Book of Kells

I can't believe I forgot to mention the best part of my trip to Dublin. Saturday evening, we all visited Trinity College, one of the older Irish studies universities in Dublin, and also the home of the Book of Kells. Don't know what that is? Let me give you a crash course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

So anyway. It was beautiful. No one else wanted to pay the entrance fee into the exhibit, but I literally live for this kind of stuff. I am such a nerd, I know, but I don't care. It was amazing. There were videos playing on how the book was probably written and illuminated and bound, plus interesting historical details about the authors and the time period when the scripts were developed. And then, there were the manuscripts. For me, seeing a religious artifact makes my stomach jump. It normally brings me close to tears. When I saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in Charlotte a few years ago, I thought my heart was going to stop. It's like I have this corporeal connection to religion. I get the same way when I visit cathedrals or any old place or worship, and that's probably the same reason why I'm never anxious sitting through Mass, even though I'm Protestant (the only ties I have with the Catholic church are through my grandfather and my mother, who was raised Catholic). It's a mind-numbing, bone-shaking pleasure for me to be a pious witness to the labors of God's people, who only want to use themselves for his glory. It's intense, and very very cool.