A Tour in Town

This week the Transition Years were taken into Dublin City Centre for a W.B. Yeats themed trip.

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  We had 3 places to visit over the course of the trip: The National Library, The National Gallery and The National Museum of Ireland.
  First, my group and I went to the National Gallery. We were taken on a short tour of some of the exhibitions, such as the section on the artwork of the Irish artist Jack Yeats, and 20th Century art in Europe. Some of the artwork was very thought provoking and intriguing, even to someone without a shred of artistic talent such as myself!!
  Next we went to the National Museum of Ireland. We were shown two exhibitions; the Iron Age exhibition and the Bog Bodies.

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  In the Iron Age exhibition there were many pieces of gold and ironwork, like coins, torcs and tools. This gave a great insight into the lives and lifestyles of people at this time, even though I had already know quite a bit about this period.

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  Following this, we were taken to see the Bog Bodies. These are a series of bodies that were preserved shockingly well in the bogs of Ireland, due to the chemicals and lack of air in the soil. It was quite amazing to see how accurately well the bodies were preserved - for example, we were able to see wrinkles and marks on the skin that would have been there when the person was still alive!! I found this exhibition quite remarkable.
  After spending an hour walking around Grafton Street and eating in McDonald's for lunch, we were all herded into a big group to be taken to the final stop - the National Library, to see the W.B. Yeats Exhibition.

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  At this exhibition, there were various artifacts and pieces on the life of the famous Irish poet and writer William Butler Yeats, and his family. The Yeats family had a huge influence on the arts in Ireland, for example, as I mentioned earlier, William's brother Jack was an important Irish painter.
  When we were finished learning about W.B. Yeats, we all headed back to the bus, tired but satisfied with the day out in Dublin!
  I hope we get to go into Dublin again soon!