Our last day in Ireland was back in Dublin. The lines had been too long for the Book of Kells when we were in Dublin earlier, but this time we booked our tickets online, which let us skip the queue. The Book of Kells was interesting, although I thought much of it would be better absorbed from an illustrated guide rather than a museum style exhibit. But the galleries are like the preamble to a Disney ride, it sort of stretches out the experience, since the actual viewing of the book is limited to a couple of pages and only takes a couple of minutes.
Not to diminish either the historical significance or the amazing art of these illustrated gospels, but we actually preferred the visit to the Long Room in the old Trinity College Library which comes with the Book of Kells admission. This would have been an amazing space, even if it hadn't been lined with books and busts of old dead white guys (but for the most part, fairly smart, pretty important, old dead white guys).
The old wood harp is featured on Ireland's Coat of Arms. They only get to show the back side, apparently a local brewer named Arthur Guinness got first dibs on trademarking the primary side. Or something like that.
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