My Dublin Life

When you work in a restaurant, weekends don't feel quite the same. In fact, you tend to take your weekends piecemeal, whenever they give you a day off. Still, I like the weekend vibe on the streets of Dublin and it's fun to just get out and stroll up and down a bit.

This Saturday, I didn't start working till late so I went and had jolof rice, fish and other goodies at the African diner in Moore Street Mall. With all-you-can-eat for 6.99 I went to town and was actually physically unable to eat for the rest of the day. Which is probably just as well. Next time, I want to try one of the Polish diners down there. It's a great little place, with a fun atmosphere and a shoe shop featuring some of the oddest shoes I've ever seen in my life. Not sure that I'd want to wear them, but it's kind of entertaining thinking about it.

I had a nice surprise today. A lady from the Kildare Village outlet got in touch to offer me free tickets down there, to the National Stud and for lunch at the restaurant. All I have to do is somehow find a day when I'm not working!

I have been to the National Stud before, and it's certainly very interesting. I've never been to Kildare Village, I guess because I'm not the biggest shopper in the world. This does mean, however, that any review I give is going to be totally unbiased!! Anything, this will be a bit of a treat.

I've been examining their fancy website and apparently the deal is that there are lots of boutiques that sell designer clothes and you can spend the whole day there, and even eat at a restaurant (which this lucky girl will be doing for free!) All in the name of research, you understand!

This weekend I'll mostly be working and luxuriating in having my own space at the apartment, now that Vicki's gone back home, but I've also been invited by my friend Saoirse's Mom to a concert in the National Concert Hall. Classical music is usually not so much my thing but this does look great and the pianist is absolutely gorgeous. Last time I went to the Concert Hall, I was surprised to see the performers having drinks in the bar along with everyone else afterwards. Hopefully this will also be the case on Sunday ;-)

I'm loving the fall vibe. There's been a bit of wind the last couple of days and there are crunchy leaves all over lots of the streets. I know it's extra work for the city sweepers and all, but there's just something super-satisifying about stomping through the piles of leaves and kicking them aside.

Speaking of which, it's time for me to get to work, so I'd better start pounding the pavement on my way!

Well, Vicki's in the living room packing her bags for the big trip back to Newfoundland tomorrow, and I'm back to work at the restaurant. We've done so much this week that it'll seem like more of a break working in the kitchen than anything else!

I'm glad she had such a great time, but I'm also not sorry that she's leaving now because this apartment is really tiny and after a while it's hard for everyone when somebody's sleeping in the living room!

I thought I would add a few pictures from my recent trip to the Botanic Gardens. There are times in any city when you just need a bit of a nature fix, and fortunately Dublin does well in this area, with the Botanic Gardens possibly the number one best place to visit.

The first picture is of some fall gourds that were heaped up in the walled garden, where they grow fruits and vegetables.



These are just some flowers that I thought were kind of pretty:


And this is a crazy sculpture installation called The Onlookers. If you look closely, you'll see that everyone has a moment phone in their hand!


Anyways, for Vicki's last night, we're going to do something unashamedly touristy and go to the Irish House Party. I've heard great things about it and of course the quality of traditional music is always high in Dublin! There's nothing like finishing off a vacation with a bang!

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm almost looking forward to when my friend Vicki leaves! I've had a fantastic week, and she's here for two more days, but she's totally got the hots for my flatmate and it is making me very uncomfortable! I feel like I can't even leave them alone in the living room together in case she jumps his bones! Sorry for being so direct but it's just freaking me out!!!

Anyway, it HAS been a great week. Because I haven't been working, I've been able to do all the touristy things, the Guinness Storehouse, a Viking Splash tour, a Wild Wicklow tour and I've seen all the museums. I never do get tired of the Bronze Age gold and the squished mummy people at the National Museum. We've eaten out every day. (I've gained two kiloes). We've been to Dalkey Island courtesy of friends-of-a-friend and their lovely boat. It's been a wonderful week in many ways. But something that's been making me a little sad is that I think there's a new distance between me and my oldest friend, and that's quite apart from the whole flirting-with-my-flatmate issue. Maybe we'll find ourselves back in the same space at some time in the future, but right now it's like we're singing from different hymn sheets. It's very strange for me, because we'd always been so close. It's probably me, more than her. I've been away from home for quite a long time now, and I guess I've changed more than I thought. Living in a big city is very different to living in a small community like the place we grew up, and it's even different to living in a small city, like where we went to college straight after school.

