Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

Christ Church Cathedral is one of the two major cathedrals of Ireland, St. Patricks Cathedral being the other one.  We had decided to attend church at St. Patrick’s.  Laura’s grandparents attended there.  When we wandered off Dame Street we found that a market was taking place on the Christ Church grounds. The deer was a treat with its’ little donkey friend.  The collection of live predatory birds was amazing too. The barn owls up close were adorable.
Inside the church proper there was a Garden Tour.  It turned out Lewis Carrol who wrote Alice in Wonderland was an Anglican cleric.  Today we didn’t meet Lewis but we met Alice.  I missed meeting the Jabberwocky.  It was unusual being in this sacred building with so much secular good humour going on. Tourists like ourselves traipsed through.  Children ran here and there. A choir practiced.  I was reminded of the Sophia Hagia, no more a church, no more a mosque but now a secular museum. I told Laura of the secularization of the Anglican church and the increasing reduction of the Christian story to one without miracles.
In Dublin there were so many churches, both Anglican and Catholic that we found many had been converted to other usages. One particular one, called “the Church’ was a night club and the U was spelt in such a way as to give a devil’s tail to one of it’s bars.  Christians transformed the Celtic pagan sites and now the religion of alcohol, drugs and addiction might well be having a bit of it’s way with the old religion of father, son and holy ghost.  The church with its profusion of flying buttresses is a wonder of architecture. Another part of the church had been turned into a museum, one depicting Dublin during the reign of the Vikings.  We didn’t go into that section.
A little while on we came across the old city Dublin Wall.  It’s amazing how just walking about Dublin one is surprised by another bit of history.  Laura and I loved walking about Dublin. It was a sunny blue sky day with a cool sea breeze.  The River Liffy dividing Ireland into North and South served as a marker that kept us from getting lost.  We had walked along Dame Street in one direction then crossed the river again and headed back towards O’Connel Street.  We walked till our feet couldn’t walk any more then sat down and had Bewly’s Coffee.