Tonight we headed over to Trinity's Samuel Beckett Centre to catch a production of Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape." It's a short play (only 60 minutes), and I was excited to see it performed live because I taught the play last year in my Intro to Literature class at Suffolk University and had only seen clips of it on Youtube. Overall, it was a good performance. Mark and I both agreed that it was a fine show, but something seemed to be missing that we couldn't put our finger on. Then we wondered if, knowing Beckett, that wasn't the way it's supposed to be.

I was really hungry, and at 9pm a lot of places are either closed or packed. So we went to Yamamori, but it was more than I really wanted or needed, and it was sadly over our paltry budget, so I ended up feeling grumpy and guilty by the end of dinner. The food was good, don't get me wrong, but all I really needed was a quick bite. Oh well, you live and learn.

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: