Good Craic

It has been a long week. St. Paddy's day was a lot of fun, crazy, and a very long day. I met up with a friend at 11:30am and well started drinking.  We walked down to see that parade, bottle of hard cider in hand, a guard (policeman) saw us and just smiled and walked away. The parade was great, not like the ones in the States with huge floats, instead most of the "floats" were on contraptions that reminded me of the first bicycles. One big wheel and a small wheel. There were also stilt walkers and acrobats which gave the parade an old time feel. After the parade it was time to eat so we met up with some friends, braving the crowded streets of Temple Bar. I literally ate a huge bowl of chips and sausage (and a pint of Guinness), this seemed a rational meal for someone who intended to keep drinking. And that's what I did! We happily hopped from pub to pub mixing amongst the crowds of Irish and all the crazy tourists. At about 3:00am I scarfed down more chips and called it a night.

On Saturday Ireland played England in a rugby match and won! It was a great match, especially because if England had won they would have won the Grand Slam (when a team beats all of the other five teams competing in Six Nations). This coupled with St. Paddy's made for a weekend of Irish pride.

On Sunday I went on an excursion to Dollymount Strand and Bull Island, a place frequented by James Joyce, which I read about in an excerpt from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.  It was nice to get away from the city and be by the ocean, especially since it only took about an hour to get there. It was a nice day and many people were enjoying the beach and flying kites. From the beach you can see the Dublin city centre and the Wicklow mountains in the background.

Monday I went with a friend to a place called the Cake Cafe, which serves of course, cake! Yum!

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent on a house project with a friend. Apparently there are some disadvantages to Ireland's wet climate, such as condensation. The bathroom in my flat was getting moldy from the condensation so we cleaned it with this special spray and repainted the bathroom with some special paint! How exciting.

On Friday I met up with some friends at an old, classic Dublin pub for some pints and traditional Irish music, my friend knew one of the musicians which was an extra plus. I was invited to come back and dance with them next week, as it was too crowded to dance that day.  Saturday I did about the same, only I substituted Guinness for Jameson. I have to give them both fair treatment.

Sunday was a gorgeous day so I walked over to Phoenix Park, I believe it is the biggest city park in the world. (Even bigger than  NY's Central Park!) The president of Ireland's house is in the park, as well as the Dublin zoo, and a large herd of elk that call the park home. I treated myself to some cake at the Teahouse and basked in the sun for the afternoon while reading Yeates. How posh am I?

We finally had daylight savings time here and the days are getting longer and brighter, which no one is objecting to. I'm told in the summer it will stay light out till around 11pm, that sounds like a lot of fun!

Oh yeah, "Craic" pronounced crack means fun. This lesson in the Irish language brought to you by me. More from our sponsors after these messages!