trip to Dublin

I undertook my first hitchhiking trip to Dublin on Thursday- Dave and I were picked up by a businesswoman named Orla who suggested looking for babysitting work by leaving my name and number at hotels for parents who visit with children. Brilliant! Especially since we live directly next to the Glen Oaks Hotel (and nothing else.) We had a fantastic dinner in a Spanish restaurant, speaking intermediate Spanish the whole time, and then proceeded to jostle our way through the "vibrant" (overcrowded) Temple Bar area. I went back to the hostel; Dave went out partying until 4. ("Where did you go?" "Everywhere." "What did you find?" "Everything.")

Saturday morning, I saw the book of Kells- it's amazingly high-resolution, to apply that term to a medieval book. The drawings easily blow up to wall-size with no loss of detail. I finagled my way into The Dublin Experience- a 45 minute film with highly uncomfortable seats- went to a free museum nearby for a look at this chalice that is supposed to be the finest example of Celtic art ever found, and hitched back. Both ways, I made better time than the bus. Boo-yah!

Then, at the Glen Oaks, we met the unwashed masses of Ireland- a guy with 14 brothers and sisters who couldn't read or write, and his wife. They know where we live and they might go out with us again tonight. Yikes.