"It was as nice as a jail could be..."

On Tuesday the 19th we visited Kilmainham Jail. I had heard several people in passing talk about the tour of the jail and how hauntingly beautiful it was despite being such a cold and depressing place. I was excited to see it but once I found out that parts of the jail has been used to film scenes of one of my favorite shows, "The Tudors," I got a little more than giddy. The first part of the jail we walked into was the chapel and we learned about the marriage of the infamous Joseph Plunkett to his wife in that very chapel the day before he was supposed to begin his sentence. We then walked through the dark corridors of the original cells and I just felt cold and eerie walking past them. I could not imagine being locked behind a large metal door with no windows. We then walked into the main part of the jail, it looked a little more modern than the first few corridors but still made your spine tingle a little bit. Throughout the tour, we learned about all of the famous "outlaws" who had served time there, including conspirators with Michael Collins. We then walked to the outside of the jail where several executions took place and as soon as we stepped out, I recognized immediately where I was. I started jumping up and down and shouting "Jonathan Rhys Meyers was here!!!" Part of the outside venue of the jail was used as the site of execution on "The Tudors" and I couldn't believe I was standing there. I'm one of those nerds who gets really excited about the smallest things and just to know that part of my favorite TV show had taken place on the exact same spot I was standing was a little more than surreal.

The next day, we were asked by one of our professors at Trinity how we liked the Kilmainham tour and I found myself saying "it was nice." I couldn't believe that I had just referred to a jail as being nice and I'm glad one of my fellow group members spoke up immediately and said "well as nice as a jail could be." It was definitely a humbling experience being able to see the inside of the jail and gave me a much better sense of the history of Ireland.