(Note from Mrs. PH -- the title comes from the very famous last line of a poem by one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising)
Today we visited the GPO, or General Post Office of Ireland. The building itself is over one hundred years old, being a key location in the Easter Rising. While there we visited the museum down below to learn more about the history of the Irish men, women and children who lived during the 19th and 20th century. Although most of the history is very sad, it is also extremely inspiring to me. Learning about how loyal and dedicated the Irish are to their country and their will to fight for it made me feel proud to call myself Irish.
Later on in our journey we reached the famous Glasnevin Cemetery which is the final resting place of over one million people. Our tour guide, a young man named Niall, led us through the busy, yet highly organized collection of tombstones. We learned about many of the people buried there, including Michael Collins and Daniel O'Connell. All of the people we learned about there proved to be amazing human rights activists and idealists, but Niall also added interesting facts about many of them that reminded me that these fantastic people were just like us, with flaws and health problems. I even learned that Michael Collin's birth date on his tombstone is incorrect. But it's in Gaelic so not many people know! In all honesty today was full of a lot of depressing history, but also inspiration. The Irish flag looks much different to me now.
Love,
Erin
Today we visited the GPO, or General Post Office of Ireland. The building itself is over one hundred years old, being a key location in the Easter Rising. While there we visited the museum down below to learn more about the history of the Irish men, women and children who lived during the 19th and 20th century. Although most of the history is very sad, it is also extremely inspiring to me. Learning about how loyal and dedicated the Irish are to their country and their will to fight for it made me feel proud to call myself Irish.
Later on in our journey we reached the famous Glasnevin Cemetery which is the final resting place of over one million people. Our tour guide, a young man named Niall, led us through the busy, yet highly organized collection of tombstones. We learned about many of the people buried there, including Michael Collins and Daniel O'Connell. All of the people we learned about there proved to be amazing human rights activists and idealists, but Niall also added interesting facts about many of them that reminded me that these fantastic people were just like us, with flaws and health problems. I even learned that Michael Collin's birth date on his tombstone is incorrect. But it's in Gaelic so not many people know! In all honesty today was full of a lot of depressing history, but also inspiration. The Irish flag looks much different to me now.
Love,
Erin