An Evening in Dublin

 First, an exciting announcement: I appear to be FINALLY over my jet lag. *knock on wood* This means I can actually spend the middle of the day out enjoying where I am, instead of sleeping until I start work in the afternoon, then hanging out awake all through the wee hours of the morning with nothing to do but play around on my computer, and I didn't need to cross continents to do that!

I left Dublin by train this morning, and as referenced above and in my last post, between the sleep schedule and the work schedule I didn't get out and about to see much. But last night I was determined to venture out into the city before I left, so I booked an evening walking tour through the AirBnB "Experiences." 

It. Was. Spectacular. 

Daniel O'Connell, The Liberator

It was chock full of the history and culture of Ireland in general and Dublin in particular, ancient and modern. We started at The Spire on O'Connell Street, and learned all about it's namesake (that's him at the top of the statue there), wandered down the River Liffey and into the Temple Bar district, which included a surprising amount of rock n' roll history.

This is one of my favorite travel photos I've ever taken

A nice small group of friendly people on the tour with me!

I learned the background of the phrase "beyond the pale," and why milkmaids are traditionally understood to be gorgeous (it has to do with nutrition and immunization, of all things). I learned that Van Morrison is Irish, and still alive. And I learned that apparently there is an Irish superstition that Christmas decorations not taken down by January 8th must then be left up all year. Last year because of the lockdowns, the Temple Bar couldn't get enough workers to take down the giant Christmas tree you see pictured above, and so it's actually been there all year long. The whole city is starting to get done up for Christmas now, so it wasn't out of place to us, but apparently Jack the tour guide has had to explain it to people all year long!

It was such a fun night - I just wish I'd managed it a bit earlier in the trip so I could go back to a few places. After the tour, two members of our party had to split right away to make a dinner reservation, but the tour guide and the French girl Stephanie and I all hung around at a pub for well over an hour, talking Celtic culture and language and the French's obsession with food and all manner of things, and when we finally called it a night Jack was nice enough to escort me back to my neighborhood, even paying for my bus fare. 

It was an absolutely excellent evening, and I'm so very glad I got myself out to do it. 

Road Trip 2012: Grand Canyon

Several years ago, I read a passage in a book about the Grand Canyon. I can't remember the exact phrasing, or even where I read it, but it said something to the effect of "Everyone needs to go to the Grand Canyon. It is the one thing in life that will meet or exceed your expectations, no matter how high they are."

From that point on, I became obsessed with getting there as soon as possible. I managed it sophomore year of college, when I convinced my parents to make the 5+ hour drive from Mariners Spring Training twice in one day. And the book really was right. 

This time around, I knew what to expect, but that doesn't mean it wasn't still absolutely gorgeous! And Katie had never been, so I got to vicariously experience it again for the first time through her reactions. 

We took the Desert View Drive along the South Rim, stopping pretty much every time there was a scenic view with parking, and singing along to Josh Groban and Bon Jovi in between.

Almost as intense as the views was the wind that day.  Our hair at this particular location should give you a vague idea.

Keeping it relatively controlled for the picture

 

Going head on

Challenging the wind

 It didn't help with the near-vertigo of being so close to such sharp drops to have huge gusts of wind that felt like they could easily take you over the edge. But I like to think it added to the drama of Katie's first visit. Dramatic vista, dramatic weather.

 Once our visit concluded, it was off to California! Katie did some poking around and discovered a little desert oddity: Lake Havasu City, home of the original London Bridge. We have no idea how this little town got the bridge (I suspect some eccentric billionaire), but it was intriguing enough that we made it our home for the night, just miles from the California border. We did our drive over the London Bridge at dusk, so there aren't any decent pictures to speak of, but if you are ever out that way, it's worth a look. They have it going over water, with old fashioned street lights and everything.Very cute.

Paris Revisited: More Fun

One of the girls we met for dinner earlier in the week was turning 22, so we met her at a sushi place for a couple of hours. Very fun times. Fun note: they have cheese sushi in Paris. It's some sort of cream cheese surrounded by rice and seaweed. Pretty good, actually.

There are many boat rides that one can take along the Seine. My program took us on the Bateaux Mouches, and then I took the girls on the same ride when Katie and her friends came to visit last spring. I'm pretty fond of it. It has a nice sequence, and it's a good price. But I'd never taken the cruise during the day. What details was I missing out on? Time to find out...

Getting started

Centre Georges Pompidou

The amazing houseboats along the Seine

A corner of the Louvre

Musee d'Orsay

Love-Lock Bridge- you and your true love bring a padlock, write your initials and the date, lock it onto the bridge, then kiss as you throw the key into the Seine

The little garden where I wrote the other day

People hanging out, enjoying the gorgeous weather

That one building

Notre Dame from the side/back

A ridiculously gorgeous day. Lots of picnickers.

I finished the day by hanging out along the Seine for a few hours, writing and pondering. I think I am arranging my life in such a way that it won't ever be too long before I visit Paris again. That realization took away whatever stress I was feeling to revisit every spot I had even remotely fond memories of. Instead, I hit whatever moved me that day. Made for an excellent vacation.

Stateside once more, but a few more updates to come!

Paris Revisited: Day 2- Strolling the Seine

After sleeping in for quite a while, and lazing around for several more hours, I decided it was finally time to get out and see more of Paris. I grabbed the local Metro (the 8 ligne) and took it to one of its Seine stops- Place de la Concorde. Up to this point, I had seen only parts of Paris that were new to me (with the exception of the Gare de Nord, which I am quite familiar with, but doesn't really count for our purposes). So it was exciting and new, but it wasn't Paris. That all changed when I emerged from the Concorde Metro stop at sunset:

Now that looks familiar!

 It looked like Paris again! My Paris. I spent many happy hours strolling along this area of the Seine at twilight, and here I was again. My goal was to be at the Eiffel Tower by 7pm, in case it was dark enough that they would start the sparkling. But I had a little over an hour, so I took the opportunity to meander....

Through the Tuileries...

View of the Place de la Concorde from the Tuileries, all the way down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe

Down to the Louvre....

Then over to the Seine!

Discovered a new bridge...

And walked into the sunset to get to the Eiffel Tower

Got my crepe at the base of Trocadero

No sparkling until 8 (which I couldn't stay for), but all lit up and pretty nonetheless!

Fountains at Trocadero

The day rounded out with a dinner at Laura's in-laws. We spoke French most of the time, and it was comforting to know that most of my hard-earned semi-fluency from last year has remained intact. I've lost some random phrases, but I could fearlessly trundle ahead with less-than-perfect, yet still understandable, French. They also served a really excellent Speculoos cheesecake for dessert!

I spent the rest of my evening babysitting Nootka and Skypeing avec ma mere, then lying in bed until 4am because I forgot to take my sleeping pills. So I slept in past noon today. But I am determined to be up and about earlier tomorrow! You will see.