What we did on our holidays
Feb. 12th, 2007 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
louiseluxWe fly back early this evening. It feels like I've been here far longer than six days - in fact they've gone by in a blur and I'm so glad I have tomorrow off as well. Right now, we are in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daegaer's sitting room, drinking tea and vaguely thinking about packing, and I have been writing up my week.
Thursday
We spent the morning of my birthday lounging about eating bagels, swapping the hot fandom news, drinking vast amounts of tea and frightening ourselves with Gunther videos. Can that man really be serious? We don’t know, but we doubt it. Asdaegaer pointed out, even his teeth are shiny.
It snowed on my birthday! Kind of. Okay, it sleeted, but it was still exciting. We caught the bus into the city, where I dived straight into Penneys (aka Primark), because my brain clearly malfunctioned when I was packing and I didn't bring any long sleeved t-shirts at all but plenty of camisole tops. That done, we wandered over to Trinity college, which was wet and grey and very imposing, even the 1970s new part that's hidden round the corner. Trinity has a huge cobbled central courtyard and the grassy areas have the most vicious railing spikes ever seen. Then we went and sat in a small, warm café that we instantly fell in love with, due to finding a 50 euro note under the table. They did a mean tuna melt as well.
Full of food, we waddled over to look at the Book of Kells, housed in Trinity. The ink colours are still so vivid, partly I think because they were made from ground up minerals. Peering down at the lettering, you get a real sense of the writers' personalities. There are odd little lines of unnecessary crimson squiggles and dots, as if someone just wanted to doodle and there are bouffant haired angels with pink gowns. In one part, the angel's head peeps over the top on the left and the bottom of his gown peeps out from the right. It's a surprisingly silly joke, but I suppose the monks at Kells must've needed a sense of humour, what with all the pillaging and burning down of the monastery that went on every fifty years or so.
After that,daegaer led us to the Museum Building at Trinity, which has a giant elk in the doorway, along with the Ancient Buffer of Atlantis and secret holes in the walls. Truly, the architect knew what they were doing. We wandered off to Temple Bar after that, a higgledy-piggeldy mess of shops and cafes and restaurants, to go and drink in the Stag's Head and on the way we window shopped. Rhinestones is the most fantastic jewellery shop I have ever been in. It's all costume jewellery, from the end of the 19th C onwards and the collection is stunning. The shop is walled with huge glass cabinets filled with brooches, beads, earrings and bracelets in amber, jet, rhinestones in all colours, bakelite and lucite, jade, glass beads, gemstones, cast enameled copper and bronze and enameled gold. Every piece of it was interesting in some way. It is run by two sisters who travel all over the world adding to the collection. The urge to buy something shiny was overwhelming, but I'd need a whole day to choose. But! One day I will return.
We had some drinks in the Stag's Head, which is a nice old place with huge mirrors on the wall a worn down marble floor and an inexplicable stuffed fox that was grimacing down at the room. M = "It's saying 'Shit, I'm dead," which made me laugh probably far too much, but it was that kind of day.
And then it was time for food! At Yamamori I had the vegetarian bento box, anddaegaer did warn that they were good value, ie, were crammed with ridiculous amounts of food. It came with rice and miso soup too. I couldn’t actually finish mine, even though it possibly the most delicious Japanese food I have ever had. There was the sushi, huge veg tempura and a ginger shoyu mix to dip it in, massive triangles of fried tofu that had a soft melty texture. The buckwheat noodles were a little bland though. Well, until I ate a lump of wasabi by mistake and started crying from teh hot, and not the good hot. The last of the 50 euro note came into its own here and paid for a bottle of Cava.
There was a dodgy moment on the bus home where I thought I might bring it all up again, but I kept quiet about it and then we were having too much fun doing Gunther impersonations for me to worry. Back atdaegaer's we broke out more cava, shouted at the pilot episode of the Lone Ranger (did you know that his mask is made out of his dead brother's vest?), ate chocolate cake and then watched the Clangers until we were too tired to even laugh at the thought of Gunther.
Friday began slowly again, and then me and Mr Lux hopped back on the bus to meetdaegaer in town, where we went to a fancy supermarket in Temple Bar and bought rambutans, which I have never had, prosecco, parma violets and goats cheese with garlic and chives. You know, sensible shopping. We ate the goat's cheese later - the garlic was intense and strong enough to make the tongue tingle and just delicious.
