"I thought you were making duck calls"

Despite its grayness, I think Ireland is one of the most beautiful places in the world! Last weekend Kim and I decided to jetset to Dublin for a few days. We caught a flight Saturday morning and got there around four in the afternoon (It's a lot further from Rome than we thought). Sadly though because it was so late in the afternoon, there weren't any sights or museums still open. Only, that wasn't completely true because apparently Dublin in an hour behind Rome and so we actually got there around three. We didn't realize the time difference until after dinner. Whoops. 

Before dinner we checked into our hostel which was right on the river across from the Four Courts. We then walked around the town and saw Grafton Street and hung out in St. Stephen's Green for awhile. We played some Briscola in the park. Also saw a boy catch a pigeon with his bare hands. Disgusting. For dinner we went to the Temple Bar area and went to a pub for some fish and chips. They were so delicious and not at all Italian. We were both beyond food-baby level of full afterwards though and had to go back to the hostel for awhile. We played poker with some guys from Spain and I got to try using some of my spanish only to discover that only Italian comes out. After that we went back out to the Temple Bar area. We tried going to Temple Bar itself but it was way too crowded. There were plenty of other ones though and all of them had hen parties and live music. I actually got to hear Galway Girl sung live by an Irishman in Ireland, which considering it is an American song, was still a big deal. 

Molly Malone, AKA "The Tart with the Cart" on Grafton Street. 

The next morning we got up really early and went to Trinity College to see the book of Kells. It didn't open until 9:30 though so we had  some time to walk around. It was good we got there early because about three minutes before it opened, two huge groups of tourists came. Kim and I were also the youngest people by about 30 years. It was a common at all the touristy places. We also went and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral but couldn't go in. Then we went to the Post Office and Dublin Castel. We took a tour of the Castel and saw the Viceroy's old palace rooms. We ducked out early from the tour though so that we could make a historical walking tour we saw a flier for. The tour was just about the events of Easter 1916. It was an interesting group. A few Americans, one Irishmen, a couple Australians, and a handful of British. It was interesting to note how the tour guide talked about the events while still being respectful to the British in the group. It was really fun and interesting. It triggered my memory of all the things I learned in my Irish Studies class. The other people (all older) said they were pleased to see young people interested in such a tour, especially since we skipped going to the Guinness Factory.

After the tour, we were both pretty exhausted. We went to this tearoom called the Queen of Tarts that I had remembered seeing when I was in Dublin in 2006. We got two of the most delicious tarts (I got warm apple crumble tart) and some hot tea. It was perfect. For dinner that night we went to a different pub restaurant. I had some guinness-beef stew. It tasted very Irish and came with a lot of potato mash. That night we had to go to bed pretty early though because out flight was at six. We ended up waking up to people coming back into the room at 2:45 which was perfect since our shuttle to the airport was at 3:20. At the airport we found a starbucks and I was able to satisfy my iced tea craving. I am now ready to end the last few weeks of Italy with nothing but Italian food. 

Ha'penny Bridge

One of the few memories of have from my first trip to Dublin in 1994 is being in a shop, sitting on the floor, and picking out a yarn bear from a basket. I named him Dublin and still have him at home. When I went back with my dad in 2006, we went into a wool shop to look for a scarf and noticed the same type of bear. It was the same store and I was able to buy Dublin a cousin, that I named after an Irish hurling team. This trip, while walking around with Kim we just happened to pass the same store but it was closed until Monday. I was able to take a picture of the bear through the window though. I guess I will just have to buy two next time I go to Dublin. 

I am now back in Rome but sadly only for two more weeks. This is the last weekend of the program, but I am staying until May 25th. Boogie and Miranda are coming out next week! It'll be really nice to have a free week before going home because I have finals up until the 19th. I just had my Italian final exam today which I think went well. Let's hope at least. I am also done with my internship. They even threw me a little going away party which was really sweet!