is primarily Catholic. The on shop we did find open on Sundays had closed 20 minutes earlier, and the people inside calmly informed me nothing else would be open until Monday. So that was frustrating. Because if I hadn’t missed my plane…
Sunday was also my introduction to Europe’s football madness. There was a soccer game in Dublin on Sunday, and everywhere you looked, people were celebrating the fact with supportive team gear. There were hats, scarves, braids, face paint, flags, capes, flags worn as capes, and a hundred other forms of team paraphernalia every which way. Everywhere I went, I felt like Moses parting the red sea. It was insane!
The church was located in the city center, so it was near to our hostel, but it was in a rather shady part of it. The building is set in a converted garage or shp front or something (it’s a little hard to tell), and there was an awful lot of graffiti on the nearby walls, but the interior was surprisingly nice, and the people were amazingly friendly. Even better, the preacher (who being Irish, spoke with an accent that was way fun to listen to), gave a convicting sermon on being meek. Which, I, apparently, am very not. But I want to be! His insight into that portion of the Sermon on the Mount was new and interesting, and I found I really liked the way he described what meek really looked like, and what that meant for people today.
After church, we decided a little sight-seeing was in order, so we took a wuick trip to Dublin Castle. Then we made a brief stop at the Beatty library, where they have some old illuminated Persian poetry books on display. And finally, Dublin’s crown jewel: Christ Church.
The church itself is lovely, and the fact that the choir was singing when we walked in only made our trip better. We wandered around inside for a bit, then took a trip downstairs in to the crypt (where we really didn’t see any tombs, although there were an awful lot of gold treasury type things behind glass to look at). I found out that the Hallelujah chorus was written in Dublin in the 1700s. and was first performed at Christ Church by the Christ Church and St. Patrick’s choirs.
After sight-seeing we made an attempt to look for yarn for my mom, which failed miserably. Apparently the stores are closed on Sunday, because Ireland is primarily Catholic. The on shop we did find open on Sundays had closed 20 minutes earlier, and the people inside calmly informed me nothing else would be open until Monday. So that was frustrating. Because if I hadn’t missed my plane…
Sunday was also my introduction to Europe’s football madness. There was a soccer game in Dublin on Sunday, and everywhere you looked, people were celebrating the fact with supportive team gear. There were hats, scarves, braids, face paint, flags, capes, flags worn as capes, and a hundred other forms of team paraphernalia every which way. Everywhere I went, I felt like Moses parting the red sea. It was insane!
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