For the love of Ireland!

Posting a few photos taken in Dublin, Ireland today!  

This is the city we believe my father's family came from, 

so I was especially eager to arrive here.

How eager?

My phone:  4:22am, June 1.
Well, lets just say that before the sun rose,
I awoke to find us pulling into port!
I was so excited,
it was hard to go back to sleep
and wait for the sun to rise!

But once it did, what a lovely day!
Much like France, Scotland, and England,
Ireland has some fabulous bridge architecture!

We toured around the city 

and I soaked in the sites,

until we arrived 

at one of our feature attractions for the day:

Trinity College.

Books in the Old Library at Trinity College, Dublin.
(With 2 librarians in the family, we had to take a photo of this!)

Can you guess what we waited in line there to see? 

 (Hint:  I wasn't allowed to take a photo of it!)

Yep,...  The Book of Kells! 
(Click link above to see digital images from the Book of Kells!)

Then back in the tour bus and on to more adventures.

Admittedly, this is a poor photo
taken through a moving bus window as we scurried through Dublin.
And, it's of a not-very-interesting looking building.
However, I'm including it for the Joyceans among us.
(Read more here!)

Then, on to Dublin Castle...

This tower was the oldest remaining part remaining of this castle.
(I won't show you the dungeon--dark and smelly!)

In a newer section is the James Connelly Room...

...and another room has a throne where Queen Victoria once sat.

Oh, there is more,...

So much, much more!

It's so challenging to capture the entire view of a room
when all the walls, the ceiling,
and even the carpets are so notable!
So I took my photos in bits and pieces,
capturing what I could as best I could.
This link shows an illustration of the room as a whole,
but though I tried to photograph the 3 ceiling panels,
none turned out well.
You see a bit of the ceiling paintings in the upper right of the photo above.

I will stop with this lovely piece,
a macro shot above a doorway.

Now some of you know I've been celebrating my Celtic roots for years, in the form of music-appreciation, literature, and art.   Celtic designs have inspired me in my jewelry-making and will do so even more in the future, I'm sure!  

There are many designs; this is just one!

So I'm currently running a sale on all things Celtic-inspired in my store.  I've already marked the prices down so no coupon-code is needed.  
Just follow this link to see jewelry and components with a Celtic theme!  

Hope you've enjoyed seeing more about my trip!

Best wishes!

Sharyl


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Images:

Celtic Shamrock:
http://www.wpclipart.com/holiday/Saint_Patricks_Day/shamrock/shamrock_2/celtic_shamrock.jpg

All photos by Sharyl, June 2014.
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