Museums, Museums, and More Museums

For the first time since we've been in Ireland, we had an afternoon free to explore the city. A small group of us went to a number of museums in the city. We started out at the Natural History Museum. It is nicknamed the Dead Zoo since it contains lots of taxidermy. There were so many dead animals: big cats, bears, fish, insects, monkeys, etc. The animals were neat to see. The museum had an odd smell to it, but I eventually went nose-blind. The museum was nice and calm until an all girls school group came in and filled the museum with loud chatter that echoed through the open rooms.

Following the odd Dead Zoo, we ventured to the Archaeology Museum. This museum has a beautiful exterior. Additionally in the front lobby there was a beautiful mosaic of the zodiac signs, which was an unexpected surprise. There were also a lot of gorgeous stone reliefs. The museum housed lots of intricate pieces from Irish history. The museum had different sections: Prehistoric Ireland, Medieval Ireland, Kingship and Service, Viking Ireland, and a few other smaller exhibits. I wished the museum would have been more captivating than it was for me.

From there we made our way to the National Library of Ireland. There was a free exhibit that the man at the front desk directed us to. The exhibit was on William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet. As a poet myself, this exhibit was fascinating! I haven't read much of Yeats' work, but I am intrigued to read more after going through this museum. One of the videos of the exhibit explained that Yeats joined the Golden Dawn, a hermetic order, in his twenties. Yeats was interested in the occult and mysticism. Not that I knew much about Yeats beforehand, but it is shocking that he was fascinated with non-Christian philosophies as an Irishman.

After being educated on Yeats, we stumbled upon a WWI exhibit further down the street. As a WWI history nut, of course I stopped in. (I don't know everything about WWI, but I continuously try to educate myself about it since it seems to get skipped over in history classes for WWII.) The short exhibit was really neat! I love seeing old propaganda posters from WWI and WWII. This particular exhibit focused on the Irish perspective of WWI, which was intriguing to consider. The Irish fought in WWI abroad, but tensions were heating up back home after the 1916 Easter Rising. Shortly after WWI, the Irish had their War of Independence from Britain. And so, there was a lot of conflict going on for Ireland at that time. At some point, I'd like to educate myself more on Ireland's history during that time period, as it is my favorite time period.

All the museums were interesting, but I needed to enjoy some time to myself. I decided to enjoy some time out at College Park at Trinity reading a book and people watching. It was relaxing. When it came time for dinner, a group of us determined Italian was on the menu. We ate at La Caverna, an Italian restaurant and wine bar. I ordered the Pollo Siciliana, which was the best pasta I have ever had! It had mushrooms, spring onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and chicken in a creamy white wine sauce. After dinner, we wandered around the Temple Bar area until we got gelato at Cloud Nine. You already know I got a scoop of mint chocolate gelato, and it was delicious!