... And Back Again

In my first post, I promised I'd have a post after returning from Europe titled "... And Back Again." And now that I am back at Georgetown, I believe such an update is fitting. Not quite as many posts in between the two bookends as you may have been expecting. Certainly not as many posts as I had adventures. From skiing in Norway to getting sunburned in Barcelona, it was an amazing time.

All in all, it was an adventure that crossed seven countries. I saw five West End productions. I throughly explored the British Museum on several occasions. I ate reindeer in Norway and haggis in Scotland. I was swept up in the crowd of spectators for the championship game of the Copa del Rey. I saw Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa," my favorite painting of all time. I saw a volcano strand travelers, including my parents. I walked from the Tower Bridge to the BT Tower at two in the morning. I drank Guinness in Dublin and "very cheap" wine in Florence. I made countless trips to the Green Man, and had a month's worth of subs-of-the-day. I walked a terrifying route to the worst bed I've ever slept on in Rome. I took photos, maps, and brochures, because I couldn't afford souvenirs. I toured distilleries, breweries, villas, castles, and prisons. I went on pub crawls, literary and otherwise. I saw monuments, ruins, mummies, and bizarre short films with mattresses falling out of buildings. I met an aspiring writer who hated snooker but loved John Wayne, a drunken Danish farmer headed to Australia, and a student from Mozambique who, having mastered French in France, was working in Ireland to learn English.

There are dozens and dozens of stories to tell, and they mix together in my mind in a stew, rather than a timeline, with different tales floating to the surface at any given moment.

I made memories, I made friends, and I made the grades necessary to receive credit for a semester of fun and adventure.

This may very well be the end of "Wandering Minds," but it is not the end of my writing. I've started a new project called Chronotopography, which will occasionally include fragments of my European adventures. I hope you'll join me there, faithful reader.

Dublin: Day 5 - St. Patrick's and Homeward Bound

After enjoying one final breakfast of toast and cereal, we gathered up our belongings and set off into one more Dublin morning. Though it would seem we'd seen everything in the city by now, there was one item on our checklist that was still evading us. Having found St. Patrick's closed when we attempted to visit it for free under the Dublin Pass, we never got to make it inside. So we had a plan to get there for the Choral Matins and go in to attend the service, thus avoiding an entry fee and maintaining our poor student reputation. Well, when we got to...

St. Patrick's Cathedral

(Sorry, for formatting consistency I had to do that.) We arrived to find that our Dublin Pass guide had listed the service times incorrectly, and we had missed the Matins! Oh no! Well, we decided that a few Euro would not break the bank, especially since we'd done so much free stuff yesterday, and we decided to give to the church and go in. There, we were met by a nice woman who informed us that if we had any questions, we should just let her know, since she was a volunteer historian and tour guide, who didn't work for the Cathedral, but just liked it a lot. We told her we would, and wandered off on our own, seeing the impressive architectural and historical contents, including an old copy of Handel's Messiah, which had received its first performance at St. Patrick's, in a big cooperative event with Christ Church. So there's your neat history fun fact for the day. As we were looking at an old organ console (I think that's the term?) we were once again approached by the (overly?) friendly volunteer, who wanted to know if we had any more questions, and if there was anything in particular that we liked. Ryan mentioned the copy of the Messiah, and it also came up that he played the organ, and from that moment on, our trip became a private tour of the Cathedral, wherein I was ignored, since the moment she realized he was a musician, our 50-something year old guide was in love with Ryan. Unfortunately she couldn't pull strings to get us up in to see the new organ up close, but she still brought us all over and shared lots of great stories. When our tour was concluded, we thanked her profusely and went back toward the center of the city.

With a couple of hours left before we had to get on a bus and head to the airport, we decided to stop by a few touristy shops for some postcards for our families. Then we spent the rest of the time in a little pub in order to enjoy a few more pints of Guinness while still in its home. Eventually, energized by the pub's 80s-heavy playlist, we left our friends at the bar behind to the beat of the Safety Dance, and boarded our bus.

And with that, after a bus ride to the airport and an hour or so waiting outside a nut vendor called "Totally Nuts," which kept a sign prominently displayed warning that "Some Products May Contain Nuts," we were back in the flying mall of RyanAir, heading home to London.

