Actually, nearly my whole week. Joel arrived on Wednesday morning, and I had to wait through voice class before I could go meet him. I swear those were the longest three hours of my life! But I got through them somehow, and met Joel on the bridge over the canal, and finally, finally got to see him. Words are really not enough to describe this week, and how wonderful it was to see Joel again. This post will probably just be lots of events, and totally inadequate as to what I felt, but if I go off babbling, forgive me. Wednesday night was fajita night at Cozy's, where I dragged Joel to meet everyone, and where I pretty much failed as a girlfriend because I couldn't for the life of me remember who I'd introduced or hadn't and ended up not managing to do that social thing very well. But he handled my social idiocy well and it was really fun to hang out with all the theater kids and have him there as well. Also the fajitas were really tasty.
Thursday morning was class-free, so we decided to poke around a few museums. We were exploring St Stephen's Green when it began to mist at us, but since we're Seattleites, that's nothing we can't handle. The downpour two minutes later, however, was something slightly different. It caught us just outside the park, and by the time we found shelter on Kildare street we were dripping with rain. The Archeology Museum was just next door, so we stopped in there--it was warm, and dry, and historically fun! We wanted to leave our coats and bags but I wasn't sure if the cloakroom was free, so I went to ask. "Are you students?" the attendant asked, and when we admitted we were he added, "that's a typical student question." Oh, college students: the same the world over.
Thursday night was Thai Takeout Thursday, which put me & Joel & Katie V into a food coma. Joel & I had talked about going salsa dancing, but the place isn't terrific and I was pretty much unable to get up from the couch, so instead we just flopped together for a while & talked to my roommates and I eventually managed to get up and pack for Friday.
Our first outside-Dublin trip was up to Glendalough. We caught the bus after my early class, armed with lunches and hot chocolate & a scone for me. After riding all the way to Glendalough, we realized that we should have gotten off the bus in Laragh, just a kilometer back on the road. So we hitched a ride back on the next bus toward Dublin, and we found our B&B down a small lane past the main road. After leaving our things in the room (small & cozy & ridiculously cute), we found a path back to Glendalough and the monastic site.
This is along that 1km path to the monastery. Joel mentioned that a lot of the scenery around us looked like a stage, which led into discussions of what plays we would do in the forest. A lot of it, including this photo, reminded me of Chekhov.
(The colors were so striking!)
We wandered the graveyard (speaking of outdoor theater, I still really want to do Carthaginians in an actual graveyard) and the monastic sites, and then down the long path to the lake. It was terrifically cold and windy, especially around the lake, but we sat & ate our lunches anyway, & shivered & laughed at how ridiculously cold it was & took pictures:
See? Gorgeous. (The scenery in the back's not all that bad, either.)
(Sorry. Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
We went for dinner that night in Laragh, after a debate on whether it was worth braving the wind and the cold and the dark, or whether we should just eat our bananas and stolen hostel-rolls. Hunger won out, and we bundled up and went up the tiny road toward the village, swiping our flashlight out to warn any cars that we were there, since there were no streetlights. It was rather exhilarating, though, and with the trees all around and the high wind it sounded like we were right next to the ocean. And you could see the stars, so many of them that it was hard to pick out constellations at all.
The next morning we had a slow breakfast at the B&B before packing up and going back to Glendalough. Can I just say that I love B&Bs for the fact that you can just sit and linger over breakfast that is really good but you a) didn't have to cook & b) won't have to clean up? It's awesome.
We walked back over the small bridge & the path to Glendalough:
(I'm really fond of the light in this picture.)
We walked back toward the lake, via the opposite path from the day before, and there was more amazing woods and beautiful colors. It sounds so pointless and repetitive when I say it, but it all really was so pretty. Here, have a picture instead of me babbling.
When we got to the lake we went into the information office and looked at trail maps. The lady working there was ready to tell us all about which trails we ought to take and tapped out a route on the map on her desk, and was even nice enough to let us store our bags in her office although it really wasn't a cloakroom. We hiked up the mountains a little (enough to make my calves hurt the next day) and then sat by a stream to eat our lunch of B&B brown bread, oranges, bananas and stolen chocolate biscuits.
Yep, that was where we had lunch.
We hiked up a little further along the trail, hoping to find the great panorama view the lady had promised. We found enough of one to satisfy us at any rate, and came back down the mountain via the waterfall-side trail:
We came back to Dublin on a really warm bus (heaters going full on). I fell asleep, and Joel is a very comfortable pillow...but it was only for a few minutes. We told jokes on the way home.
Saturday night was me attempting to write some on my papers (which really didn't happen), and hanging out in the apartments, and then going to Cozy's birthday party! Where there was lots of drinking and dancing around and drunk french girls hanging out of windows and that one kazoo... it was a little crazy. And I took Joel to the Barge, to see a proper Irish pub & get a pint of Guinness, and then we walked back along the canals at night. And I should add that Kate is a doll & a darling for not minding Joel crashing in our room that night, since he had no hostel bed to go to. Good roommates are a godsend.
We woke up & put together some breakfast & some packed lunch on Sunday, before catching the train out to Malahide, which is a far away suburb area of Dublin. I didn't take my camera out on this part of the trip at all, so I have no pictures; they're all on Joel's camera. So I'll wait to update the second part of this until I can steal some photos from him, I think. That'll be all for now.
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