Day 9: September 30th

Bound and determined.

Schimdt woke up us up at 8am. We got up before 10am and left their house. We're bound and determined to see Dublin and not waste another day. We walk up to St Stephen's Green through some lovely old streets and I see some photos of endangered animals. Then we walk along streets lined with tradtional pubs that Schimdt was very keen we visit. It's early, so they're all closed.

In an antique shop Mike points out a sign that says "My dad says condoms don't work." (It used to be illegal to get condoms in Ireland. You used to have to get a prescription for them.)

We go to Dublin castle, which is mixture of Victorian gothic, Roman and everything in between. Mike and I have a fight about whether they're filming a movie or whether someone is getting married. Turns out they're filming a series and there's people getting married in the background. At the castle. Which is funny.

For the life of us we can't figure out where to go to get inside the castle, but we do find a circular green with thin brick walkways running through it. It's used as the helicopter landing pad when the president - a woman! - visits the castle. So we ask, find it and sign up for a tour. The castle is amazing. We saw bedrooms, negotiation rooms, throne rooms and rooms where balls used to take place, but now where the president is inaugurated.

 

After the castle, I want some lunch so we go down to Grafton street - the busiest street I've ever seen. And it's pedestrian - and into one of the alleyways and have lunch at a carvery. I have corned beef, scalloped potatoes and vegetables. Mike has stew. We have a nice slow lunch and decide what we're going to do with the rest of the afternoon.

I try to find something for Carloline at Avoca - a store that sells Irish things - but can't. Then we go shopping and Mike suggests we buy an outfit for Kate's party tonight. I say no, but look anyway. Then we find a card for my Aunt Grace and are done the store shopping we're going to do.

We cross the river and come to the spire, a huge, tall shiny spire  that stands on the north side of the river. We walk alongside the river and find a market where a woman sells me a ton of fruit for 3 euros, which is unheard of. I chalk this up to me being so cute.

We get home about 6:30 and Caroline, Mike and I chop fruit and make the biggest  fruit salad ever. We have some time, so Mike and Caroline nap while I read Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, which is amazing, too. I also eat some of the leftover lasanga from the night before. Mike wakes up long enough to steal some.

I blow dry my hair and we walk, with Schimdt, to Kate's house. She lives in a street that looks very similar to other streets so we have a fun time trying to find it. When we get there we meet Diana, a Berlin German, and Claudia, a West German. Diana, when she hears we're going to Munich tries to warn us against it because Berlin is so much better.

Then Kate's  boyfriend, a real big Irish guy named Frank, arrives with a ton of flowers and the party starts. We're sitting around Kate's front room, which has a dining table that Schmidt, Caroline and I are sitting around, a fireplace where Mike is and a couch and chair where Kate sits when she has a second. I'm beside Diana, who is an accountant for Deloitte. So is Frank, so they exchange info. Claudia's firm employs Deloitte, so that's the common thread. Kate's an American, so there's some comments exchanged about the American-sized fruit salad. Catherine, Kate's old housemate, arrives and we have a dinner of spaghetti tossed in butter and garlic, with vegetables on the side, fruit salad and cupcakes. OH! And Kate made guacamole and she and Caroline had a terrible time finding corn chips. Because chips are fries to the Irish.

Catherine is a barrister and in Ireland they don't have law firms: she has to build her own practice.

We have fantastic coversation about Ireland, women's rights, arts and the different cultures we've got in the room. ANd different work ethics. It was the best time I've had here, that dinner. I've got to add them to my facebook.

We went home and to sleep, full and tired.