Whew! That's that. Dublin is done. Two and a half months after the trip, I've finally recounted it in incredible detail. Interrupted by other travels, three papers, and an exam, it is now done. As far as Norway, Italy, Paris, and Scotland... Not to mention the day trips to Stratford, Cambridge, and Bath... We'll see if I can even get those up before I get home. I have one more exam on the 17th that I'll be studying for now, and then a trip to Barcelona, and then the flight home on May 24th. So if I don't end up blogging about it, I'm sorry. But it gives you an excuse to find me this summer and let me tell you the tales in person!

Dublin: Day 4 - Art and Writing

In spite of our crawl, we both woke up early Sunday morning, but for different reasons. Ryan wanted to go to church, I wanted to get a bit of work done on my paper before the day was underway. Unfortunately, my morning motivation wasn't as great as I would have liked, and Ryan was more successful in his early morning goal than I was. But, after breakfast, we were off and exploring, regardless of my paper progress.

Remember that we no longer have the privileges of our wonderful Dublin Pass. We were now on our own financially. Which means that if ever there was a day to do free stuff, this was it. So we started by heading to...

The National Gallery of Ireland

But when we got there, it was still closed! On Sundays they don't open up shop until noon. So to pass the time we decided to check out the nearby park and the surrounding area. The park was nice, and had several nice statues in it. A really sort of creepy one of Oscar Wilde sitting on a rock, though. Didn't really like that, though I did like the columns nearby with some of his witty quotes on them. Eventually, though, the museum opened up, and we stormed the entrance along with the other art lovers and parents hoping to raise cultured children. They had some good stuff. Favorites include: Francis Danby's The Opening of the Sixth Seal and Jacob van Ruisdael's The Castle of Bentheim, 1653. After seeing pretty much every painting there we decided to swing by a nearby free museum...

The National Museum of Ireland Archeology

But they were running strange hours that day, so, yet again, we had to kill some time. After a quick stop at a cafe, we were seeing all sorts of artifacts. To be honest, at this point my memory of this museum is extremely vague now. I remember an Egyptian room. And a boat. And the bodies of all sorts of people who had fallen into peat bogs. They had those carefully set off in little alcoves, so you couldn't see them unless you really wanted to. Not for the faint of heart, I suppose. Ultimately, we weren't there for very long before we set off to...

The Irish Museum of Modern Art

I say 'set off to' because the journey to the museum was a struggle. It was way out on the fringe of our map, near where we had visited the Gaol, but our map wasn't clear, and Eunice was really struggling to find us and the museum. Eventually, though, in all our resourcefulness we trekked up the hill where the museum was, checked our bags in their lockers so we wouldn't steal the art, and went in to check it out. As is often the case with modern art, it was strange. We got to watch a film where someone basically destroys a house while dropping mattresses through a hole in the floor. We saw an exhibit that they intend to change every couple of days without telling anyone, to see if repeat visitors will notice the changes and be intrigued by them and wonder how art that isn't there anymore interacts with art that is there now. We got to stand in the middle of a big spinning white piece of fabric. And we got a souvenir from one exhibit that included eight large stacks of paper, each one with a book title on it, the intention being you take the top paper off whatever stack you like. Ryan ended up with Flowers for Hitler. I got The Great Gatsby. And it's still hanging on my bulletin board now.

That Evening

On our way back toward the heart of the city, we stopped off at some really cheap store to see what junk we could find. We ended up getting some ski socks for our Norway trip, which I may someday blog about. And a pack of six Crunchie bars. All for very cheap.

Then, as part of our continuing attempts to eat at "Oldest" places, we went to The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin. I got fish and chips, Ryan got what he described as one of the best sandwiches he'd ever had, in spite of the fact that it had sauce on it, and Ryan does not like sauces. (This is a frequent point of dinner conversations with Ryan.)

After that, we wandered around Dublin for a while, then headed back to the Hostel. Dedicated readers with excellent memories will recall that I still had to finish my paper on Frank Capra, which was due the following day. So I stayed up and cranked that out, sending it off before going to bed in that room of twelve for the last time.

Dublin: Day 3 - Castles and Closures

After another breakfast in the church (today we will see a lot of non-church churches) we were off to a bus station. We had decided today to venture outside the immediate city in hopes of seeing a castle, a model railway museum, and a museum of childhood. The bus ride was an enjoyable trip as we watched the landscape transition from city to not quite city but not quite rural countryside along with a group of other traveling Americans. The bus dropped us off a bit down the road from our castle destination, so we had to trek back a bit. Lo and behold, the other American students were headed to the same place (though fools that they were, they had not invested in the mighty Dublin Pass), so we walked with them on the treacherous, sidewalk-free terrain, forced to choose between erring to close to the roadway or the deep gully of brambles and rocks. Our roadside voyage brought us to a wooded trail, where we left our American compatriots in the dust and hiked to...

