Saturday in Dublin-Winding Down

Saturday morning started out eventfully for Danielle and I. I woke up, squinted at the clock on the TV, then noticed it was 8:25am. We were supposed to meet our bus at 8:50 for the Wild Wicklow tour!!! I shouted at Danielle, we threw on our clothes, grabbed the backpack, and sprinted out of the hotel for 3 blocks. We found the group we were supposed to meet, then proceeded to stand there for an hour. . . Finally I walked over to a nearby hotel where the concierge called Wild Wicklow. Turns out their tour bus had broken down!

Danielle and I then high-tailed it back to our hotel, where our friendly concierge called around and got us booked on a separate tour of the Wicklow area, which picked us up in front of our hotel. It turned out to be a lucky twist of fate. The driver/tour guide for the new hotel was amazing, he was funny, clever, and entertaining, which was nice since the majority of the tour was in the bus.



We drove out to the Wicklow area, and the Glendalough, a 6th century monastic settlement, and a quick walk to two very peaceful lakes. The day was beautiful, overcast with the sun peeking through at various times, casting an almost mystical light over the forest. I kept expecting to see fairies, or a hobbit, at least. :)



After Glendalough, the tour went through the town of Avoca, home of the handweavers. That was a very interesting shop to go through, and watch the process of the handweavers making a blanket or scarf. Danielle and I ate lunch in a little fish and chips shop overlooking the river, which was beautiful as well. I know I keep using beautiful in my descriptions, but hopefully as you look at my pictures you see why.





We napped on the bus ride back to Dublin, then took off for dinner around 8:30 (one of the advantages of the late sunset). We walked the famous Temple Bar area, noticed quite a few hen parties, with the ladies all decked out in boas, wigs, wings, and other such accessories having a great time.


Dinner was at a magnificent little Italian restaurant, where I had my favorite meal, a glass of red wine and penne arrabiata.

Hot Child in the City

Well, I'm not really that hot, but Albuquerque isn't much of a big city either, so I suppose we're even. :)

I'm traveling; my first trip in a long time without homework or other obligations, so I took myself out on the town, researching live music venues for my favorite band, the Mojo Farmers.

I had dinner at one of my favorite local spots, the Flying Star Cafe. It is a hip joint, with magazines to borrow or buy, and an excellent menu. I highly recommend the pasta pomodoro. There is always good music playing, in fact the set tonight could have been from my Mp3 player.


After dinner, I went over to the Launchpad, a great place right downtown for live music.




The show tonight was excellent, 3 performers all doing acoustic sets. I even bought the CD of the opening act, Alexa Wilkinson. She has an amazing voice, so please visit her myspace page. Next up was Joshua Radin, who has an amazingly deep voice. Unfortunately for me, most of the songs were sad, lost loves, breaking up, etc.

Ingrid Michaelson, the headliner for the evening, is a true MySpace success story. She started posting her songs on myspace, got a break by getting a song on an episode of Grey's Anatomy, and the rest, as they say, is history.

All in all, a very good way to spend the evening, and hopefully, my Mojo Farmers will be playing in Albuquerque very soon.