Today was incredibly eventful. We began with making a visit to the Dublin Castle, one the older architectural structures in Dublin. Its origin is officially in 1204 on the orders of King John of England, but structures on that land predated back to the Viking age where a fortress used to stand. The only standing structure that had been integrated with the surrounding city was one of the southern towers, the rest of the castle crumbled during fires and numerous damage following. One of the other towers was damaged and buried and built on top of, but the collapse of the building lead to the discovery and subsequent excavation of the tower, and then the discovery of rubble from the Viking fortress from even further back. The castle itself lay on the outer wall of the surroundings of the city of Dublin (derived from Dubh Linn - black pool), but as all things was eaten by the city as the walls were deconstructed and expansion occurred. The castle lies on the south side of the River Liffy and is run through by the River Poddle that helped to serve as a moat on the inner castle wall. The river itself is underground but could still be seen seeping up in the lower broken ballista, resulting in stagnant water in the underneath area. The area was adjacent to the garden grounds which were later designed in a Gaelic knot fashion design on it to act as a helicopter landing pad.
Adjacent to the Castle was the Chester Beatty Library which carried a number of valuable artifacts, but we had to rush through to keep to our schedule but we will be visiting it tomorrow so I'll go more into detail then.
We headed back to the hotel and got ourselves dressed and presentable. Our taxis arrived and we made our way to the Ambassador's Residence. Our taxi drivers were actually really pleasant, they were engaged in the conversations and were a riot to talk to; so much more clever and approachable than most taxi drivers here in the States. Upon arriving at the residence, some of us realized that we were underdressed for the occasion. The estate was massive, covering an enormous amount of space both within and outside of the actual building. The inside of the residence was absolutely breathtaking, the plaster work and decorations were incredible. The back garden of the residence was huge, and the addition of the pure green Irish landscape further out made the entire image perfect. As the Fulbright scholars began to cruise in we all mingled with them, learning more about the program and of the culture that these people came from. We were even able to meet and talk to Tom Healy, the Chairman of the US Fulbright International Scholarship program. The Fulbright program is essentially a means for cultural exchange between countries through the students that go overseas to study on their own part. The entire night was initially stressful but turned out to be an amazing night all together, filled with great company and incredible prospects.
Adjacent to the Castle was the Chester Beatty Library which carried a number of valuable artifacts, but we had to rush through to keep to our schedule but we will be visiting it tomorrow so I'll go more into detail then.
We headed back to the hotel and got ourselves dressed and presentable. Our taxis arrived and we made our way to the Ambassador's Residence. Our taxi drivers were actually really pleasant, they were engaged in the conversations and were a riot to talk to; so much more clever and approachable than most taxi drivers here in the States. Upon arriving at the residence, some of us realized that we were underdressed for the occasion. The estate was massive, covering an enormous amount of space both within and outside of the actual building. The inside of the residence was absolutely breathtaking, the plaster work and decorations were incredible. The back garden of the residence was huge, and the addition of the pure green Irish landscape further out made the entire image perfect. As the Fulbright scholars began to cruise in we all mingled with them, learning more about the program and of the culture that these people came from. We were even able to meet and talk to Tom Healy, the Chairman of the US Fulbright International Scholarship program. The Fulbright program is essentially a means for cultural exchange between countries through the students that go overseas to study on their own part. The entire night was initially stressful but turned out to be an amazing night all together, filled with great company and incredible prospects.