Dublin: Day Two

I slept in this morning until nearly 9AM after spending the entire day yesterday operating on no sleep at all.

After getting some breakfast I headed out for a day of exploring the city. The thing about Dublin is that it is a very small city and as long as you have good shoes and good knees you can traverse it entirely on foot. After a few tries I have finally found a great pair of walking shoes (Puma ballet flats, a size larger to allow for swelling). I walked from one end of this city to the other both ways and my feet never once screamed in pain as they had on previous trips.

I started my walk journeying up north of the river and walked O'Connell to Henry (as major shopping street) and then trekked up the entire length of it, shopping in at a mall and grabbing a latte at Starbucks where I posted about this morning's breakfast, and then circled back to the river

 

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I wanted to visit St. Stephen's Green and Trinity College so I headed down Dame Street and visited the park first. It was a surprisingly beautiful day with intermittent clouds and sunshine. The weather forecast had implied that it was going to be a rather gloomy trip so I was very happy to see the sun today. A sudden shower appeared once about 4:00 but other than that it was a great day. The park was quite serene and, though crowded with tourists and locals alike, it was very peaceful and I spent far longer there than I had intended.

One of the reasons I wanted to see Trinity College was the Book of Kells and the Library but it was far too late in the day for me to do that by the time I arrived. So I simply explored the grounds.

A day trip to see the Giant's Causeway was one of the things I thought I might do on this trip. But knowing I will be leaving for Lisbon on Tuesday I want to spend tomorrow having a relaxed day. I might rent a bike and see the city at a leisurely pace. I know I want to go over to Grafton Street and get some ice cream at Murphy's. It is always on the best of lists for Dublin and I don't want to miss it. I would also like to see Oscar Wilde at Merrion Park. A bike would certainly speed up the day and increase the number of spots I can hit.

I came back to the apartment around 6PM and rested for a few hours while going through the pictures I had taken today and posting some on Instagram. Finishing that up, I realized I was hungry after walking around all day and consulted my map to see where I would like to go for dinner. I chose Zaytoon. It was just down the street and it was one of the first cafes I pinned a few years ago when I knew Dublin was on the list of places to which I would travel. I read a review on a travel blog and the writer said it was one of their favorite places to eat in Dublin. It is a fun place that was packed with people. The only table left was a communal table. It was empty when I sat down to eat and read my book but I was soon joined by a guy that sat at the other end. We were both content to eat in silence, but then the drunk Swede joined us. We knew he was Swede and that he was drunk because the second he sat down at the table he proclaimed "I'm Swedish and I drink too much." You have to love a guy that knows who and what he is. I finished my meal and quickly left when he tried to play matchmaker between strangers at opposite ends of a table. I came back to the apartment because I wanted to do a load of laundry and it was nearly 10PM.

And that ends day two in Dublin. I sit here watching reruns of American television shows while my laundry spins in the washer. Being in Dublin is such a blast. The ebb and the flow are fantastic. You have to move fast or you could get run over but it seems to work. This city feels lived in. It has a soul. And I love that.