Not really the end of Dublin, just the end of my days in Dublin on this trip. Much less dramatic than it sounds. I'm sitting on a bus right now on my way to Galway, it's about 11am here, 4am Utah time. Rain is pounding on the windows, I feel like I should be in an old fashioned car driving along these picturesque roads. The atmosphere around just makes me smile.
Luckily they have internet on the bus, so I can finish uploading photos from yesterday and write some of my thoughts about it. It really was a perfect day. I forgot to sleep that night due to jet lag and uploading photos, so around 6am I finally gave up on the idea and went to walk around the city. Now, there are a couple things you should know for the stories today to have significance.
#1 - I have the world's worst internal compass. Seriously, I'm terrible with directions. I don't know how I lived before GPS.
#2 - I love to meet new people.
#3 - Traveling for me is about the adventure, not the sites.
So, back to my day. Annie decided to go on a tour bus and see the Giant's Causeway. I opted to stay in Dublin and explore. I had three goals - first, to get to know my way around the city. I did this by hours and hours of walking. Getting lost on purpose. Occasionally asking for directions, and when all else fails, run into an internet cafe and look up the address for my hostel. I wish I could say this last one was a hypothetical situation, but unfortunately it was not. I had spent 5 hours walking around the city and I knew where Temple Bar was, where the castle was, where the mall was, but I had no clue where my hostel was. And after 30 hours of no sleep I needed to find it. Quickly. I am pleased to report, however, that I now know the city of Dublin pretty well. Just in time to leave :) I'll have to repeat the same process in Galway next. Then London and Madrid... oh let's face it. I will have to work hard for the rest of my life to try and figure out where I am and how to get where I want to go. But as long as I keep perspective and remember that I can enjoy the journey, not just the destination, I'm ok with that. Right now, I'm just riding the bus, but the hills and villages and clouds - it's beautiful.
When I was a teenager, I used to climb out my window at night after everyone went to sleep and just sit on the roof alone. I would write music, poems, stories, letters or just sit and feel the wind, the heat, or the rain, whatever the weather was at the time. (Mom, I realized I'm not sure if you knew I did this... if you're reading this, well, we can just look back and laugh now, right? Hope you didn't have to replace too many of the shingles on the roof up there :D) I always felt the most at peace just sitting there, quiet, thoughtful, alone, artistic juices flowing. And I would dream about sitting at a cafe in Paris for a day doing the same thing. Something so perfect about Europe in my mind, I don't know why. But yesterday I figured it out. I didn't have a pen and paper, but I had my camera instead. And I sat there outside the cafe on a brick road, rain lightly falling, the air brisk, and no one around. It was early in the morning, so it was quiet. I haven't felt that peaceful and inspired in years. Breakfast was freshly squeezed orange juice and a gourmet ham and cheese crescent.
This was where I sat:
This was my view to the right:
And to the left:
And some more photos from my walk around the city during the day:
I walked around for about 5 hours (my calves are killing me!), explored, observed, got wet, smiled, watched people, took photos, and loved every minute of it. Then I went back for an afternoon nap or whatever you call "the sleep for a few hours during the day that replaced the sleep I didn't get the night before."
I have many more stories I'd like to share, but I think I'm going to save them for another day. As a preview to the next chapter, I woke up from my nap in time for food and music. Lots of music.
And now I'm signing off. Cheers!
