April Fool's

Day 21
I was up pretty early and headed out to one of the most touristy things I could do, the Dvblinia exhibit. This was about Viking and medieval Dublin and was more interesting than I would have thought. I learned that eye glasses were invented in 1290. I had always wondered about that.

A medieval fair had been recreated. You could touch, small and play with everything. The apothecary was interesting, garlic was used to cure ear infections! I visited the scribe and threw plastic tomatoes at the guy in the stocks. The black death was next, it wasn't so fragrant.

Upstairs a merchants house had been recreated. The servants ate their meals off of square plates, this is where the saying 3 squares a day came from.

The viking display was also quite a lot of fun. There was one point that I found to be rather disturbing. The viking often took slaves. The display on this asked you to try on the shackles. There was a group of students fighting over them and laughing. It was really kinda creepy.

The vikings believed that three old sisters wove the tapestry of life and controlled every thing. They had many gods and would often incorporate local gods of occupied people. Christianity and the realization that it was more lucrative to become traders than it was to plunder towns and monasteries that were only able to slowly replace their riches.

Dvblinia was actually a pretty interesting way to spend the day. Thankfully it was not too crowded. I was looking for something different though, something that I couldn't really do in any other place.

I ended up at the Jameson Distillery. I had about 30 minutes to kill before the tour so I had a quick Jameson and coke, much better than Jack and coke. While I was waiting and ended up talking to John, a Kiwi in Ireland to explore his roots. We end up sticking together throughout the tour. It worked out really well because we took turns taking pictures of one another.

Jameson's family was Scottish and became wealthy due to their ability to capture pirates. Jameson was interested in Irish whiskey and wanted to perfect his own brand. The distillery was established in 1780 and has been flourishing since.

Irish whiskey is different than Scotch or American whiskey because it is distilled three times. Scotch is distilled twice and American once. Jameson whiskey is also aged in barrels that had previously been used to age port in Portugal. Scotch is aged in older oak barrels and American whiskey in brand new barrels.

Who would have guessed so much that I would have retained so much about whiskey? I not only became an expert but also a certified whiskey taster. I volunteered early in the tour to taste 5 different kinds of whiskey. There were 3 Irish kinds, 1 Scotch and 1 American. I could hardly even taste the American and Scotch ones, but the Irish whiskeys were quite good. All 6 volunteers picked Irish whiskey's as their favorite. Luckily I had John to take pictures of the entire event. The other perk of the tour is the free Jameson everyone gets at the end. This might have been just a bit too much though.

I still hadn't quite found the 'never before' experience that I was looking for. This lead me to a church. Not just any church, but St. Michan's which was founded in 1096. The building above ground wasn't much, just a typical 1850's rebuild. I didn't come for what was above ground though, I came for what was beneath the ground. The crypts beneath the church were original and had been in constant use since the church's original founding date.

I, along with a couple from Maryland, was lead by a creepy guide into the church's crypts. Due to the natural preservatives in the crypts there are four incredibly well preserved bodies of varying ages. The mummy on the far right was most likely a nun, but was the most deteriorated. Next to her laid the most confusing mummy. It was of a man that was about 300 years old. He had no feet and was missing his right arm. The feet are easy to explain, he was simply too tall for the coffin. The hand is more difficult. It it was for a punishment the only way he would have been buried in a church was if he had reformed and become a priest. The hand could have also been lost through accident or disease. The mummy on the left was a much better preserved nun. Her toenails and feet were still completely intact. Our guide made us all lean over the edge of the barrier to take a look at them.

The fourth mummy was an 800 year old crusader. His legs had been broken because his 6'6 frame couldn't fit into the small coffin. Our guide explained that it was common in the past for people to 'shake' the crusaders hand. It brought luck or a blessing or something. He explained that by shaking he meant touch the finger lightly. He then pulled back the barrier and motioned us in one at a time. I wasn't sure if I could really touch an 800 year old mummy. As I walked up to it I was sure that it would sit up and I almost laughed at myself for being so silly. After hesitating for a minute the Jameson gave me extra bravery and I reached out and 'shook' the crusaders hand. He didn't sit up, and I don't think that he is chasing me, but it was still seriously creepy.

I asked why these coffins had been opened. It turns out that it is illegal to open coffins, but these must have accidentally been opened at some point in the last couple hundred years. He also mentioned that Bram Stroker may have been inspired by these to write Dracula.

The rest of the tour was much more tame. We looked into darkened rooms and could just make out the outlines of dozens of coffins. The crypt is still active so many of the chambers can not be lit up in respect for the families that may bury their relatives there.

One entire vault was dedicated to 3 men who were hung in 1798 for trying to start a rebellion against the British. They were hung, drawn and quartered on Bastille Day. In one stuffed vault the bottom coffin had broken under the weight of all the coffins stacked on top of it.

As I was heading back to the hostel I pasted the Brazen Head Inn and decided to pop in. It was founded in 1198 and is Ireland's oldest pub. I ended up taking to some retired Americans from south Jersey. Oddly, they were soccer coaches from EHT and Absigami. One of them claimed to recognize me from when I played soccer at Oakcrest High School.

All in one day I visited a medieval market, sat on a viking ship, became a whiskey taster, and shook hands with an 800 year old crusader. That is no April Fools!