Valentine's Day

All the kids had today off so I also took the morning off and we headed into town to check out the Leprechaun Museum with the boys and Durvla (turns out I was spelling her name wrong).



We took the bus down to O'Connell Street and headed up Henry Street after checking out the General Post Office.

I wanted to see the GP because it was the headquarters of the men and women who took part in the Easter Rising of 1916.

The following information is from Wikipedia and Easer1916.net. 

The Irish Republican Brotherhood had decided at the early stages of the was that a rebellion must occur at some time during the war. Most of the information I have looked at essentially says that England's problems (in the war) could be Ireland's gain. The goal was to establish "home rule" or independence from England (The Acts of Union 1800 created a union between Great Britain and Ireland effectively putting Ireland under English rule). 

Professor MacNeill, the nominal leader of the group had arranged for a parade to be held on Easter Sunday.  He later found out the parade was to be the base of the rebellion and cancelled the event.  By this time, the promised aid from Germany had fallen through.  

In spite of MacNeill’s order, a few Irish decided to go ahead with the rising.  James Connolly and Patrick Pearse were the leaders of the 1,000 man force.  On April 24, 1916, the Monday after Easter,  the small group took over several buildings in Dublin.  Despite the great odds against them, the Irish patriots held out for about a week at which point the Rising was suppressed and its leaders were court-martialed and executed.

While the rising was not a success in the sense that that the British were essentially able to quash the leaders, the "regular" Irish people were so appalled by Britain's bloody reaction that it effectively united the Irish people who, prior to the rising, were perhaps ambivalent to home rule. This is its true significance.

 At the GPO there is a statute of Cu Chulainn in commemoration of those who died there.  

More about Cu Chulainn later. For Valentine's day we got Johnny a book of Irish mythology! Maggie got a Claddagh ring.

Here are some pictures from Henry Street.

With the clouds moving behind the Spire, it looks like it is moving!

The Leprechaun Museum was pretty Eighty-Percent (I just think they could have done more to bring out the Irish mythology and to make it hands-on) but here are a few pictures of us on a "giant's chair". 

We came home to boxes of treats from Grandma and Grandpa and Mandy! Thank you so much!!

Homemade cards, hearts and cookies from Mandy!