History Lessons

We've landed in Ireland, not only during a historic year, but also during a historic week.  They are commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the Easter Rebellion of 1916 as well as the week of the executions of the leaders of the uprising.  In a nutshell, the rebellion was a failed attempt to secure Ireland's independence from England.  I have now heard the story from two different tour bus drivers, the walking tour guide, the guide at Kilhaiman Gaol, and the lady doing the Glasnevin Cemetery tour.  They all had a different slant, a different perspective.  Me?  I'm not taking sides.

The Kilhaiman Gaol tour was definitely a highlight, fascinating place to see.  With just the right amount of creepy -- the room where the condemned spent their last night, the haunted corridor where a locked cell is found open every morning, the yard where the prisoners from the 2016 uprising were executed by firing squad.

We followed up the gaol tour with a tour at Glasnevin Cemetery.  Now this may sound like a kind of ghoulish way to spend our last day in Ireland, but cemeteries are interesting places to visit.  And this one is huge. We covered barely an inch of it.  I also looked up my great-grandparents who lived in Dublin and died in the 1890's but alas, they weren't buried there.  This is the grave of Michael Collins who was instrumental in securing Irish independence in 1921.  People still leave flowers.  There were two people there just putting flowers on the grave when our tour stopped by.

One final piece of history acknowledged when we stopped by to see the famine statues dedicated to the people who died during the potato blight in the 1840's.  Very haunting images.

And that's it from Ireland. As usual I'm behind and posting this while enroute home.  I have only one question -- why are there no direct flight from Dublin to Vancouver?

Toronto isn't the centre of the universe.

Really.