Back to Ireland. Sunday morning, I woke up late, headed out in search of breakfast, and had an omelet as big as my head at a cafe around the corner. (I was especially hungry because I'd somehow forgotten to eat dinner Saturday night... don't ask me how that happened.) My plan for the day was basically to walk around Dublin and see the stuff I hadn't managed to see on Friday, including a visit to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. In pursuit of this goal, I walked down O'Connell Street, the main thoroughfare of Dublin north of the Liffey, and took pictures in between watching people. O'Connell's always busy, since it's north Dublin's main shopping street as well as where most of the tourists go to pick up their tourbuses, but on a Sunday it's not too bad. (I'll note here that if you're ever in Dublin on a Sunday, plan carefully or you'll end up at places you wanted to see that aren't open.) Dublin is a fairly compact city, and easily walkable, so I reached the Liffey quickly and walked west along the bank for a bit. I wanted to cross the Ha'Penny Bridge into Temple Bar, because I'd read about a fantastic bookstore that was right by the bridge, but you guessed it, it was closed. I settled for taking some pictures and having a hot chocolate at Haagen-Dasz in Temple Bar. For future reference, Haagen-Dasz makes their hot chocolate with melted chocolate ice cream. It is good.

Lots of the shops in Temple Bar were closed because it was Sunday, but I had a pleasant while browsing before I walked over to Trinity. The Book of Kells and other illuminated manuscripts are really cool, if you're into that sort of thing (which I am), and I treated myself to a nice warm Trinity sweatshirt, which I've actually got on right now. From Trinity, it's an easy walk down Grafton Street, which is a pedestrian shopping street where all the posh shops are, as well as buskers and flower markets. I poked my head into Brown Thomas' beauty hall, and wandered in and out of other shops on the way. Grafton Street ends at St. Stephen's Green, which is a lovely Georgian square with a park in the middle, a bit like Central Park in New York. I went through the park, taking pictures and hanging out on a bench to watch the people and ducks for a while, which is a most enjoyable way of spending the afternoon.

St. Stephen's Green is right at the heart of Georgian Dublin, so for the rest of the afternoon I wandered the surrounding streets photographing the famous Georgian doors (you can see some good examples on my photo page). Nearby Merrion Square is one of the best-preserved examples of Georgian architecture, so I had a lot of fun there, especially since Merrion Square is home to artists every Sunday. I saw a lot of works of art that made me really wish I had money, and I collected quite a few business cards from artists for future reference. By this time, it was about 6 PM, so I hopped on the bus to go home for dinner. I intended to have a traditional Irish pub dinner, but again, everything's closed on a Sunday, so I ended up with a really good burger and fries from the local chipper (so I got my traditional Irish dinner anyway, in a sense). If it hadn't been Sunday, and if I hadn't had to leave at 4 AM the next morning, I'd have gone back out for a pint, but unfortunately it had to be an early night.

My trip to Ireland was fantastic, and far too short. I'd have loved to spend at least a couple of days in Belfast, as well as some more non-Sunday time in Dublin, and it would have been wonderful to see some of Ireland apart from the big cities and train stations. At least now I know what to do when I go back.

Blogging may be sporadic for the next week or so, since I'm coming down to the crunch time on the law school applications (which are going well, by the way), and I'm leaving for Amsterdam with the girls tomorrow night. I'll try to find an internet cafe in Amsterdam, but if the rates are as extortionate as they were in Dublin, don't count on it. On the other hand, you can look forward to another massive photo update on Monday or Tuesday!

We're off to the opera (Cosi fan tutte) tonight. I've never been to the opera before, so it should be an interesting experience, at least!