Not Exactly Tea with the Queen...

Just got back home from a tour of the Irish House of Parliament also known as the Leinster House and it was pretty impressive. Granted all the historic content is somewhat lost on me but the building itself was very beautiful.

Met Marnie at the gates around 2:45pm and waited for everyone else. By 3:05pm, we were able to get into the grounds and proceeded to the waiting room with our tour guide to wait until the last tour had finished. Heard the rules, same as the other places, no pictures or liquids, etc. Also no hats allowed which while not unheard of was still interesting.

When the tour began, we jumped right into it by making our way through the main entrance hall and into a foyer of stairs. We had a brief overview of an enormous and beautifully carved bookcase which was housed in the original house of Parliament (across from Trinity College) and was moved there in the 1900s. It was full of books of original Parliament documents, all first editions, and while I was itching to have a closer look, the tour guide held us back. The bookcase also housed a secret compartment in the middle panel which pulled open and had shelves believed to have stored alcohol. (haha) Dennis was our tour guide.

After this fascinating bit, we proceeded upstairs and through the gallery to be seated where we had a full overview of the House of Representatives (or TD's). It reminded me alot of all the rooms we always see on CSPAN except that it was painted with blue and gold rugs and drapery. The seats and panels were a beautiful dark wood, I want to say mahogany but I'm not sure, and all the main chairs were of leather. The ones we were seated in in the public gallery weren't so nice but hey, that's the way it is. The tour guide gave us a brief outline of how the House works and the way that bills make their passage through it which was interesting. I didn't really understand it as much as I would have liked, but Marnie assured us that we would be learning all about that in our coming lectures.

Next we moved through the other side of the gallery and back into the hallway on the top level where we were able to view paintings of the previous Prime Ministers of Ireland. We had a brief history of each and then proceeded to another foyer of stairs. We were then regaled with the tale of the famous Lord Edward Fitzgerald which I think we've heard at least a total of 3 times previously in our other excursions and in class. Nonetheless, it was still interesting. The best part about this area was the ornate moldings on the ceiling and walls which was a mixture of shells, water flowing, and flowers.

After this, we proceeded down one set of stairs and up another to enter the Senate room. We passed through an amazing set of doors which are an exact replica of the ones on the opposite side of the room, the original entrance which is only used by the Chairman of the Senate now. The room for the Senate had an absolutely breath-taking ceiling filled with flowers and geometric designs as well a few sphinx. It was blue, yellow, and white and hanging from it were 3 beautiful chandeliers that looked like crystal but most likely were not. It was a smaller and single-leveled room as opposed to the House of Representatives room but it was the more beautiful of the two I think. Each of the rooms also were equipped with video cameras for live feed, seating for the press, and special seating for the record-takers.

After leaving the Senate, we came back down to the stairs where we were told of a fascinating tale about the woman whose portrait hung in the hall, I can't recall her name but apparently, she was part of the revolution movement in the early 20th century. Facing in the opposite direction was what appeared to be a wall hanging which actually turned out to be a flag from the Civil War that was presented to the Irish Parliament by former President John F. Kennedy in 1963. He came for a visit and wanted to present something to the new-ish government that had been set up. He got permission from the US Government to remove this flag from a Civil War Museum and on it was the symbols and battles of an Irish battalion that fought in the Civil War. They were all Irish men based out of NYC who fought bravely in several battles. It was green and covered in symbols of Ireland, the harp and the shamrock, along with the names of the battles that were fought by this battalion.

Coming at the end of the tour was a view of the entrance hall in which were several paintings of the Presidents of Ireland including the current one. And a sheet of paper that was produced during the revolutionary times which told of freedoms that should be given to the Irish men AND women. It was signed by the man who put it up and later became the President of Ireland, Sean...someone, haha.

So the end of our tour came and we thanked the tour guide. At this point, we were then approached by the TD from Marnie's area and she invited us to have coffee with her. So we followed her back through the building to a back area called the visitor's lounge and were told we could have whatever we wanted...at the bar. Tea, coffee, beer, liquor, whatever we wanted. So naturally most people got a beer. I however chose to get a cappuccino which turned out to be pretty good quality. So we enjoyed our beverages and chatted with the TD until she left. She was pretty nice, name was Mary. So we continue to drink while Katie Todd got drunk and we had a grand time of it. The bar was decently stocked and the room was blue and beautiful. And we got to drink in Parliament...can't imagine many people can say that.

And on a side note, my package from home still hasn't arrived, my electricity bill arrived and it was WAYYYY more than expected. So still not impressed with this shit. And we do have daylight savings time here in GMT which begins two weeks after everyone else. So beginning this Sunday, I will once again be 5 hours ahead of you all!
Oh and in better news, I'm going to the Wicklow Mountains tomorrow on a hike, pray that it stays sunny for me!

And today is National Daffodil Day here in Ireland, buy a daffodil pin for 3euro or a bouquet of actual daffodils for 5euro and help support the Irish Cancer Society :)