So my friend Stacey from high school and UNH (I won't say how many years back that's going), was in town for a couple of days, and it was so much fun! I got to be an unabashed tourist in Dublin. She got into town late Wednesday evening, so we grabbed dinner at Fortuna, a Chinese and Korean Restaurant on Parnell Street. I enjoyed the food, and found it to be better than Charming Noodle a few doors down. Then, since it was already 10:30pm and the bars close at 11:30 here, we went to Brannigan's Bar, where I'd been with Mark's Dad after "Comedy of Errors." It was great to chat and catch up!

Then Thursday morning I met Stacey at her hotel, and after I topped up my mobile phone over on Henry Street (an area kind of like Downtown Crossing in Boston), we caught some fresh juice at Nude Cafe, then went over to the National Museum because I wanted her to see the bog men, which I think are just so cool. I took some photos (ssshhhh):



Then I took her up for a quick jaunt through St. Stephen's Green, then down Grafton Street (a shopping area more like Newbury Street). We admired the pretty things in Karen Millen -- so inspiring. We decided on some key sight seeing destinations for the day, and agreed that paying for one of those tour buses would be a good way to get around town and see them. Not realizing that we could catch one right where we were at the Tourist Center, I made us walk all the way back to O'Connell Street! But we caught the tour bus there just the same, and although it was raining, there were a couple of dry, covered seats on the top level. I snapped a couple of photos. Here's Stacey, and the empty seats behind us:


We got off at St. Patrick's Cathedral, but they were charging 5.50euro to get in, and honestly neither of us wanted to pay that. So we got as good a look as possible from outside the cash register, and then got on the next tour bus, headed for the next stop: the Guinness Storehouse. The Guinness Factory hasn't been in use since 2001, and the building was converted into a museum, where they give the tours, and let me tell you it is pretty high-tech and elaborate! At the end of the tour you get to sit up on the seventh floor with these panoramic views and drink a free pint. During the tour I took a lot of photos because there were a lot of unusual objects!

Indoor waterfall:

Silk Hops display:

These held a lot of beer:

Old bottles:

A miniature ship with Stacey in the background:

Who is...

And here's me after the tour:

But the final room of the tour, just before the exit might have been most dramatic. It amused me so much that I took a little video. have a look here - there's sound, and let me tell you - it's dramatic!

After the Guinness tour, we went for a nice vegetarian dinner at Juice Restaurant, which was fantastic. After dinner, I thought we would head over to see some comedy at the International. But for some reason in my head I was thinking of a place over by the Liffey. But as we were walking over there, I spied H, from Seomra Spraoi. She informed us that we were headed the wrong direction to go to the International. She was telling us how to get there, but then she asked to join us, which was great!

H and Stacey outside the International:


When we got in there, I was a little shocked at how small it was, and additionally how many people they were packing into it! We managed to get seats and waited for the show to begin with much trepidation. I started to wonder if I'd brought us to the right place! But actually, while some of the jokes were not to my taste (a smattering of homophobic, racist, sexist jokes), there was some good material, and I laughed a lot and it was a good time.

I had wanted to take Stacey to The Long Hall pub, but as it was past 11:30 when the comedy show was over, they were closing. So we went across the street to Hogan's Bar, which was open late although the music was too loud. I admit that I'm not sure that everything I said made *complete* sense, given the beer we drank, but the three of us had flowing conversation on a wide array of subjects from politics to media to wrinkles! A full day, but so pleasant and fun.

Then this morning I met Stacey for breakfast at one of my preferred restaurants, LovinSpoon. This was my third time there, and it didn't disappoint. We both got the vegetarian breakfast, which was scrambled eggs on a pancake, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, and toast. The coffee was nice and strong -- just what I needed. After that we traveled only a few steps to the Ambassador to the Bodies exhibit. I've gotta say that while I don't have any philosophical problems with the exhibit, and had always been mildly curious about it, first of all, I do not recommend seeing it on a full stomach. Secondly, if you have an overactive fear of death as I do, I also do not recommend this exhibit, as it consists of actual human bodies. Now, if you are a person who can separate these things in your mind (meat eaters, I'm looking at you), then maybe you're all set. But for me, I kept imagining that the bodies were my own body, and thinking about the fact that I will have to die and not be in my body anymore, and that my body with not be animated, and well, let's just say it takes me to a dark place on any given hour of the day, let alone standing in the middle of an exhibit full of dead bodies and body parts. I took a long trip to the bathroom to kill a little time.

Once we were out in the open air, it had stopped raining! So we walked up to Temple Bar and checked out that area, which isn't my favorite, so I took Stacey up to Georges Street through the Arcade Market and then through the shops over that direction, where the Powerscourt Arcade is. We went up to the Design Loft to check out the vendors, and there is some really cute stuff. This fabulous hat maker, Dessislava, made us try on all these hats, and we convinced Stacey to get a fantastic headband -- it looked amazing on, and I can't wait to see photos of her out and about in Boston with it on! Here's a shot of Stacey in one of the brilliant hats. It looked so good on her!


Then we walked back to the hotel over the Ha'Penney bridge through Moore street (the Haymarket-like area; she bought some bananas), and fetched her luggage and caught a taxi back to my apartment where Stacey's rental car was parked. I guess our parking space is good for something after all! But in order to avoid Friday afternoon traffic, she had to head out immediately, so we said our good-byes. She has a load of photos on her camera of our day together, which I will have to add later on. But it was fantastic to have someone from home visiting, and someone so much fun to be with, especially. I hope she has a fantastic weekend, completing her tour of Ireland. She now officially knows more of this country than I do, having driven all around it!