Malahide Castle

On the outside, this place has a very classic castle look to it. The kind of castle you draw in elementary school, and the teacher says, "What a nice castle," without you having to point at it and say, "That is a castle." It was, quite clearly, a castle. Though as Ryan was quick to observe, it was lacking in the moat department. Ah well... The inside, on the other hand, lacked the traditionally imagined castle qualities, seeming a bit more modern in its decor. I would show you pictures, but as I recall, they were not allowed. Not that it would have mattered, because it is at this point, Dear Reader, that my camera battery called it quits for the trip. Alas. But what I recall from the castle is a room with lots of portraits, including one of Oliver Cromwell, and a great deal of lions in the decor, as I believe it was an animal of importance to the family. Oh, and a room that sought to recreate a child's room, and was filled with lots of toys and some pieces of a model railroad. Of course, we saw this as a perfect introduction to the next stops on our visit to the Malahide area, since we were planning to see...

The Fry Model Railway Museum & Tara's Place Museum of Childhood

But what did we find but a sign reading: Closed From Monday 28th September. It seems that they'd be opening up again on April 1st. Now, by post date of this entry, you are probably thinking, "Well, why weren't they open?" But remember, that all these events are taking place on the 20th of February, just about two months ago now. (Boy, I'm really on top of this blogging thing, huh?) So, disappointed that we wouldn't see trains or toys, we headed to the Malahide Castle Cafe (What would a castle be without a cafe?) for an expensive cup of tea and chocolate muffin.

From there, it was back to the bus stop after a walk through the park. One stop after getting on, look who boards with us but the other American students, who boarded, saw us, and said, "Well look who made the bus!" A comment which still sticks in my head as illogical, as it was not the last bus of the day and we were on it before them and in plenty of time. We also got to see the antics of a small child whose neglectful caretakers (kidnappers?) allowed her to repeatedly bang her head against the front window of the bus. These fellow passengers made it difficult to enjoy the semi-country scenery on our return to the heart of Dublin.

Once back, we realized that our time with the Dublin Pass was running short, and we still had a variety of stops to make before the last day was up and our horses turned back into mice and our carriage went back to a pumpkin and all that. So we decided to meander over to...

St. Patrick's Cathedral

But this proved to be strike three of the day! The cathedral turned out to be closed for a graduation that afternoon! Just our luck. The one real church we tried to go to this day was closed to us. The only way to make this up would be to visit two other faux-churches later that day. But first, we had more free stuff to claim at...

The National Gallery of Ireland

Entry here is free, so to draw Dublin Pass users in, they offer a free book to anyone who presents the pass at the Information Desk. Unfortunately, the old guy at the desk who is probably allowed out of the home every Saturday afternoon to work down at the Gallery thought we got them in the gift shop. The ladies in the gift shop were frustrated when we went to them with our request, but gave us the free books and mentioned something about having a talk with whoever was at information. So that's how we may have made some poor old man lose the one thing that got him out into the world every week. Oops. And we didn't even stay to see the museum. We figured we'd just come back on Sunday, when we weren't trying to check things off a list of free stuff and discounts. So we continued museuming to check off...

The Chester Beatty Library

Here we were offered not only free admission, but also a free gift! And we even got our choice of gift from a selection of three books. One about the museum in general, one about a special "Blue" exhibit they'd held recently, and one all about the Rembrandt House. Well, recalling how, due to the lack of Free-Marts in Amsterdam, we'd failed to purchase any souvenirs in Amsterdam, we both decided to take them up on the very nice Rembrandt book. Proudly carrying our free books and tickets, we wandered the "Library" for a while, spending most of our time looking at an impressive collection of art and rare books from the major world religions.

From here we were running out of time in the day and the museums of Dublin would be closing soon, so we hustled over to...

The Guinness Storehouse

Once again, we made our way quickly up to the Gravity Bar to enjoy the view, and our final free pint of Guinness at the source. This liquid nourishment would provide us with the strength to trek over to our dinner at...

