On my way to Trinity College I was verbally attacked. I innocently took a picture of a street poet selling his wears and he took exception to my camera. "Do you think I am a f....ing animal at a zoo you asshole! Get the f..k out of here with that thing!" (I am without ability to incorporate the Irish brogue here but it sounded great.) But I had no idea what was happening. Somehow I got this picture, (guy in red scarf). My attempt to apologize fell on deaf ears so I moved on down the street toward the College. The guy standing to his left, partly hidden by the man in the blue jacket, followed and caught up to me to try and explain the encounter. He described the man as a once famous Dublin poet, experiencing hard times, in search of his mind. What attracted me in the first place was his little sign reading, " Dublin Poet, I'd be famous if I were anywhere else." I suggested he find somewhere else and be famous. I thought we might have had something in common with our almost white moustache and goatee. He didn't see it. Just moving on seemed the right thing to do.

But then there was Trinity College. Stepping onto the the grounds seemed important somehow. Was it the sense of history I got from the buildings? Possibly. But walking through the gates, escaping from the turmoil of the Dublin streets, I was on a mission; The Book of Kells.

The aged trees on the grounds, the architecture, and that mysterious Ball, set the stage for what was to come.

Sadly though, I was not able to take any pictures of the book itself, or anywhere else inside the library. But it was a grand library, one of the most magnificent I have been in!