Ireland Today...

Well Hello again from Dublin!

Yes, still here. Have not been smooshed by any cars coming from strange directions. (Largely, I believe because I have finally convinced these people I am not KIDDING about holding my hand when we cross) My legs still feel like they are going to fall off, but other than that, things are wonderful.

Had a lovely day filled with Dead Things. And Things That Got Dug Up.

(fairly morbid, I know, but that's the way it panned out. Besides, I like Dead Things)

I went to a church today, which was lovely as the churches are, but this one had a vault with Mummies in it. They didn't start out to become Mummies, just regular buried people, but the conditions in the Crypt were right, and there you have it.

It was the sort of crypt that is everything a crypt ought to be, old stones, steep stairs, dark. There were chains which our guide unlocked when we went to go IN, which were not chaining anything. They chain the doors to the Crypt OPEN. How very reassuring. I think.

There's a lot to St Michans Crypt which you can no doubt Google and find out, but the one fact I found that was interesting was that All the little Sub-Crypts, which families would buy, or rather BOUGHT long long ago, get to be theirs forever as long as they want. And most of them were fairly dark because it is not respectful to shine light on an IN USE Crypt.

Except for one. Now, this Crypt has been around a Very Long Time, and there are coffins stacked everywhere, sometimes they break the coffins underneath (which is how they got the famous Mummies) and sometimes they are beautiful, like if you were a Lords Family.

Now it came about that there was one Lord who everyone hated. His tenants, his family EVERYONE. He kind of sucked on all levels. SO they buried him in a plain coffin (After he died) and not in a fancy one like all the other Lords, and said never again would any Lord of this line or family ever be buried here, they were so moving out, no one wanted to ever be buried near him.

You can see this because they hated him so much, they told the church they could LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON. And there he is.

Ok, lovely...Onto the Bog People.

The Museum here is magic. Filled with unbelievably lovely Things That Have Been Found and Dug Up. Jewels, weapons, art, combs. Amazing. I loved it. I love seeing things that people used so very long ago. I love thinking about them and how they lived. No punch line here, really.

There were also Bog People. Bog people, are people who ended up preserved in Bog for 100's of years. I had always thought they were hapless hunters that happened into the bog, or recently dead very OLD people who were buried there, but this does NOT seem to be the case.

They all, it seems, GOT Bogged. On purpose. They are very eerie. Even for me. In fact, the museum helpfully, eh, rests them out of sight, so you need to actually know you are entering the Bog Person Resting Place, you don't just stumble across it.

On the whole tho, I believe it is better to have been so important that a people Bogged you to appease the Gods, than to have been so hated your family won't even be buried by you and lets the church LEAVE THE LIGHT ON.

My how cheery we are in Ireland today! Our friend Marjorie is sitting in my room here with me now, bet she sure is glad she showed up a day early!

Tomorrow tho, much happier: No bodies. Only Graveyards.

And apparently, Alpaca.

Love and Ireland,

Lorraine