The Church Bar & Restaurant

Drawn in under the influence of good reviews and a 10% Dublin Pass discount, we found ourselves in yet another building that used to be a house of worship. This one, it seems, had fallen the farthest. Pews had been replaced with tables, comfortable seating, and a large bar. The wine list was significantly longer than it used to be, and there were lots of beers on tap, and a wide selection of (not so Holy) spirits. As for the food... Well, I wouldn't have it as my last supper or anything, but it was pretty good. The Church fries were especially delicious, seasoned in all sorts of spices. I admit, I was a bit disappointed our meal didn't come with bread.

Dublin Literary Pub Crawl

I had hinted on Day 2 that we would be learning about the lives of Dublin's writers in a more interesting fashion later in the adventure. Well here it is. Dear Reader, if you ever find yourselves in Dublin and enjoy books and good times, do take this tour. It has been rated by the Sunday Times as #4 in a list of the world's 50 best walks, and it does not disappoint. Plus, if you have a Dublin Pass, you get a ticket at a reduced price! And here's what you get with that reduced price ticket: Two actors will take you around to four different pubs (unfortunately, pints not included), recounting all sorts of interesting tidbits about Dublin's famous writers, all while being extremely hilarious as they do so. They will act out scenes from various works, including "Waiting for Godot" (remember, I had seen that on Day Zero!) and one bit will be performed in front of the Dublin Tourist Information center, which is housed in... You guessed, an old church! They will teach you interesting things, like that Oscar Wilde was a heavy-weight boxer when he was a student. And then everything will wrap up with a quiz to test your knowledge and see if you are worthy of a t-shirt. Unfortunately, Ryan and I fell just short of the t-shirt level of knowledge, but we did each manage to get a question right, which was pretty impressive, considering we'd each had a pint at every stop.

Somewhat disappointed to realize that no one had ended up physically crawling on our pub crawl, we decided to head back to the hostel and call it a night.

Thus ends our adventures with the Dublin Pass. Tune in to Day 4, when we try to get around having to actually spend money to do things.

We're Back!

That's right! Like the talking dinosaurs in an animated movie produced by Steven Spielberg, my Wandering Mind has returned from Italy ready to write. And good news for you, most (not all) of that writing is blogging.

First and foremost, I'm ready to finish Ireland and recount the natural beauties of Norway. Then maybe I'll lump together some quick blurb on Warwick, Stratford, and Cambridge. And finally I'll get to Italy.

Some things you have to look forward to in Italy, by the numbers:

1 Easter Vigil with the Pope

2 new travel companions

3 church-climbing views

4 crazy characters

5 very different accommodations

6 dining experiences of note

7 gelato flavors

8 cities

9 photos I absolutely love

10 more gelato flavors

11 days of travel

So that's what you've got to look forward to. But first, we return to the Dubliners!

Anticipated Delays and How To Pass the TIme

Pre-entry note: This entry contains a casual review of an R-rated movie with a PG title. Not sure if there are any parents who use the blog as read-aloud material with the family, but you might want to screen this one in advance if you do.

Oh dear.

It looks like once more, I'm off on another adventure, abandoning my blogging and going off to see the world.

For the next eleven days or so, I'm off to Italy where, among other things, I'll be chilling in Rome for Easter. Pretty cool.

But where does that leave you, dear reader? Waiting in Ireland, anticipating Norway, and hoping I might find time to blog about the other events I've mentioned. Yeah, that's pretty much it. But if you're fearing that I'll forget what happened at any of those places, don't worry. I have a pretty good memory. And this blog isn't the only existing record of my travels. So I have notes and souvenirs and brochures to refer to, as well.

But what should you do while you're waiting for my next update? Well, lucky for you, I have some suggestions.

1. Read a book.

Specifically, check out Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy. I'm not quite finished the book myself, but I'm loving every second I spend reading it. Auster weaves three stories of detection, but puts incredible twists on them. At least, he does for the two I've read so far. There is just so much going on in these stories. First of all, they are entertaining and interesting. Second, they comment on the genre conventions of detective fiction. Third, and most importantly and fascinatingly, they investigate the elements of human language and names better than almost anything I've ever read. And I took a linguistics class. If not The New York Trilogy, then consider one of the following: Everything Is Illuminated, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. All are quite different, though they do share impressively unique narrative voices, and all are thoroughly enjoyable. Plus, you'd be sharing in reading experiences I've had in England.

