Dublin, The Texty Bit

Alright, Dublin here comes the writing part!

When I first got to the city it was sunny and midmorning, while in my mind it was dark and approximately three a.m. I managed to get the hostile without any fuss and my taxi driver gave me her number, just in case I got in trouble or needed help. I put my luggage in storage before checking in and went to explore the city a bit.

Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest, I was a little disapointed at first, a bit melancholy, if you will. I'd just come from New York City and even knowing that Dublin was big, I wasn't expecting the such a profound similarity between the two cities. Now my first reaction may have something to do with the lack of sleep, jet leg and isolation I was feeling at the time, but I managed to sleep about 18 hours that first day.

Day Two, also known as Thursday, I woke up still feeling unhappy and forced myself to do some exploring. I managed to go to the Hugh Lane Gallery, which is mostly modern Irish art. I thought it was very, very cool. I also think I wondered around Dame street and the Connally bridge, maybe. At the end I found myself in an overpriced hotel bar eating an okey club sandwich.

Day Three, Friday, I took myself on a walking tour of the Temple Bar area. That is a part of Dublin I absolutely adore. Lots of street performers and tiny streets, funky shops and awsome pubs.

Day Four, Saturday, was laundry day, so I didn't make it out untill half past two, so I just looked at shoes for four hours. It was fun. I also ate at Queys Restaurant.

Day Five, Sunday, was also I slow beginning, due to a rather silly miscommunication. I ended up at the Guinness storehouse with a couple of friends, and later we went to the Mezz, which is a really cool pub slash music venue in Temple Bar. Then I slept off the beer and wine.

Day Six, Monday, was a bank holiday, but I still managed to go to the Book of Kells in fantastic Trinity College and take the Dublin Castle tour, then I did Grafton again and ate some food. It was at Trinity I found my new favourite poem.

I and Pangur Bán my cat
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will
He too plies his simple skill.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

It was written by an unknown Irish monk in the 8th century C.E. and this version was translated by Robin Flower; this is the earliest of Irsh poetry to have survived.

Tuesday I went to the National museum at was both disturbed and impressed by the collection there. The bog people being the most confusing in that they were both extremely disturbing and quite interesting.

Today I am it Galway after a six hour bus journey (it doesn't usually take that long, it just did today).

P.S. How's my Delilah kitty?

Dublin, Part 1, A

Hi, Mom, since your the only person reading this!

Unfortunately I do not yet have a picture out my hostile window. I do, however have some great many pictures of the Garden of Rememberence, built to honor the lives lost in the war for Irish Independence.



A picture of Connally Street.


Some of O'Connell Bridge.



Dublin Castle.




And Christchurch Cathedral.




Not to mention some really cool ones from the Guinness Brewery.

NYC Update

This is the the view out my window. Nice, eh? Anyway, this past week I've been in the Big Apple. First thing I did after getting off the plane was to sleep. The next day was signifigantly longer, even though it took me considerably longer then it should have. Anyway, I managed to walk down the the Museum of Natural History, in which I spent over four hours, simply enjoying the exhibits.

I must say i spent a great deal more time in the dinosour exhibits then I thought I would. Navigating through the prehistoric creatures and reading about nearly mythical creatures isn't generally my favorite pasttime, but I did find a great deal of enjoyment in the old bones and reproductios. I was especially impressed by the extinct mammels exhibit.
In the same vein I found the history of vertabrates to be pretty damn cool as well. The Weather this week has been phenomenal! I don't think it's dipped under 67 degrees ferenheit once since I've been here. This has been a mixed blessing. First of all It's gorgeous, I mean, really truly beautiful. Secondly, it's hot, and that's nice, but also not so nice. I don't do well with the humidity and that means I've spent a great deal of time in museums, which is also nice.
To change gears again, I just have to say, I love this city, it's big and loud and fantastically obnoxious. I really like how I can find anything I'd like in a three mile radius and that's truly awsome. I managed to see four different shows in a matter of four days. Thursday, after visiting the MET, which I will talk about more later, I went to a free student production of Twelfth Night. It was shortened considerably, but still a whole lot of fun. However, this particular production is one of my favourites, so my opinion might be just a bit bias. Friday I went to Mary Poppins (my very first Broadway show). It was a great little feel good show, with fantastic technical work. Saturday, Nik and I got up early and stood in line four two hours for tickets for Spring Awakenings and it was totally worth it. An absolutely brilliant play. Lastly I went to The Drowsy Chaparone, which was a lot of fun.

Now, the Met. The Met was a little odd; I thought it seemed like Disneyland for art. There was a room that was actually a Egyptian temple transported and reconstructed indoors. I did find a great deal of the museum to be more theme park then an institution of learning open to the public. There wasn't a whole lot of documenation next to the more modern works, which I found disapointing simpy because I don't know a great deal about modern art. This was equally as frustrating in MoMa, were documentation of the pieces was few and far between and, considering the nature of modern art, seemed more counter productive then anyting else. However, I did enjoy my museum tours. Mostly though, I enjoyed visiting my dear friend and exporing the city. Maybe, actually I liked everything about this week.
Today I walked around central park for hours, I sat by The Lake and enjoyed the sunshine, then I walked some more.


These are my feet, signing off for the week! I'll see you in Ireland!

Audra