We did not dock in Dublin until about 10 o'clock so Lori and I were able to take it easy this morning. Our tour was not until this afternoon. We are docked in a very industrial harbor - it has been interesting watching all the containers being loaded and unloaded. Certainly don't know how they keep track of them all.
Our tour took us around Dublin with stops at Trinity University and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Much of the story behind both places hinges on the Catholic/Protestant fights over here.
Trinity University was started by Queen Elizabeth I as a 3rd university along with Oxford and Cambridge. Catholics were not allowed to attend. Our guide said even her parents were not allowed to attend because they were Catholic. She did get to attend though - no longer is religion a factor. The library there, by law, must have a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland. Not all of them are kept on site. So Trinity University was started as a Protestant school but now anyone can attend. The buildings were great and the grounds were beautiful with some huge trees.
St. Patrick's on the other hand was started when St. Patrick brought Christianity (Catholic Church) to Ireland. But during the Reformation, St. Patrick's became a Protestant Church and remains so today. So the church of the Catholic Saint Patrick is not a Catholic Church! It was an impressive building with beautiful stained glass windows. One of the stories our guide told us was of the origin of the clover as a symbol of Ireland. St. Patrick used the 3 sections of the clover leave to explain the Trinity to the pagans he was trying to convert to Christianity. To them the idea of 3 being 1 was hard to understand.
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