Gaol...certainly not to be confused with "goal"

We seem to be having a bit of an issue with getting on a normal schedule here in Ireland. We sleep past breakfast, eat lunch around 11, take a 2 hour nap from 5-7, then get hungry for dinner at around 10:30 at night. This needs improvement!


Kilmainham Gaol (Jail)
Not a very uplifting thing to do--but an imperative piece of Irish history. From what I caught on to, the jail was built to hold 112 or 121 prisoners. The prisoners included men, women, & children. Children were told to walk in circles in the courtyard (separate circles for boys & girls) and told not to look up because the grace of Gods light would not shine down on them. If they were to look up, they would be whipped by an adult prisoner. All ages were expected to do hard labor in this prison. Most were in for petty reasons such as stealing food or clothing. In 1850, the jail held over 9,000 prisoners--keep in mind...built for just over 100 people. The reason for this was the famine. Anyone on the streets at that time that was caught begging was thrown into Kilmainham. (At least then they would be fed...right?)

This jail was center in the Rising of 1916--the 14 leaders of the Rising were taken to Kilmainham and executed. James Connolly was one of the leaders executed. He was already in the hospital dying. He was brought to Kilmainham by ambulance, taken out of a gurney and was sat in a chair...all for a firing squad to quickly execute him. Disturbing!

After that, the leader of Ireland at the time was pegged at having "lost Ireland". France then gifted Ireland with the flag you see today. Green representing Catholic, Orange representing Protestant, and White in the middle to represent Peace amongst the two.

I'm sure I left out a lot of details in there, but that is what I got out of it. The flag is the uniting happy ending for me in my mind.

Rhi-andom other tidbits I've gotten so far...

• Arthur Guinness--his wife had 21 children. Take that Duggars!
• Molly Malone is the most photographed woman in Ireland.
• Jonathan Swift (Dean of St. Patrick's & author of Gulliver's Travel) is buried in the cathedral floor. (Next to one of his Esthers'. He dated two of them--one he renamed Vanessa, the other Stella.) Stella was the one buried next to him.
• Handel's Messiah debuted in Dublin. It was performed by both the Christ Church & St Patrick's choirs combined.
• Guinness is celebrating their 250th year. They have a 9000-year lease that they pay 45 pounds a year for & it includes free water from the Wicklow Mt's.
• Silky Road is the name of the cafe at the Chester Beatty library that I couldn't think of in a previous post.
• U2's Bono & The Edge own a hotel here named The Clarence.
• The MGM lion roaring at the beginning of the movies came from the Dublin Zoo.