On Saturdaydaegaer drove us out to Dollymount Strand, a five mile long sandbar to the north of Dublin. It was cold, windy, grey and fabulously bracing and we acted in a very manly fashion by leaping through bogs. There were men with giant kites surfing along the sand. I have no idea what the official name for that activity is, but it looks terrifying, like the kite might drag them off intothe sky at any moment. We went to Howth after that, for extra bracingness, and walked along the terrifying pier, running in panic when huge waves crashed over it. That evening we ate salmon and roasted vegatables, watched the Smallville pilot episode (conclusion: Lex rilly luvs Clark, Lana is played by the most annoying actress ever) and then Azumi -- girl warrior action movie-- which is really very good.
Yesterday we went out to New Grange, a neolithic mound that has a remarkably brusque and curt tour guide called Frank. We were herded into the tiny rock chamber inside the mound and then Frank said "I'm going to switch out the lights. Is anyone bothered by being in small, dark, enclosed spaces (with 200,000 tons of dirt and rock over our heads, held up by some ancient stonework, as he helpfully pointed out. Bastard.)?" I was the only person to say yes! It won me a rare smile. Anyway, my anxiety levels stayed manageable and anyway I didn't want to miss the pretend dawn. New Grange mound is designed so that it catches the first beams of the sun on the midwinter solstice. Every year some lucky people get picked from a lottery to see it for real, we but we saw it yesterday with the aid of some cunningly placed light bulbs. It was moving, even with Frank and 15 strangers. No one really knows the purpose of New Grange.
In random other news, I've begun reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince again. It hits me anew just what a bunch of little shits most of Rowling's child characters are. Harry is particularly appalling, all boiling rage, rudeness, badly thought-out plans, smirking and general me me me. A teenager, basically.
daegaer's sitting room, drinking tea and vaguely thinking about packing, and I have been writing up my week.Thursday
We spent the morning of my birthday lounging about eating bagels, swapping the hot fandom news, drinking vast amounts of tea and frightening ourselves with Gunther videos. Can that man really be serious? We don’t know, but we doubt it. As
daegaer pointed out, even his teeth are shiny. It snowed on my birthday! Kind of. Okay, it sleeted, but it was still exciting. We caught the bus into the city, where I dived straight into Penneys (aka Primark), because my brain clearly malfunctioned when I was packing and I didn't bring any long sleeved t-shirts at all but plenty of camisole tops. That done, we wandered over to Trinity college, which was wet and grey and very imposing, even the 1970s new part that's hidden round the corner. Trinity has a huge cobbled central courtyard and the grassy areas have the most vicious railing spikes ever seen. Then we went and sat in a small, warm café that we instantly fell in love with, due to finding a 50 euro note under the table. They did a mean tuna melt as well.
Full of food, we waddled over to look at the Book of Kells, housed in Trinity. The ink colours are still so vivid, partly I think because they were made from ground up minerals. Peering down at the lettering, you get a real sense of the writers' personalities. There are odd little lines of unnecessary crimson squiggles and dots, as if someone just wanted to doodle and there are bouffant haired angels with pink gowns. In one part, the angel's head peeps over the top on the left and the bottom of his gown peeps out from the right. It's a surprisingly silly joke, but I suppose the monks at Kells must've needed a sense of humour, what with all the pillaging and burning down of the monastery that went on every fifty years or so.
After that,
daegaer led us to the Museum Building at Trinity, which has a giant elk in the doorway, along with the Ancient Buffer of Atlantis and secret holes in the walls. Truly, the architect knew what they were doing. We wandered off to Temple Bar after that, a higgledy-piggeldy mess of shops and cafes and restaurants, to go and drink in the Stag's Head and on the way we window shopped. Rhinestones is the most fantastic jewellery shop I have ever been in. It's all costume jewellery, from the end of the 19th C onwards and the collection is stunning. The shop is walled with huge glass cabinets filled with brooches, beads, earrings and bracelets in amber, jet, rhinestones in all colours, bakelite and lucite, jade, glass beads, gemstones, cast enameled copper and bronze and enameled gold. Every piece of it was interesting in some way. It is run by two sisters who travel all over the world adding to the collection. The urge to buy something shiny was overwhelming, but I'd need a whole day to choose. But! One day I will return.We had some drinks in the Stag's Head, which is a nice old place with huge mirrors on the wall a worn down marble floor and an inexplicable stuffed fox that was grimacing down at the room. M = "It's saying 'Shit, I'm dead," which made me laugh probably far too much, but it was that kind of day.
