Dublin!

Well hello there,

I just got back from Dublin! Another country to add to my list of places I've been, which was very exciting! I stayed with my friend Claire from Trinity who is going to Trinity College Dublin (same name, no association). She and her roommates were ever so kind enough to let me stay on their couch from Monday to Thursday of this week (it was reading week here at Queen Mary) and what a fantastic visit it was!

I got there Monday and dropped my stuff at Claire's apartment. Then I went to a lecture with her for her Irish Writers class about Joyce's "Dubliners." The lecturer was GREAT! Very knowledgeable and very engaging. Then we recouped and hung out until we went to delicious dinner at Zaytoon's, a kebab restaurant down the street from Claire's apartment. The walk to campus from Claire's took us down Grafton Street (as seen in the movie "Once"!). Dublin has a lot of accordian players, so I of course thought of both my dad and my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Hardwick, and had a good laugh.

Tuesday morning I went for a run (the best way to explore a city) and ran through St. Stephen's Green, Marrion Park, and Iveagh (pronounced "ivy") Garden - all three gardens were gorgeous! I also ran along the Liffey (the river that goes through Dublin) and through a little bit of the historic Temple Bar district. Then Claire and I went to Christ Church Cathedral, which was gorgeous and had a really cool crypt chapel with some nice museum exhibits. Then we walked to St. Patrick's and explored both the Cathedral and the park, which were both gorgeous. Then we explored a bit and found a great little bakery that I think Claire will probably go back to since the coffee was SO cheap! That is one thing about Dublin... nothing is cheap. Nothing. We were treated to AMAZING sunny weather, and it's really starting to feel like Spring MIGHT be around the corner what with the temperature getting warmer. Then we went to the National Gallery, which was amazing! There was a great Vermeer exhibit which was really impressive to see. After some nice museum wanders we went back to Claire's apartment then and made dinner, then had a pint (I tried a sip of Guiness and a glass of Paulander) at the local pub by Claire's, which is called The Bleeding Horse - it was founded in 1659 and had the perfect Irish pub vibe! I felt like I had gotten the true experience, and definitely not the tourist one.

Wednesday Claire had class all day, so after another exploratory run, I met Claire and some of her friends (I LOVED all of her friends! - visiting friends has made me lots of new friends and has reminded me how much I love meeting awesome new people) for lunch at their favorite crepery by campus. It was delicious. Dublin may be expensive, but the wonderful food definitely pays off. Then I explored on my own and did a lot of random walking (please see my Web album for an account of that) and walked down some major streets - O'Connell, Henry, Moore, etc. I also saw the Dublin Writer's Museum, the Memorial Garden for those who gave their lives during the Irish Revolution, the Trinity College Old Library, and the Yeats exhibit at the National Library. Then Claire and I made dinner again in her aparment and hung out with her terrific friends again!

Thursday before my flight left, Claire and I went to the Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library, which was actually my favorite part of Dublin. He was a really cool guy - you should read up on him! He was very generous with his money and even gave his own house as a Red Cross Hospital during the second World War. Anyways, he had a HUGE collection of Asian artifacts, particularly manuscripts, which was SO COOL to see. The library itself was really well organized as well and had a nice exhibit on about The Art of the Book. Then Claire brought me to the bus stop and I was on my way!

On the flight home I sat next to the most adorable little girl and we had a great chat about Disneyland. Little kids with British accents are so funny. It made me so happy to be coming home to teach swimming again this summer!

Anyways, that's all for now... in the coming weeks...
Friday, Feb 20-Saturday, Feb 21 - Oxford!
Then tons of friends visiting including: Siena, Christina, Roger, and Allison
Then Brussels March 20-22 with Katie
And more to come after that!

I hope all of you are happy, healthy, and having a wonderful February wherever you are in the world!!