good talk

The Republic of Ireland dates from 1937, there's 6.4 mil with 1.8 mil in N. Ireland.  The Tudor Conquest was begun by Henry VIII who was declared King of England and Ireland in 1530.  The Acts of Union in 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, ever since Henry there's been constant fomentation between the Irish and English until just recently. On April 24, 1916, Easter Monday, the Easter Uprising began lasting until April 29, a feeble attempt to take Ireland from English control the 7 leaders were tried and executed 3-4 weeks later in the courtyard of Kilmainham Gaol (today an excellent museum I've visited) with the Uprising's Military Leader James Connolly due to his wounds being put in front of the firing squad in a chair.  The Centre of the Uprising was the Post Office on what is now Connolly St. and you can see bullet scars on the pillars. The Irish War of Independence began in 1919 ending with the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 from which N. Ireland immediately opted out. The Irish Free State ended in 1937 with the establishment of the Republic of Ireland which was known as Eire until 1949.  Go down to Cork and you can hear old guys talking Gaelic as you pass on the street.  Dublin was founded by the Vikings in 841, it has 525 thou.  I always go to Trinity College where you can see the Book of Kells, they often change the 2 pages shown, a beautifully-illustrated manuscript drawn by the Monks of St. Columba  on the island of Iona around 840 A.D.  Taken to the mainland in the nick of time as soon thereafter Vikings landed and looted the Monastery slaughtering all the Monks.  From watching the History Channel if you owed a Viking money and didn't pay him he'd slit your nostril, where the saying To Pay Through the Nose come from.  It was only Christianity that civilized the Vikings, they were rough people.  I always go to the fantastic Archeological Museum where you can see the exquisite "Tara Brooch" one of 50 on display as well as other treasures.  I went to the National Gallery and saw some fine paintings and went to their Natural History Museum, an old-style set-up in an old building it was quite extensive and I liked it a lot.  I was in their 2 main Churches, what were they, St. John's and St. Patrick's?  Not as you'd think Catholic both were Anglican as the English had controlled Dublin for a long time.