Dublin Bus Tour and Kilmainham Jail

Today was the first day that we got to tour around the entire city of Dublin.  It was really neat because the bus went all around the city and you could get off at any stop and wander around and then hop back on the bus when you wanted to go somewhere else.  The first time through we stayed on the bus for the whole tour so we could familiarize ourselves with the city.  It was an open top bus so naturally we wanted to sit on the top level, however it was absolutely freezing! My roommates and a few friends got the front of the bus so we were at least shielded a bit from the wind and slowly but surely people started moving down to the lower level of the bus.  The eight or so of us who made it all the way through were very proud of ourselves that we braved the cold.  However as soon as we got off the bus we stopped in the first pub we saw for an Irish Coffee to warm up.  About six of us decided to take the bus to Kilmainham Jail for a tour of the historic site.  I watched the movie Michael Collins before I came to Dublin and it was extremely interesting to see the place that the leaders of the Easter Rising were held.  Our tour guide told us of a very sad story about a woman named Anne Devlin that really has stuck with me.  Anne was the secretary of Robert Emmet, leader of the 1798.  She was caught and imprisoned by the British army who used every form of psychological and emotional torture they could on her in order to force her to give up the names of the other leaders of the rebellion (because physical torture was illegal to use against women).  They imprisoned over twenty members of her family, kept her in solitary in a room that was so small she couldn't walk without a bed where there was literally inches of urine and feces leaking through from the sewer.  She was offered bribes, was threatened, and her young brother died while in prison and she still refused to give up any information that she knew.  I found this to be an incredible story that someone could be so strong despite all that she went through.  I kept thinking that there was no way that I could do what she did.  The guide mentioned that if she would have given up the information that she knew that the entire group of people who funded the rebellion would have been executed which would have drastically changed the course of Irish history.  It seems so sad that one woman could make such a great impact on an entire countries history and yet still not receive the recognition of remembrance that she deserves.  It makes me wonder how many others of these heroes there are not only in Irish history but in world history that go unnoticed or unrecognized.  Sorry if that was too much history that you didn't care about but it was something that I found extremely interesting and wanted to share! Until next time!

Cheers!