UPDATE: Here are some of Stacey's photos from our tourist fun in Dublin!
In St. Stephen's Green:

On the tour bus:

Drinking our free pint:

Me trying on a fantastic hat:

More hats! I made her buy the one she's wearing!

Yesterday I met A2 in St. Stephen's Green for some sitting in the sun. I couldn't pass up the chance, because here in Ireland you never know how long the sun will last. She brought along a sheet and some food and we had a proper picnic -- it was so sweet! But then it became sort of a bit too windy and cold, and despite our scarves and jackets we decided to walk around to keep warm.

So we headed over to the National Museum, but it's closed on Mondays (who knew?), so then we went around the corner to the National Gallery, where there is currently an exhibit of Thomas Roberts, a landscape artist from the 18th century:


We also stopped into Trinity, actually to use the Ladies' room, but while we were in there we wandered into where the Book of Kells entrance is, thinking it was a book shop (It's actually a gift shop, and I don't mean to say that I didn't know what the Book of Kells is, but rather that we thought the little store before the entrance sold books rather than doodads). While A2 was asking the girl behind the counter where the Trinity second hand book store was, who should come up to me but one of my former students from Suffolk University, back in Boston!! It was so random! He has been in Ireland studying in Wexford and was just in Dublin doing some sightseeing before taking his final exams and heading back to the US. He was one of my students that I had both semesters last year -- a great kid, and it was nice to bump into a familiar face, if only for a few moments.

I took a photo while we were in Trinity, and then A2 suggested that she take one of me, which I thought was a novel idea! Unfortunately I look pretty crappy in this photo, especially bulked up with all my layers on. But here you go, a couple of photos from Trinity College, Dublin:

We began our day by brunching at Juice, a vegetarian restaurant with vegan options (note: I think their website may be slightly outdated) so Mark and I could both eat comfortably. From there we sauntered over to the Cow's Lane Market and had a gander at the stalls. Some interesting stuff, but nothing that blew my socks off. The problem with handmade goods is that to make money off it, you need to charge more, obviously, because it takes more time than a factory item. But for people to want to pay more, it has to be unique and well-made. I didn't feel that all of the vendors had the kind of quality that matched the prices they were asking. There has to be something about the item that makes the customer willing to pay more, it's that simple. My mind got to thinking...I am eager to get my sewing machine next week. But there were some cute things there, for sure!

Boy there sure are a lot of people walking around town in those ridiculous green hats. More than in Boston I'd guess, if you can imagine. It's all so undignified. I suppose I still resent St. Patrick's day for overshadowing my birthday, the much cooler, nerdier, and under-appreciated Pi day. I'm really not much for crowds, and I'm really really not much for drunken crowds, so St. Patrick's Day is definitely not one of my preferred holidays. Now, in case you are wondering, yes, I am in fact of Irish descent: my great-grandfather was from Limerick. But I'm just not all rah-rah about it. I'm also, for the record, not rah-rah about my Italian or French-Canadian, or American heritage either. I just don't fly flags, period. (And no jokes about any "freak flags" from the peanut gallery!)

Anyhoo, from there we headed to St. Stephen's Green, (a park at the top of Grafton Street, one of the big shopping areas, so I guess you could liken it to Boston Common, but much smaller and much more manicured) because I had yet to visit it. It wasn't much to write home about, but I took a couple of photos nevertheless:
A bust of Constance Markievicz:

A gift from the Germans to the Irish people after WWII:

A sculpture evoking the famine:


We decided to head over to the park over at Merrion Square, and there just happened to be a little carnival going on there! It was sort of an odd sight, and not very well attended at all. The Ferris Wheel was actually impressively large, but since it was an extremely windy day, there was no way either of us were going to get on it!

I'm not sure what this ride was, but the picture is worth a thousand words...

Ride Hollywood with all your favorite movie stars!


The park itself is nice for walking or sitting around for a picnic -- it kind of reminds me of the sculpture park in Washington, DC but less open, so the pathways make you feel like you're almost in the woods at some points. If you remember from a couple of months ago, this is the same park where I took the photo of the pyramid with the flame and the soldiers inside. On that day, I was too cold to explore. Yesterday was a fine day for checking out the sculptures and flora...or the both! We had a laugh when we came upon this bust of Michael Collins that someone had stuffed with a daffodil:

Then there was a not-so-great statue of Oscar Wilde. It made him look like a jerk, I thought:

And this sculpture, which is actually quite small but may look large in the photo. The woman looks about four months pregnant, and is about three quarters of the size of my arm:


We headed over to the Docklands, and walked around a bit before it was time to go into the Grand Canal area where we had two tickets to the free show for a performance piece called "Spheres." As we were walking, we came upon this sign in a window from someone being evicted from their house. A true "sign of the times" indeed:


We wandered back up to where the show was happening, and caught the show. It was cute. Of course we enjoyed critiquing it once it was over, as is our way. But visually, you can see they did some interesting stuff with not a lot of technical mumbojumbo:



We popped into a pub whose name escapes me now for a pint. Mark said it was in Dubliners. We enjoyed the place but decided we'd best move on if we were to keep to schedule.

And then finally we walked all the way back up to the edge of St. Stephen's Green and ate at Wagamama, and then headed over to a bar called The Lower Deck to catch a friend's band play.

The bands were all decent, actually, and I was relieved that my friend's band was the best, so I don't have to lie when I give him a compliment. Here's a photo I took of a kid's jacket. He was comically drunk, and then not so comically drunk.

When it was over we bought some snacks, walked for a bit, and then finally decided to spring for a cab home.

All in all, a very fun-filled, pleasant birthday indeed.