2. Go to the movies.

Again, this needs elaboration. You'll have to wait a while on this one, but go see Kick-Ass. It is only released in the USA on April 16th, but it would be well worth it to be in line that morning waiting for your ticket. I don't know that I've ever enjoyed a movie-theater going experience as much as I enjoyed seeing Kick-Ass earlier this evening. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Kick-Ass is the story of a high school comic book loving nerd who decides to become a super hero and becomes tied to a conflict between the mob and some other vigilantes. I'm being intentionally vague on the summary, because I want you to see it clinging to every wonderful moment in anticipation of what craziness might happen next. Everything about this film was entertaining, from its pop-culture humor to its phenomenal action sequences.

In my anticipation for this film (it ranks #2 on my most anticipated films of the year), a lot of people who know me well pointed out that I would no doubt be disappointed, since the role of "Big Daddy" was being played by Nicolas Cage, whose performances I seldom enjoy. But good news: Here, he is great. Whether he's shooting his own daughter (more on her in a bit) at close range or cleverly mocking Adam West, his performance is a joy to watch. As is the film's title character, played by Aaron Johnson. But the real stand-out is Chloe Moretz (you may have seen her in 500 Days of Summer) playing Hit-Girl. No doubt when you see this movie (and you will see this movie), she is the character you'll be talking about as you leave the theater. Like the rest of the film, she is violent, profane, and hilarious. Mature beyond her eleven years, Hit-Girl is far and away the most shockingly entertaining part of the film.

Along with its performers, the film is skillfully carried by director Matthew Vaughn, who wisely chose to produce the film independently, avoiding studio constraints, which would likely have removed Hit-Girl from the film entirely. The film's pacing is careful, as it alternates between humor and violence, comic book action and teenage drama. The action sequences, especially, are top-notch, including a noteworthy strobe-light shootout. He presents moments of, "He wouldn't do that... No, he couldn't... OH, he did!" with such timing that the temptation to watch wins out over the desire to look away at the last minute, and with great results.

In short, Kick-Ass is at once a parody of and tribute to superhero movies, one which readily disregardsthe PG-13 borders usually enforced on such films by studio heads. The film is bloody, vulgar, shocking, hilarious, and above all else, wildly entertaining. No doubt, the refrain of reviewers and viewers alike will be that this film, quite simply, Kicks Ass.

So, what are you wating for? Well, I suppose April 16th. Let the countdown begin.

And speaking of countdowns, I'll be back and (hopefully) blogging around April 7th. I'm done my classes now, so the only competition remaining is my two exams and two papers. And the many adventures and travels I have ahead of me.

So thanks for bearing with me. Hope you find the wait for future entries as worthwhile as I found the wait for Kick-Ass. And trust me, I was waiting for a long time.

Dublin: Day 2 - Writers, Wax, and Whiskey

Pardon the interruption, dear reader. I got a bit busy with reading for classes and writing something that would actually be graded. (i.e. Not this blog. Unless you are keeping score at home... Am I getting an A? Or did I lose points for tardiness?)

Anyway, early the next morning we awoke in the hostel to find that we had neighbors! We had gone to bed being the only two people in our room of ten, since it was so early, but the room was nearly full when we woke up. Wanting to spend as little time as possible there, we quickly hurried off to...

Breakfast

Not much to note here, I only bring it up so I can introduce a trend in Dublin establishments. Our hostel was built off of an old church, so the dining hall where they served breakfast was once full of pews, and there was once an altar in the kitchen. So I suppose it still gives us this day our daily bread. Another entertaining piece of reconstruction, they put their pay-phones in the confessionals. Very clever. Anyway, keep an eye out for more churches that are not churches as our travels progress.

Writers Museum

In anticipation of this exciting stop on our Dublin Pass checklist, we got here early. So early, in fact, that they weren't open yet. So we wandered around a nearby park for a bit, then made it as two of the first people in the Museum. To be honest, this was a huge disappointment. I mean, I was excited to see all sorts of stuff about famous Irish writers, like Bram Stoker, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and Samuel Beckett. Well, they had some things. But not very much on hand from the writers' actual lives. Mostly, it was just old copies of their books in glass display cases. Certainly, there must be some more entertaining way to learn about the literary lives of the Irish. (But more on that later.) Ultimately, the greatest find in the Dublin Writers Museum was upstairs in their children's literature exhibit, where I found a giant re-creation of a scene from "Can't You Sleep, Little Bear?" Classic. But, ultimately disappointed with our experience, we decided to try our luck with another literary site, traveling down the street to...

