Trinity College attracts many visitors partly because the library was featured in the Harry Potter films . I actually didn’t know that until after my visit. I guess I’m not that crazy about Harry Potter. It was an extraordinary library whatsoever, and the campus itself was huge and mixed with many historical buildings.
都柏林的三一学院算是城市里每天游客最多的地方了。哈利波特电影曾经在学院的图书馆取景，很多游客慕名而来。我倒不是哈利波特的超级粉丝，所以我也是后来查了才发现去的这个美丽的图书馆竟然就是霍格华兹魔法学院的图书馆。我觉得校园本身也非常美，难怪被好几部电影选来取景。
I liked strolling around the campus among old buildings. It’s Dublin’s iconic university, steeped in history and quite well maintained. I envy the students here who get to use this prestigious place. I even found the Pomodoro Globe in the campus – its big brother can be found in the Vatican. There are 8 of them, spread around the world.
我去的时候刚巧碰上爱尔兰稀有的晴天，在这个国家最古老的校园里漫步，是一件很惬意的事情。校园有很多绿地和古老的建筑，加上那么美丽的图书馆。在这里的学生应该很幸福吧。走着走着我还发现了一个很眼熟的金球，再一看，这不是梵蒂冈的那颗金球嘛！其实全球一共有8个这样的金球，分别在各地的展馆或大学校园中。
See how long the queue is? They told me it was around a 45-minute queue. I hate queuing even for the best venue or the best food. So I searched immediately for some quicker solutions and bought my ticket online, it took a while to book on the mobile website, but still, no more than 5 minutes. Meanwhile I was seating on the lovely inner court yard enjoy precious Irish sunshine.
大家热情高涨，想亲眼目睹这个图书馆的风采。这壮观的队伍，工作人员告诉我大概要等45分钟。我不是个特别有耐心的人，甚至从来不为美食和美景排队。于是我立马打开手机搜索是否能够网上买票。虽然手机网络一般，花了五分钟才买好，但是还是比排队快很多（欧盟最近开通了境内免漫游就是好）。瞬间多出来很多时间，在草地上坐坐享受难得的阳光。
Entry to the Long Room of the Library was breathtaking and inspiring. Quite crowded though, while I admire the wonderful architecture, wooden craftsmanship and statues, I was glad that I didn’t have to queue for this. It gets an amazing collection of old books but only a few scholars in the college have access to them. I love the spiral stairs but we have no access to it. I think this beautiful library is definitely worth a visit and the fee because it’s so special but it wasn’t worth the queuing time.
图书馆的长厅非常耀眼。入口处大家都迫不及待拿起相机手机开始狂拍。虽然图书馆安排了游客限制，但依旧很拥挤，虽然我也觉得这个图书馆很美，木制结构，很多精细的雕刻，哲学家的雕像，这个图书馆本身就是个美轮美奂的艺术品。但是还是觉得人太多了，而且古老的藏书只要特殊的学者可以借阅，游客无法接近藏书的一个个小隔间，也没有办法站在隔间的螺旋阶梯，体验一下旧时的图书馆。虽然有这个不足，但长厅本身还是很美就对了。
The Irish really love the harp.
爱尔兰人真的很爱竖琴
Downstairs is an exhibition of the old Book of Kells, an ancient manuscript, which dates from around 800 AD. Compared to the long room, I loved this exhibition of Book of Kells much better. It contains extracts from the bible. The sketches on its pages are of amazing Celtic art. The pages were shown in few rooms.
和挤满游客的长厅相比，我反而觉得这本古书 – 凯尔经的展览才真的是值得一看。凯尔经是一本泥金手抄本。他的内页非常精美和复杂，充满各种颜色和凯尔特风格的基督图案，光内页的展示就占了几个展厅。我一个对基督教没什么研究的人也不近感慨它的精美制作。
If you are into old books, I would also recommend another museum, Chester Beatty Library close to the Dublin castle. They have a extended exhibition of books and artifacts from all corners of the world, and from many different eras. In the ground floor of the museum there’s this Silk Road Cafe, where you can enjoy a typical afternoon tea, served in a beautiful tea pot.
如果你觉得这个图书馆很漂亮，或者很喜欢古老的书，那么我还要推荐位于都柏林城堡旁边的切斯特·比替图书馆。这个免费的博物馆收藏了2万多册来自世界各个角落的手稿和珍贵书籍，从古至今，从古埃及到日本的书籍都能找到。如果刚好碰到雨天，可以在这里打发一下午的时间。我特别喜欢它这家“丝路”咖啡厅，慵懒的下午，来一杯英式午后红茶吧。
Thanks for reading!
谢谢阅读！
