Saturday, day 40 (seriously), was grand! Kelsey and I took a series of awesome buses to Dun Laoghaire for the Festival of World Cultures!!! The buses took forever, as usual, because they stop every 5 seconds, but we got to see a part of the city we rarely spend time in. The South of the Liffey (the major river that divides Dublin in two parts) is very different than the North, though now less so than it used to.
The South is very clean and neat, with immaculate houses and shops, unlike the often derelict North, where I live. Though my neighborhood isn't bad, it is much more industrial than the ones we drove through in the South.
There were tons of people in Dun Laoghaire and the festival stretched out across the long pier area from parks to shopping centers and on the pier itself. The city is beautiful but the natural scenery is outstanding. The beach, as shown in the picture, is quite rocky and the water is clean and shallow. There are little fishing ships lined up next to the pier, their colors contrasting with the water, making every glance seem like a perfect post card. I can hardly believe my eyes.
When we arrived Kels and I were both super hungry but also wanted to find the best bang for our buck. We did a smell tour first, nasally sampling all the available foods. Then we decided to eat hot dogs (vegetarian shame!!) and fries (chips). Yum. Yum yum yum. We walked around more, looking at the international markets and wandering into the little kids are (and quickly speed walking out). We then found Kels and ATM and made a plan.
We walked south along the pier, with a few detours, to the main stage. The sun was finally coming out and the big fluffy Irish clouds framed the stage beautifully. I don't think I ever really saw the entire stage, we were so far back, but it was no matter. The sound was wonderful. The man playing was an international world music superstar named Khaled. Kelsey and I lounged among the beautiful people in the grass, listening and soaking up the sunshine. Kesley asked "if you were just transported here and didn't know it was Ireland, where would you think you were?" and truly, that captured the diversity of the crowd. I think sitting there, not necessarily talking, but just taking part with our presence was one of my favorite times I've had in Ireland.
After the music we got a brew and hung out for a bit. It was getting a bit cold and late for the buses, so we headed back up to City Centre to meet Helene after we ate a yummy burger! I haven't had one of those in years and years, and honestly, it just didn't do it for me. I think I might be a pescatarian, but continue to skip on chick and red meat. Back to the main story: Jimmy was going to meet up with us, but he had to work and wasn't feeling well. It was all fine though, because Kelsey and I wanted to go hang with Helene and her cousins anyway :)
Helene, Kelsey and I went to our "usual" spots: the Bleeding Horse (a small pub with good music and good prices), the Odeon (a dance club) and this awesome Kebab shop that I can never name. But it is so good and we always meet funny Irish people there. I think we finally got home at 4:30 or so.
Sunday, day 41 was spent in recovery. I originally typed most of this on Sunday, but am finally getting around to edit it today (Tuesday). I ended up going back to Dun Laoghaire in the evening to hang out with Jimmy at his parent's house. We ordered pizza and made profitta rolls (they're like mini eclairs) after going to the grocery store and my first Dunnes (the coolest store in Ireland, kinda like Target, Ikea and Walmart all in one).
We watched some TV, including some hurling stuff, then watched this special channel on RTE (public TV company) that only broadcasts in Irish (Gaelic). It was really interesting because, first, I've never really watched TV here since they cost money and I don't really care to rent one. Second, the TV show was about American history, in particular, Tammany Hall and John Croker. So it was American History from an Irish perspective. Weird, right! I like listening to Irish being spoken and the show was awesome! Kind of surreal but really neat.
Jimmy drove me back after we listened to some music that's popular here, like The XX and Lisa Hannigan. I got to see the new stadium and part of Dublins docks, though it was at night.
The end for Saturday and Sunday!
