6/8: Dublin still!

Woke up very early this morning, although we didn't go to bed particularly early. Checked email, ate breakfast, and got ourselves cleaned up. Went to St. Stephen's Green rather than upload pics because the internet cafe was closed still. Wrote for a bit in our journals, but then my pen died and Brett wanted to walk around, so I lounged on the bench for a while, then we alternated lying in one another's laps for a bit.

Instead of getting lunch and eating in the green we opted to walk and walk and walk to the Museum of Modern Art, which has some stunning grounds, and I do mean stunning. The museums here are free, which is great, it's just getting to them, since they're between 30 min and 45 min walk away. The Modern Art Museum has this amazing courtyard with huge sculptures dotting the pavement inside, and several different exhibitions going in different wings of a coverted manor-ish type house. We went to the Irish National Museum directly after that, since they're very close, and walked through their exhibits, which were very interesting and informative. What's interesting about all of the Irish history we've learned about so far is that it is veyr subjective - even museums don't bother to hide their slant and have a distinctly put-upon tone that reminds me a bit of a lot of Jewish and African-American history I've learned. I think, in this case, that this is a clear remnant of colonialism's effect on the people and culture. They have only been independent for something near 100 years, I think.

After the museums, we walked back closer to our neck of the woods and stopped for a few pints on a deliberately empty belly. Had a few pints, then left to get some food. I know that Americans have a reputation as silly tippers, but it must be working, since some of the worst service I've gotten in the US is lovely compared to the usual here. What's also interesting is that almost nobody working in bars, restaurants, etc. are Irish. Most of them have other accents or can barely speak English (not that the locals' version of English is intelligible anyway), and are far more attractive than the local Irish.

Brett and I got a sandwich to go from Cafe Irie and split it in the Green around 3 - then lounged in the grass in the sun for an hour or so. The green was still crowded at that hour, and I fell asleep. It was glorious. When we were there this morning I noticed actively something that I've seen most of the time I've been here, which is the abundance of dandelion-fluff type things floating about in the air. In the morning quiet of the green, they seemed like something you'd see in the clear, liquid light of a dream, even though you see them everywhere.

Made ravioli for dinner with garlic bread and stuff, then went to the room to figure out what to do with our evening and ended up falling asleep for almost 2 hours. We'll never be able to fall asleep tonight! Not sure what we'll do tonight, but it's been a GREAT day.

Also, I'm not sure what it is, if it's an excess of smoking or an absence of tooth whitening, but there are a lot of yellowed smiles here. Or maybe it's that the excessive smokers don't whiten like they do in the states. All I know is it's a bit weird.