Museum of Modern Art

 Across from Kilmainham Gaol was the Museum of Modern Art. It had a pretty stunning entrance.

 A lovely walk to the actual Museum in the fall leaves...

 A beautiful building...

 A clock tower shining in the sun.

I even thought I was in Washington D. C. for a minute...

 But the art didn't strike me enough to take any pictures. Maybe its just me, but Modern art looks more like a jumbled mess than a piece of art worthy of visitors...

 The more interesting part was the walk away from Kilmainham. We walked along the Liffey and passed Wolf Tone Quay, which made me happy. Theobald Wolf Tone was a great leader of the Irish back in the late 1700's to early 1800's. He was inspired by the American and French revolutions and started organizing his own against the British in Ireland. He got the French involved, and they sailed toward Ireland in 1796 with 15,000 men. The English were not prepared, nor could they muster a counter attack in time to stop this force of troops. Unfortunately, the Irish weather was against them, and driving winds forced them to retreat without ever setting foot in Ireland.

Wolf Tone said they were close enough to throw a biscuit onto the Irish shore, but the French invasion was forced to turn back, and the British breathed a sigh of relief. That was a close miss.

But just a few years later, the spirit Wolf Tone had awakened in the Irishmen stirred, and the 1798 rebellion was sparked. To try to aid this, Wolf Tone once again sailed to Ireland with a small force of French troops, but the mission ended in disaster, and he was caught during a future rebellion and sentenced to death. But instead of being executed like a criminal, he attempted to take his own life with a letter opener, and slowly bled to death, just as his friends in the courts has successfully pleaded for his life.

Sorry for the tragic tale, I know I tell so many of them on here, but that truly is Ireland's history.