'Far hence, amid an isle of wondrous beauty'

This weekend I left Oxford and flew to Dublin, where I rendezvoused with two Amherstians-in-exile. It was quite the adventure.

I have to say, contrary to Whitman (who must have been in America when he wrote the line in the title), Ireland is not far at all: the flight takes about an hour from London, in fact. But maybe he meant it in another sense, that Ireland is a place far from everywhere else, an island not just as a geographical fact but as an idea, as a feeling. That it is, though I'm not sure my three days in Dublin suffice to certify me as an expert, or a poet for that matter.

So this is how the trip went:

The first day we enjoyed a good breakfast before setting out for the nearby coastal village of Howth. There we walked around the harbor shops (which smelled something like Fisherman's Wharf) and then to the outermost reaches of land where we had good views of the village cliffs and of Ireland's Eye, an island where the famed Book of Kells, now on display at Trinity College (Dublin, not Oxford) was stored by monks more than a thousand years ago. We also wandered up the hill into the heart of the village and sat a spell in Howth's parish church and listened to the children's choir practice.

After the sun went down, we dined at a restaurant called Deep, where the seafood-lover in our group was appeased and the remaining two of us managed to find huge gourmet burgers. When we returned to the city later that night, walking through some drizzle, we found a downtown pub, and, sipping a nice, sugary Coke, listened to the entire pub sing and clap to various loudly-played '90s pop songs. Pop and pop. When we left the rain had turned to humongous globs of snow.

The second day, after the snow had come and then completely gone, we explored Dublin more thoroughly. We saw the River Liffey that juts through the city and is crossed by a series of beautiful bridges. For lunch we went to the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin (it's about a thousand years old), and enjoyed some delectable pub food (which tends to be an oxymoron here in England but definitely is not in Ireland) and then some live Irish music by a traditional acoustic band, which included a woman playing the bodhrán (an Irish frame drum) and a man who played a mean set of spoons.

Before going to the small but passionate Immanuel Church Dublin, where we enjoyed some wonderful worship and one of the best Old Testament sermons I've ever heard, we heard evensong at Christ Church Cathedral, the Church of Ireland cathedral in the city. If you've never been to an evensong in a cathedral, it is well worth the hour. The incredibly beautiful music is surely just a small taste of what we'll be able to enjoy and take part in for eternity in Heaven. Anyway, for dinner we ate at an American restaurant, where I had some really good chili, and then called it a night.

The third day I ventured into the city by myself before catching my flight back into London. I decided to spend my few hours seeing Dublin on foot and leisurely. I strolled through a few open markets and saw the first maternity hospital ever built. It was a relaxing time.

To see my few photos of the trip, click here.