Finding myself nearly in Dublin when the fated call came, I figured I should continue to the city for two reasons:
-
I had a passenger, a woman from my church, whom I was taking to the airport
- I could actually be in Dublin on a weekday, when the National Library of Ireland is open
This second point is major because, as EMH can tell you, I have been obsessed with seeing a William Butler Yeats exhibit at the library. As with most things in Ireland, it is open only while I am at work, making it difficult to attend.
But with a whole vacation day spread out before me, and a knowledge of where the library is located, I made a bee-line for Malahide. Why Malahide, you say? Because I won't drive in Dublin, and I know how to take the bus from Malahide.
It was a gorgeous day -- sunny and even a bit warm. I rode the bus into town and made haste to the library. I actually was there before it opened, so I went to a little coffee shop and had a scone outside!
The exhibit did not disappoint. It was an exhaustive look at Yeats' life, work, loves, politics and general craziness. That wacky genius!
You could stand and listen to the man himself read some of his work, and that was incredible. But perhaps the neatest feature was a "virtual notebook" that used technology to recreate a book that was passed between WBY and his long-pursued muse Maud Gonne. You could turn the pages on a computer screen and try to read their scratchings, or you could magnify the pages and ask the computer to transcribe the handwriting into type that was legible.
For a better explanation of this, read the New York Times article that started my obsession.
I really love Dublin. There is more to see and more to do, and I need to spend more time here.
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