Wow. What an… Interesting… Past 2 days…
It started yesterday morning when I walked over to the bus station where I would be taking a bus over the Dublin Port, to catch the ferry to Scotland. Pretty uneventful.
I got some hot chocolate at a chocolate shoppe in town. The chocolate was better than the drink. I'm regretting not getting a White Chocolate one.
So from there, I decided that I wanted to walk over to the Chester Beatty Library, as I had wanted to for the past few days. And it was truly a spectacular memory.
This guy collected so so so many pieces of art and books over 60 years, and it was all spectacular. Though he collected thousands of items, not all of his treasure was in this library. But what remained was wonderful:
In one room, the Art of Books room, there were three sections: Asian, Arabic, and European. In the Asian section, the library proudly displayed historic Japanese scrolls and armor, dating back to the 1300s. The art was intricate and deliberate, yet simple. Turn to the Arabic section, and everything changes. I saw the exquisite design of books covered in leather, hand painted, calligraphic. The process of writing, binding, and covering a copy of a book played on a screen in the back. The European section was, however, not that interesting.
Now, the second floor is what took my breath away, much like the song choices in Top Gun.
(I'll wait for your uproarious laughter to quiet.)
On the second floor was Beatty’s exhibit on world religions, and it was astounding. He had an extensive collection of Bibles, Qu'rans, and Buddhist texts, among a few smaller religions in SE Asia. I started in the Christianity room but mainly because it was the closest to me.
And let me tell you… It was truly an awe-inspiring place. The extent that this man must have gone through to get part of his collection just seems so unreachable, just like the American Dream in The Great Gatsb- oh… that's irrelevant here.
In here were amazing paintings of the disciples, Jesus, and other notable apostles. In the four corners of the center room sat pages with drawings of each of the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And in the center is one of the earliest found writings of Mark, dating all the way back to AD250. But if you think that's amazing… In the next room were many writings from John, and numerous other old scripts. But the oldest in the room is from the book of Numbers, and dates back to AD140. So I stood within 2 feet of a papyrus page from almost 2000 years ago, and that was too astounding…
I'd go into more detail about the other ones, but you get the gist. Except that in the Islam room, there was an amazingly large Quran- the largest I've ever seen- on display, practically made of gold. That's how much gold leaf there was on it.
Later on, after leaving, I walked back down by the spire to visit a 50s Diner that I had seen earlier. I stopped by, and, as usual, had some garlic fries. Super good.
Went back to the hostel. Some people from Europe (one of them had an accent that sounded Spanish) turned on Edge of Tomorrow on the TV, which I found to be an interesting movie. That is, until I slept through the last 15 minutes… I woke up to find a few new hostelers playing BS, so I watched them for a bit. They talked about Pixar’s Inside Out, which I really want to see, but it wasn't playing at all in Dublin. So when I asked where they saw it, that's when I learned that they are animation students from Orange County! So that was pretty cool. I watched them play Go Fish. We discussed cool socks.
So that was my yesterday. It was very eventful. But I think today trumps it, drama-wise…
So I woke up this morning at 6am to pack all my stuff together. I ended up taking a taxi over to Dublin Port, because from what I had read online, the taxi drivers are mostly pretty interesting and tell good stories. So that's when I learned that next year, Dublin will be holding a 100 year anniversary from when they were all imprisoned by the British! Fun!
But actually, it sounds pretty cool. Apparently, theyre going to deck out the main city street so it looks like it did back in 1916, people will walk around with the appropriate clothing for the time, etc. Sounds pretty fun.
So I got to the port, had some breakfast, and boarded the ferry, which was pretty cool. While I'll admit that it took me some getting used to, my sea legs weren't terrible. (Maybe next time, I should choose a stormier day?)
But I mean, there isn't much to talk about. This was my first time over the ocean, rather any body of water not called a lake or a pond. Or a reservoir. You get the point.
Glad I took some Dramamine…
And I finally made it to Scotland! The moment I've been waiting years for!
So now the fun part… I got on my train that I was going to take to Edinburgh. Pretty normal. Until I pass a station that kind of sounds familiar? Maybe one of the workers told me to get off there? Hmm… Then again, maybe not…
I better just stay on the train.
Oh, what was that, man with the trolley? I was supposed to get off at that station?
Oops.
So after stressing and crying and thinking how I probably should have just flew, I was helped in Chester by a woman at the ticket counter who ended up giving me a free ticket to Edinburgh after I explained my situation. So that was pretty nifty. It lifted my spirits, and so I was finally able to start my journey.
There's a woman on the train who is also going to Edinburgh, and she has an adorable little dog. He's a cutie pie.
And that's where I leave you, because nothing else has happened yet. I'm still on the train, about 40 minutes left until my destination…
By the way… If any of you know a quick, cheap, fast, easy way to get to Spain from Scotland that doesn't involve flying! Let me know…
Oh? What was that?
Teleportation has t been perfected yet?
Shucks…
In the meantime, howbout that Charleston… Or that Afghan Parliament Bombing…
Isn't the world just marvelous???
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