books & jails & irish dancers.

On our last day in Dublin — & Ireland for that matter—we visited Trinity College. I was amazed at the Book of Kells and how monks would spend their entire lifetimes copying the Bible so that others may have it in their life. The book was highly decorated and the illustrations were just so vibrant & detailed! It was incredible. We then made our way to the college's library. Adorned with spiraling staircases, ladders, and thousands & thousands of books, the little girl in me would say it looked just like the library in "Beauty & the Beast" [still one of my favorite movies, by the way].

We weren't allowed any photography in the library, but c'mon, look at this. I just had to!

Next stop was Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). For hundreds of years, men, women, and even children were imprisoned in this jail on top of Gallows Hill [sounds promising, eh?] for the pettiest of crimes. The cells were tiny, damp, and in some parts completely pitch black. They were allowed one hour per day to be out of their cells, and during this hour they were required to exercise — head down, hands behind their backs, not looking at anyone, walking in circles — for the duration of that hour. How terrible! In the picture below you can see that we tried out this workout, & as you can also tell I could hardly do it for two laps before I got stir crazy and starting snapping pictures haha. 

Two words: River. Dance. It was amaaazing! We were so very fortunate to be able to attend "Riverdance" in downtown Dublin [huge thank you to our wonderful directors!]. The Irish dancers & musicians were incredibly talented [made me wish I kept up dance and practiced violin more haha], and they even threw in a couple super talented tap dancers to the mix. It was such an entertaining show, & the sparkly costumes just added to the pizzazz. Ireland was such a memorable experience that I won't ever forget, & after seeing "Riverdance," you can absolutely say we left with a bang.

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[DAY SIX]

cardigan—j.crew | top—nordstrom | necklace—forever21