Day Two continuing in Dublin

On our second day of travels in Ireland we enjoyed our first Irish breakfast at our hotel, The Gresham.An Irish breakfast will definitely put one onto the right track for the day....love the rashers..... (bacon)!Just about every hotel    breakfast buffet  was   identical to the next....   loved it!  hehehehhe.

Then our fabulous bus driver, John from Cork, picked us up and we toured the city. We, also, had a local historian, a young man named James explain the exciting history of the town and mainly the churches. We just drove past Christ Church Cathedral with its medieval architecture, here seen as usual through the windows of our coach, 

but we had an appointment to keep at St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Of Course, Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland  who  according to the Confessio of Patrick, when he was about 16, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain, and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as an ordained bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.   He is revered for   " driving the snakes" out of Ireland,   but  truly, he worked  to     bring  the   pagan Celts  to  Christ.  He is known  for using the    shamrock to demonstrate  the trinity,... God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

There you  can see James  at the bottom of the screen...  Such an engaging young man,  a patriot of Ireland and a  great historian.

One cannot help but think of the many people who have worshiped in such a place... I even remembered 20 years ago when Amanda sang in the National Cathedral in DC with the Roanoke College Children's Choir.. how they were mesmerized by the accoustics of the magnificent hallways and arches and they involuntarily broke out into song during the preliminary tour... they sounded like ancient choristers cloistered behind deeply inset chambers their voices resonating into the highest most recesses and filtered back to earth like the voices of angels.

I was moved by the candles that had been lit in prayer

 and I immediately remembered my dear cousin who has such a short time left and lit a candle for him! 

Suddenly, I needed air and so I left the tour group and wandered outside down the street into a nearby park to take these imposing photos of the structure!

  Some of the stained glass    uses  both  Christian and celtic designs.

  These   original  tile  floors  were   amazing.....   Such craftmanship!