Dublin: Walking, Cathedrals, and Dead Bodies?

This past weekend I spent some time in Dublin. The capitol city of the country I am staying in. We went on a self-guided walking tour, and let me tell you there was a lot of walking. I had 20,000 steps from that day in Dublin, which equates to about 9.5 miles. It sure was a lot of walking, but the city was so beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see everything that I did. 

My favorite part of exploring a new city is exploring its churches. Above I have attached an image of the Christ Church Cathedral, which was the first Cathedral I saw while in Dublin. I love to look at the architecture and see how something so beautiful can stand the test of time. I found Christ Church Cathedral and Saint Patrick's Cathedral to be amazing, with both their history and architecture. As I walked around such an old but holy place I felt myself connecting with the past, and wondering about what was going to come in the future. 

After visiting the Saint Patrick's Cathedral I continued to explore Dublin trying to see everything that it had to offer. When we finally made it back to the hostel to prepare ourselves for dinner I ran into my teachers for this trip. I got to talking to my Irish Literature professor, and he asked what we had done during the day. We discussed how much I love seeing old churches and admiring their beauty, but then I was asked the dreaded question by another member of our conversation "What did you think of all the human artifacts?" All I have to say is, I think it's a bit creepy for a church to put a human heart on display, but I can support it. We had been talking about Jonathan Swift in my Irish Cultures class and I knew of his importance in Ireland but I did not realize he would be buried in a cathedral. I found it surprising that he had been buried in the cathedral because from my understanding he had not been a figurehead in the church. I thought that it was incredibly creepy that they had a replica of his skull in the Cathedral. Swift has since come up in my Irish Literature class because of his importance in early Irish literature. I can't wait to see what other weird but fascinating things I will learn in Ireland. 



Location: Dublin, Ireland

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