Venice, Italy (kinda) Day 8: Book of Kells & The Long Room

When we booked our flight home, we selected the 15 hour layover in Dublin, Ireland. While that sounds like a nightmare to most, it was great for us. Not only was it cheaper, but we got to see a new place while we waited. We purchased tickets at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. This is a highly-decorated manuscript, Gospel book that contains 4 Gospels of the New Testament. They date back to the 9th century, which is pretty amazing to think about! Sadly, you can’t take photos of the manuscripts, located under thick glass and armed with security.

The Long Room is the library of Trinity College. It is hands-down the prettiest library I’ve ever seen. Definitely looked like Disney’s Beauty and the Beast library! The library is considered a legal deposit or “copyright” library. This means that publishers in Ireland must provide a copy of all their publications there, free of charge. In this library, there is a copy of 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

We found a pub, I grabbed a Guinness, and then we went to bed. The next morning, we woke up at 4 am to catch our early flight. We made friends with our taxi driver and told him of our long layover. He promised he would pick us up the next day at 4 am. He was good on his word and only called us every 10 minutes to make sure we were coming down. Glad he came through. We were super tired and I definitely was in a delirious stage, but the long layover was well worth seeing a new country! At the end of the day, I was greeted by my overly-excited pup, Tristan, and a bag of McDonald’s (#America). While I love traveling for extended periods of time, it’s good to be home.

Becks