Readers, I hope you had the greatest Easter! It was truly a time to celebrate, especially in Dublin. Let me explain.
100 years ago in Dublin on the day after Easter, the first shots of the Easter Rising rang out. This was the significant event that led to Ireland gaining their independence just a few years later. Since I’m still learning about the Rising, I’m not the best one to be explaining it to you so here’s the full story if you want more background.
Anyway, since it was the 100th anniversary of this significant event, Dublin was the busiest it’s been since the Pope came to do Mass in Phoenix Park in 1979. To put it more in perspective, there were 1 million extra people in the city for St. Paddy’s Day, and there were an extra 1.5 million extra people for the remembrance of the Rising. That’s a ton of people.
So naturally, my friends and I decided to go out and see what different things were going on. It was actually a really fun day and didn’t feel too overly crowded.
The first place we went was St. Stephen’s Green where there were tents set up with food and souvenir vendors. It was cool to see the different things people were selling – it was all authentic and made in Ireland. Next, we went the National Library of Ireland to hear W.B. Yeats’ poem “Easter 1916” read. It was so different to hear that poem be read when I knew the different motives behind it. The reading room there was amazing and someplace I’m planning on going back to very soon. There was also an exhibit in the library about W.B. Yeats and we perused that after we attended the reading.
We then stopped at a food truck to get a fresh crèpe. Nutella and banana never tasted so good!
It was such a privilege to be in Dublin for this historic event. There was so much to do and see and I loved seeing the city so proud of its history. The homestretch is here
The homestretch is upon me! It won’t be long now until I’m home, but I still have a few more places to see before I leave Ireland. Looking forward to showing you them all!
Until next time!