Well, never mind, I still have a couple of days to try and get our vibe back. I hope it will work. Tonight is my treat, and we are going to Taste of Emilia, which really couldn't be any closer to my place, and then out for drinks. Bepe should be out training, so hopefully I'll have Vicki all to myself for once and we'll get to connect. I'm sure a few glasses of wine won't hurt any, either!

Last night, I took Vicki, my visiting friend, to the imaginatively named Exchequer gastropub on Exchequer Street! No, I'm not rich, but I had bought vouchers from Citydeal so we were able to pay for most of the meal with them.

I'd never been to the Exchequer before. It's really pretty. There was a very rowdy elderly bunch shouting at each other so enthusiastically about golf or something we had to move tables to get away from them (seriously!!) but we had a great heart-to-heart and a fantastic meal. There's even a brooding, mysterious-looking chef type person swanning around, so we had a bit of a look at him, too. I must say, now that I work in a restaurant, it's really very nice to be on the other side of receiving service and a cooked meal for a change.

I have steam coming out of my ears! I wanted my friend Vicki to get along with my flatmate Bepe as she'd be staying at our place, so the three of us went out last night. We bumped into some friends of his and between one thing and another ended up in Hogan's on George's Street.

Hogan's isn't a place I usually go, but it's nice. Anyway, the evening was going great, and then I noticed that she was flirting with Bepe, big time. Surely that's not on? Of course, it's not really my business, but she's here to visit ME, goshdarnit, and I don't want to have to deal with hurt feelings, etc., or whatever. Anyway, it's all pretty awkward and needless to say I haven't even mentioned it to her because I don't want to cause any hard feelings... but still. Grumph.

So this morning we went for Irish Breakfast at T.P. Smiths, which is near where I live.  (Very nice, by the way, I haven't needed lunch in consequence). She could tell that something was up, but I didn't tell her. I don't know why it's getting to me so much!!! I advised her to go the Hugh Lane on her own this afternoon, because I've already been there several times, so that's what she's doing now. Sigh. Maybe I should just get over it already. I honestly don't know why it's bugging me so much.

Anyway, we're going to the theatre tonight. Maybe we can talk about it after the show. It's a new play. We're going to two things as part of the Theatre Festival, one Irish classic, and one new. It was hard to choose as there's so much on, so in the end I selected almost at random. Looking forward to it though! :-)

Hallow'een is coming! I think it's my favourite festival. I've loved it ever since I saw Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas as a little kids. It scared the bejesus out of me, as my local greengrocer would say, but I think it's my favourite film of all time, and quite possibly the reason why I ended up studying Gothic literature in the first place.

And of course it's particularly special to celebrate Hallow'een in Ireland, where the festival originates. People say it's become "Americanised" and I'm guessing that's supposed to be a bad thing, but I'd be more inclined to see it as part of the ebb and flow of Irish culture across the Atlantic. Anyway, if you can't beat it, you might as well join in!!! And this year, I'm gonna have a party. Although this event in Marlay Park also looks like fun.

I'm having a wonderful week so far -- OK, so it's only Monday -- because my best galpal, Vicki, is here, and we are just seeing all the sights -- many of which I've already seen over my year-and-a-half here and also plenty of new ones. We've lucked out with all the stuff on right now, from the Theatre Festival to Oktoberfest, and I already know that I'm going to be crawling to the boss and looking for overtime to pay for all this, but what the hey -- it's worth it because my best, oldest friend is here and we are making memories that are going to last a lifetime!

I was a little nervous about introducing her to my best Irish friend, Saoirse, and sure enough, it was a little awkward. Why is it hard when friends from different parts of one's life meet up? I've never been able to understand that! Fortunately, considering the bijou size of our apartment, she's hit it off with my flatmate Bepe. That's a relief.