Highs and Lows

In the past two days I have had one of the most beautiful and fantastic experiences of my life and also one of the most disturbing and depressing experiences. First on Sunday we decided to attend Christ Church here in Dublin. It is an Anglican Church, which is surprising considering that's the Church of England and most of Ireland is Catholic. The service was strange simply because not less that five minutes after the service ended the sheets were ripped off of the postcard rounders and the ticket counter in order to let the tourists flood back in. I think it's sad when a church is surviving based on the success of it's ability to sell itself to tourists.
Anyways, we ended up saving 4 euro on the admission fee since we went to the service for free and just hung around to tour the place. And it is an absolutely gorgeous place, both to worship and to observe. The Vikings first built Christ Church Cathedral in 1038 or something like that. It was continually added onto over the years and redone so I don't believe any of the original structure is still standing. But a portion of the walls standing date back to the 1500s. One of the walls actually leans out 18 inches and has been that way since it was built in the 16th century. You can kind of see it in this picture. It's the right wall.
By the way it was super hard for me to take pictures in here because the flash made everything dark but without the flash my camera took really blurry pics. Anywho, after the service we went down to the crypt (yeah that kind of crypt) for some tea and coffee. We met a British man who had lived in Ireland 30 years who talked to us for HOURS about history in general and different things in the cathedral. Literally we were there two hours talking to him. Informative, but overkill. But he was able to point out things to us like the crests of various kingdoms or families that were on graves and things. The place was filled with beautiful stain glass depicting various scenes from the Bible and the lives of Saints.
There were lots of really old relics here. One thing in particular that was interesting and nasty was a little glass plate on the wall with a cat and mouse behind it. Well apparently the cat was chasing the mouse at some point and they both got stuck in the organ pipe and were mummified like that. G-ROSS! But at the same time kinda cool... I didn't take this picture but here it is.
Today we turned to practically the most opposite tourist destination from a Cathedral...a jail. The Kilmainham Gaol to be precise. This was one of those places that you leave feeling almost sick to your stomach from the stories your hear. I'll spare most of the gory details but I took a bunch of pictures. Which it feels weird to take pictures of places where people were in misery, but I guess I am THAT tourist.
This jail was one of the first reform jails where they tried to rehabilitate their prisoners instead of just punish them. It was built sometime in the 1780s. Unfortunately the reform system didn't really work out and the jail became a symbol of political conflict more than anything else.
This is one of the wings of the jail. You probably recognize it from movies like the old Italian Job and the Academy Award winning In the Name of the Father. It's used as a movie set often because it is the largest jail in Europe that is no longer in use. Here's your average cell:
On the opposite of that was this lovely view (excuse the vandalism)
Yes, that is an eyeball. As you can see in the first picture this jail was created in an oval shape. This was so that everydoor could be viewed from a central point. The idea was to make the inmates paranoid that they were being watched at all times (though in reality this was impossible). Therefore, there were peepholes in everydoor for the guards with the eyeball staring at the inmates. Also they placed carpet around the perimeter so that inmates coudl not hear the guards footsteps if they were patrolling, or even be aware that a guard was patrolling at all.
This is a picture of a hall in the older wing of the jail. Long story short the jail was overcrowded because of the strict laws (ex: a 5 year old boy was sentenced to a month in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, a 7 year old girl 3 months for stealing a cloak in the winter). It's capacity was something like 160 and at one point there was 1000-2000 people in the jail at one time. This happened during the potato famine and people would commit crimes purposefully because, believe it or not, the conditions in the jail were better than outside. At least in the jail they were guaranteed one meal a day. Anyways, during the overcrowded times this hall had straw on the floor and had people lining each side so there was enough room to sleep. Crazy.
This is some "grafitti" that was found on the walls of solitary confinement of a famous political leader (who was against the British I think).
The tour guide didn't go into exactly what it was, but it's protected by glass so it must be important right? Right.
This jail is most known for it's part in the execution of the members of the Easter Rising rebellion of 1916. This was an attempt to create a free state of Ireland separate from the rest of Britain. It lasted 6 days but eventually failed with an unconditional surrender of the rebels. It did play an important role in the future of the formation of Ireland as a separate country. When it failed the leaders were taken to this jail (which had become a military jail) and executed. There's alot of heartbreaking stories from that, but I don't feel like retelling them.
The cross marks the place they were killed and a plaque immortilizes their names.

This is the "exercise" area. It shows how high and impenetrable the walls were. No one ever escaped except for like bribing guards and stuff.
On the upside I got to spend a wonderful day running around the town trying to fix my computer! Oh wait...
But we had crepes again for dinner! For like the 3rd time! Crepes and diet coke...breakfast, lunch OR dinner of champions.