Deep within the Emerald Isle

The next morning, I slept quite a bit longer than I had intended to. But, I guess my body needed the sleep, and who am I to argue with my body? When I finally got myself out of the apartment (around eleven), after having a proper cup of English tea and a kit kat, I headed down to the city center of Dublin to do some exploring. Marthe had been kind enough to loan me her Dublin book so I would at least have a basic idea of where I was going.

When I got off the tram that took me into downtown Dublin I chose a direction and set off exploring. I wanted to get my bearings before I actually chose something to do or see. After wandering down Grafton Street (and stopping every two seconds to window shop) I found myself at Trinity College and in the middle of the Dublin Marathon. Trinity is just gorgeous. I throughly enjoyed wandering through the campus and admiring the gorgeous buildings and the perfectly kept lawns (which are probably partly due to the signs all over the place warning people to keep off the grass).

From Trinity I wandered around for a bit. I had planned on going to St. Patricks cathedral, but due to the impending darkness, I chose to wait for another day. Instead, I wandered back down Grafton and found myself in an English book store. Now, I never ever thought that sometime like that could have made me as happy as it did. I have been a crazy reader since coming abroad, and hence, I have run out of books. So, I chose to curl up in a leather chair (just like at Barnes and Nobels!) and browse through some books.

Eventually, I met up with Marthe again, and we headed back to her apartment so that she could do some shopping for a Halloween costume. Appearantly Halloween is a HUGE deal in Dublin, so she needed a costume that would allow her to live up to the hype. She and her friends eventually decided on dressing as if they were from the 80s - complete with cut off sweatshirts and large plastic jewelery and ugly as sin make up.

After shopping Marthe and I went for dinner at this place called Mao. Even though by this point I had been out of Italy for more than a few days, I was still thankful for a meal that didn't have pasta in it.

The next morning I woke up, had a cup of tea, and then headed out into the city center. My first stop was the National Gallery of Ireland. I had such a hard time finding the place because the streets in Dublin change names about every 5 blocks. Most natives don't even bother with the street names, they just direct you by telling you to turn left at this pub, or right at this pub. Yet, for me, that wasn't even a possibility because I don't know any of the pubs!

Eventually, with the help of a map, I was able to make it to the museum. The most impressive thing there was the Yeats gallery. Jack Yeats was an expressionist painter whose favorite subject was the circus and horses. The amount of emotion that came through in his work practically blew me away. It was just wonderful.

From the museum, I tried to find my way to the Cathedral, and once again failed - big time. Instead, I got lost almost on the opposite side of Dublin. That was the downside. The upside was that I got to see a beautiful part of the city that I never would have gotten to otherwise. I especially loved the different colored doors and all the beautiful trim around the windows.

and Marthe and I were supposed for dinner once again. She wound up taking me to the Temple Bar area, which is right around By this time, it was once again getting dark, so I asked for directions, and headed back to the main area. There, I found myself walking through St. Stephan's Green park. I think the thing that I enjoyed most about the city was the sheer amount of green space. Now, it was getting late, to meet up with to goher internship. She and I opted to go to the restaurant that her boss always has lunch at - so we knew it was good before we even sat down. I had the most wonderful Irish stew that was made with Guinness beer. Yummmm!

The following day was my last day in Dublin, so I was determined to make it to St. Patricks. I had it in my head that a trip to this city was not complete without a stop at this famous landmark. But, first, I had to get a mocha (per Marthe) at Butler's chocolate shop. Now, I have had many a mocha in my day, but this one wins the prize for being the best. After stopping and asking for directions more than once (I won't tell you how many times), the cathedral finally came into view. It was just gorgeous inside, and there was a lot of history there, so I was glad that I made it. My camera and I also had quite a bit of fun...aka I took too many pictures.

From St. Patrick's I went back to Grafton Street to meet Marthe so that we could go to the Guinness factory. Now, I am not at all one for beer, but I just couldn't leave Dublin without doing something that has to do with Guinness - it is a staple of life in Ireland, they even say that it flows like water. We got a wee bit lost on the way there, but we did make it. And oh, was it worth every step to get there, and every penny that I paid to get in. I actually learned a decent amount, got to take some really neat pictures, tried the first Guinness I have ever liked, and I got to have an incredible view of Dublin.

From the Guinness factory, we had a quick lunch at a pub, and then I ran back to the apartment to grab my stuff so that I could head to the airport to go to PARIS!