James Joyce Centre

Before discussing the Center itself, let's make one thing clear: Dublin worships this man. Seriously, he is everywhere. But what's most interesting of all is how dedicated they are to his character, Leopold Bloom, the main character of Ulysses. To give you an idea: There are plaques in the street marking various locations that Bloom stopped at over the course of the novel. There is a holiday celebrating the day that novel takes place. The James Joyce Centre boasts that they have the original door from No. 7 Eccles Street, Bloom's home in the novel. That's right. They have preserved the door of the home of a fictional character. I mean, to be fair, London did the same with turning Sherlock Holmes' house into a museum, but Holmes has actually received mail from fans who believe he truly exists. I don't think the same can be said for Bloom. Anyway, even seeing the factual door that was never opened by a fictional character did not make up for the let down that was the James Joyce Centre. Sure they recreated Joyce's bedroom and had some computers set up with a timeline of Joyce's real life and a breakdown of Ulysses, but other than that, there wasn't much going on. Thank goodness it was included in the Dublin Pass... I would have been upset if I'd paid for this. If I'm going to shell out three Euro, the door you show me better have been opened by someone who actually existed.

Wax Museum

Here we crossed paths with writers yet again! The first room in the Dublin-Pass-Included Wax Museum Plus featured wax figures of many of the writers we'd encountered earlier that morning. This was much more fun, though, but still not the most exciting way we would get to engage with Ireland's literary history. (The Irish writers may acknowledge that what I am doing here is creating suspense and anticipation for a future event.) This was actually an extremely fun way to engage with all of Ireland's history. From lamenting the potato famine to shaking hands with the great Eamon de Valera, we interacted with all sorts of historic Irish incidents. We also got to check out the miniature Chamber of Horrors, where Ryan killed Dracula and I chilled with Gollum, along with the Children's Area, where we saw Bob the Builder, the Simpsons, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The final stop was a room full of Irish entertainment and sports icons, where we were able to successfully identify zero of the fourteen figures on display. Sorry, Ireland. But our time here left us craving something a little more mature, so we headed over to the...

Jameson Distillery

Now, our Dublin Pass map was not very good, so on the way here we got a little bit confused. Looking at our map we were approached by someone who asked us if we needed any help. In Amsterdam, we had received this same question. However, there we had ignored the gentleman who we assumed would probably rob us and kept walking. In Dublin, though, charmed by the overwhelming friendliness of everyone we'd crossed paths with thus far, I was quick to say, "Yes, we're looking for the Jameson Distillery." With his help we made it there robbery free. Unlike the Guinness Storehouse, the Jameson Distillery is a guided tour, which was a nice change of pace after our day of self-guiding. But like the Guinness Storehouse, it too ends with a sample of the product. Now, I'm not much of a whiskey fan, perhaps because my exposure up until this point has been limited to cheap bad whiskey. That said, I really liked the Jameson, even if I had a limited number of things to compare it to. Ryan had a better comparison experience, since he volunteered to be a taster at the end, and got to compare the Jameson to a scotch (Johnny Walker) and an American whiskey (Jack Daniels). He has the diploma to prove his taste testing skills, and we also learned that Whiskey and Ginger Ale with a lime is an excellent drink. But, with our thirsts not quite totally quenched, we decided to return to the...

Guinness Storehouse

Perhaps the greatest perk of the Dublin Pass: We were able to return to places we'd already been. Which means that each day of the Pass, we could return to the Guinness Storehouse for a free pint. This time, we just made our way straight up to the Gravity Bar, foolishly forgetting the small sample that we passed up in the tasting room by doing so. We planned to return the next day to correct our error.

City Hall

With a few minutes before most of the Dublin Pass sites closed, we decided to swing over to the City Hall exhibit. There was nothing much to see here, which is why we went so late in the day. Actually, the only Blog-worthy point to make is that, although the exhibit was technically closed when we arrived, the extremely friendly Irish ladies running the show let us in to browse around for a few minutes.

From there we explored the very interesting Temple Bar area for a bit, then headed for dinner at the Kingfisher near our hostel. Basically the Irish equivalent of a diner with a fun variation on a club sandwich. Though I do not remember the variation anymore, I remember it was good. We called it an early night once more, figuring we'd get up early to take full advantage of the Dublin Pass one last day. But before we could, we met one of our bunk-neighbors, who had perhaps failed to hear that this was a Youth hostel, since he boosted the average age in the room by a good fifty years. He told us to close the door quietly when we returned later. We pointed out that we were in for the night, and he looked at us kind of funny, then left.

So, with thoughts of the next day's adventures (which would, we hoped, include a castle, model trains, and free stuff) we brought the second day of Dublin to a close.