A Quiet Day Exploring Dublin

A view from St. Stephen's Green

I got back from the Kilkenny tour last night at 6:30 P.M.  I had a quick dinner, and went back to the hotel.  By 10:00 I fell asleep, and slept until 11:30 the next morning.  From all my travels, I should have been able to predict this sequence.  I spend the first two days in a foreign country trying to do as much as I can, and the third day I just have to rest and slow down.  It was raining this morning, which put my beach plans on hold.  One option during rain is to go to museums, but they are packed to the gills with tourists when it's raining.  Since the rain was light and often just mist, I decided to walk to St. Stephen's Green and walk nearby Grafton street, which is noted for its shopping.

I walked to St. Stephen's Green (getting lost a few times, but that's part of the charm of foreign travel-- you often run into surprises you would never have been able to plan) over quiet streets.  Between the lack of tourist traffic and the quiet of the rain, it was a very peaceful walk.  Even in the rain, St. Stephen's green is gorgeous.  It was once where the wealthy people's grazed their sheep.  Now it's a beautiful park.

An extended Swan Family

Grafton's street was typical shopping-- lots of shops for the 1% and a few shops for the hoy poloy.  Unfortunately, I'm somewhere in between and and am no longer interested in cheap imports from India and Asia.  So I had a quiet chicken tikka wrap in the Great George's shopping arcade and walked on, arriving back in the neighborhood of my hotel.

Since it was Saturday, I decided to check out the Temple Bar neighborhood again, as it's the closest thing to an "arty" neighborhood that I had been able to find.  There were various tables of arts and crafts, covered with umbrellas for the rain.  I went into a artists' collective and bought a pair of earrings.  Then I saw an art gallery with photographs from 1970's Limerick.  I couldn't take photos in the gallery, but here are the photos from the posters.  They were every evocative.

I walked by a sports massage place, but they couldn't see me and my knee until 4:30PM, so I went to the Queen of Tarts and had a cafe au lait and some biscotti.  The place was packed.  Everyone was having afternoon tea and getting out of the rain.

Queen of Tarts cafe in the rain

I went to the sports massage guy, who gave me a knee massage and taught me some strength exercises.  Then I popped in next door to the Irish Film Institute to see the French film Mood Indigo (L'Ecume des Jour), starring Audrey Tautou (Amelie).  It started out as a fantastical romance; a cross between Peewee Herman and the steam punk antics of Wild Wild West.  But then it slowly turned tragic and I left the movie feeling very sad.  The rain was pelting now, as if it was aware of my mood.

I went back to the Copper Alley Bistro and had a cheese plate and a salad for dinner.  I took the extra cheese with me and went to a take-away bistro to get a croissant for tomorrow's breakfast and a baguette to eat with the left-over cheese for lunch tomorrow.  Hopefully the rain will break and I'll be able to take my beach trip.  Tomorrow's my last full day in Ireland.