And then it was time for food! At Yamamori I had the vegetarian bento box, and
daegaer did warn that they were good value, ie, were crammed with ridiculous amounts of food. It came with rice and miso soup too. I couldn’t actually finish mine, even though it possibly the most delicious Japanese food I have ever had. There was the sushi, huge veg tempura and a ginger shoyu mix to dip it in, massive triangles of fried tofu that had a soft melty texture. The buckwheat noodles were a little bland though. Well, until I ate a lump of wasabi by mistake and started crying from teh hot, and not the good hot. The last of the 50 euro note came into its own here and paid for a bottle of Cava. There was a dodgy moment on the bus home where I thought I might bring it all up again, but I kept quiet about it and then we were having too much fun doing Gunther impersonations for me to worry. Back at
daegaer's we broke out more cava, shouted at the pilot episode of the Lone Ranger (did you know that his mask is made out of his dead brother's vest?), ate chocolate cake and then watched the Clangers until we were too tired to even laugh at the thought of Gunther. Friday began slowly again, and then me and Mr Lux hopped back on the bus to meet
daegaer in town, where we went to a fancy supermarket in Temple Bar and bought rambutans, which I have never had, prosecco, parma violets and goats cheese with garlic and chives. You know, sensible shopping. We ate the goat's cheese later - the garlic was intense and strong enough to make the tongue tingle and just delicious. On Saturday
daegaer drove us out to Dollymount Strand, a five mile long sandbar to the north of Dublin. It was cold, windy, grey and fabulously bracing and we acted in a very manly fashion by leaping through bogs. There were men with giant kites surfing along the sand. I have no idea what the official name for that activity is, but it looks terrifying, like the kite might drag them off intothe sky at any moment. We went to Howth after that, for extra bracingness, and walked along the terrifying pier, running in panic when huge waves crashed over it. That evening we ate salmon and roasted vegatables, watched the Smallville pilot episode (conclusion: Lex rilly luvs Clark, Lana is played by the most annoying actress ever) and then Azumi -- girl warrior action movie-- which is really very good. Yesterday we went out to New Grange, a neolithic mound that has a remarkably brusque and curt tour guide called Frank. We were herded into the tiny rock chamber inside the mound and then Frank said "I'm going to switch out the lights. Is anyone bothered by being in small, dark, enclosed spaces (with 200,000 tons of dirt and rock over our heads, held up by some ancient stonework, as he helpfully pointed out. Bastard.)?" I was the only person to say yes! It won me a rare smile. Anyway, my anxiety levels stayed manageable and anyway I didn't want to miss the pretend dawn. New Grange mound is designed so that it catches the first beams of the sun on the midwinter solstice. Every year some lucky people get picked from a lottery to see it for real, we but we saw it yesterday with the aid of some cunningly placed light bulbs. It was moving, even with Frank and 15 strangers. No one really knows the purpose of New Grange.
In random other news, I've begun reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince again. It hits me anew just what a bunch of little shits most of Rowling's child characters are. Harry is particularly appalling, all boiling rage, rudeness, badly thought-out plans, smirking and general me me me. A teenager, basically.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 07:34 pm (UTC)I think that's exactly what I dislike most about the Harry Potter books. I just can't stand a vast majority of the characters. Harry in the last two books is just awful, sneering and arrogant and self-absorbed. Ugh. And...well, there was so much about HBP that drove me nuts that I'd better not even start. I could rant about that for days. *expires*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 04:48 pm (UTC)Harry really is appalling. I didn't exactly notice the first time around, but now, arrgh.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 10:33 pm (UTC)which made me laugh probably far too much, but it was that kind of day.
Aw. I love those days. When you're just so full of happiness that you can't stop it from bubbling out as excessive giddy laughter at every provocation. Yay.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 04:53 pm (UTC)We really were excessivly manly.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 11:36 pm (UTC)Another concerns our former provost, Provost Salmon, who declared that women would be let into Trinity over his dead body. He died a few months before women were admitted, and according to the legend, he is buried under a particular spot on Front Square, and female undergraduates are encouraged to walk over him.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 04:54 pm (UTC)Also, yah boo sucks to Provost Salmon.