Off We Go (Or, Why My Weekends Are No Longer For Relaxing)

This weekend was quite an adventure!

The nun, the criminal, and the anonymous woman

The fun started on Saturday morning when we went to Saint Michan's Church to view their crypts and check out some mummies. We climbed down some steep stone steps to the dark underground chambers where our group barely fit. Our guide was a dramatic man who had clearly rehearsed his creepy descriptions of who each of the four mummies had been a hundred times but still loved his job. We saw the bodies of an anonymous woman, a nun, and a criminal and also got to touch the hand of a dead crusader. There were also other areas in the crypt that contained stacked coffins, a few skulls, a display with a death mask and a document detailing the violent ways two men were to be killed, and even a chamber that is still being used by the family who owns it today. It was really creepy but also really cool.

After the crypts, Ian, Patrick, Rachel, and I decided to go to Phoenix Park, one of the largest enclosed parks in Europe. It is 1, 750 acres so we didn't see anywhere near the entire thing, but it is a place that we will definitely have to go back to because it was beautiful even in the  winter. We decided to tackle one area of the park for the day--the Dublin Zoo. The zoo here is fun because even though the animals have, for the most part, ample space to run around, it is easy to view them and there are different points you can see from. I felt kind of like a little kid as I ran to see a tiger prowling his domain and a red panda darting around in the branches. It was a great time, but it started to get cold and our feet were starting to ache, so we headed back home to relax.

Rachel and me on the monument

Patrick, Ian, and Rachel on a monument in Phoenix Park

At the zoo!

Ian riding a rhino

Today we went on a day trip to another seaside town, this time to Bray. There is a cliff walk that connects Bray to another town called Graystones, and we decided to hang out on the beach a bit before making the journey.

Darin, Ian, and Hannah by the water

Then, we headed for the mountains you can see behind Hannah. For awhile we stayed on the cliff walk path, but before long we decided to deviate from the crowded trail and head up the mountain path, and we were seriously glad we did. Even though the climb was tough and, at times, seemingly straight up and down, we managed to scramble to the top and were rewarded with stunning views of Bray and the surrounding mountains. We looked down at the dizzying cliffs and could barely see the path we had left below us. We ate lunch at the top next to some grazing horses, explored the mountain a bit more, and tried to tear our eyes away from the spectacular view so we could head to Graystones.

Ian, Sam, Hannah, and Patrick on the way up!

 

Top of the world! See the horses down there?

Bray

 Then we found some pieces of coconut on the ground, so Ian and I reenacted Monty Python and the Holy Grail for a bit.

We weren't exactly sure which way to go to get to Greystones, so we took what looked like the logical path. Once we started walking we could see Graystones below us in the distance, so we went what looked like the most logical direction. Eventually, though, we started to suspect that we may have been going the wrong way. I admit, I had done a bit of scouting and found a trail that seemed to lead the direction we wanted, so we followed it down. Turns out, it wasn't technically the right way.

Eventually, after trespassing only a tiny bit more, we found our way to Graystones, but we were so sore and tired that we walked right to the DART station and headed home. Then we had a 20 minute walk back to the apartments, but luckily Rachel had delicious homemade sugar cookies waiting for us when we got there! It was an amazing weekend with so much to see, but I'm exhausted now. Time to finish some homework and head to bed, Earth Science and Early Irish History in the morning. It's been go, go, go since we got here, but I wouldn't want it any other way!