Horsing Around (Or, Another Weekend Report)

When I was a little kid I used to have an imaginary horse named Bradley. He was brown with a black mane and a black tail. Later he turned into my two-wheeler and I would ride him around the neighborhood, down to the new street where the good hay was. I always wished that Bradley was real and that I could actually ride him.

On Friday I got my wish!

Photo by Lilly Johnsson

The school organized a trip to Bray to go horseback riding and so a small group of us signed up and made the trip with Lilly, the Operations Manager who's very nice and an avid horse-lover. When we got to the riding school we put on long black riding boots (shoes for Ian, since the boots wouldn't fit over his manly legs) and helmets and were introduced to our horses. I quickly realized that being on a horse would be a lot scarier than I had initially anticipated as they were enormous and had really big teeth. My horse, Levi, was the smallest horse available, so we were a good team. He was a sweetheart and made me feel very at ease. He was like, "dude, don't worry, I got this," and didn't need me to steer or stop him at all. He had ridden the trail plenty of times before and knew exactly what to do. It was a really pleasant outing.

Photo by Sam Maskak

The next day we went to the Temple Bar food market, also known as Heaven on Earth. It is now my Saturday morning tradition to make my way to this farmers' market and buy a crepe, maybe a loaf of bread, sometimes some produce. They have everything from organic apple juice to an outdoor oyster bar to bakeries and veggie vendors to artisan cheeses and fresh kebabs. Wandering around the market not only makes our mouths water, but lets us pick up on more of the Dublin culture.

Photo by Sam Maslak

It was sunny and warm on Saturday, so after the market a few of us made our way over to Phoenix Park and rented bikes for a couple of hours. The park has many kilometers of bike paths so riding around was easy and fun. We saw the Irish president's house, a few cool monuments, and a field of about 50 deer who were munching on the grass and seemed perfectly unaware that there were people staring at them only a hundred feet away. By the time we made it all the way through the park the sun has gone away and it was cloudy and cold, so we returned the bikes and headed home to warm up.

Photo by Sam Maslak

Today Ian and I celebrated Valentine's Day! It's not really until tomorrow, but since it's still the weekend we thought it would be a good day to do it. Ian cooked for me which is always a treat, and tonight it was simply amazing--surf and turf! There was salmon, steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and carrots. I made dessert--Bailey's white chocolate pudding with homemade whipped cream and Cadbury chocolate shavings; I know, fancy, right? I think we're a good team--he loves cooking, and I love making dessert! Ian even surprised me with my favorite Little Debbie Valentine cakes that he had shipped all the way from the US by his parents! (THANK YOU!) It was a great way to end the week! Back to classes tomorrow, and then Northern Ireland next weekend! Stay tuned!

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!