Episode 118: Scenic Tour

Had to get up extremely early for our tour, but it was so worth it! The breathtaking views began at Dun Laoghaire, where waves crashed onto the craggy shore. Then we encountered the variegated vegetation at the Avoca handweavers. It snowed when we were going up the mountains, which made for some pretty awesome scenery shots, especially once we got to the peak overlooking the Guiness estate. That was freaking amazing, even if the driving wind meant if we ventured close enough to the cliff, we might have been swept off by a sudden gust catching us unawares. I decided to adopt emo poses in some of my photographs today, just for fun. It worked rather well, especially with the tinted glasses, even if the constantly blowing wind meant my hair was in a mess. Today's lunch was in an Irish pub in Laragh, which I really liked. I had roast pork with stuffing, and now I'm really curious as to what goes into the stuffing and how it's prepared. Took a lot of pictures today, mostly of landscapes and scenery. The tour guide was really good, in the sense that he knew how to spin the stories to make them interesting. Glendalough, our final stop, afforded us stunning scenes of two lakes, as well as the graveyard and assorted ecclesiastical buildings from another age. The tour was just really worth it!

Due to a mutual misunderstanding, we nearly ended up eating in a really posh restaurant when we got back to Dublin. Being poor, penniless, but also starving, students, we ended up sharing pizzas at Hungry Harry's, while watching live coverage of Obama's inauguration. We set about looking for a bar or a pub to chill in after dinner, and we eventually found The Palace, where the bartender was really friendly, and quite possibly, amused by this group of Singaporeans. I had whisky and cranberry juice, which was pretty nice. Add one more to the list of alcoholic beverages that I don't mind imbibing. There was a live band too, which reminded me of how beautiful Irish music can be. I guess there's always something bittersweet lurking in the music, which is greatly appealing because it's so true to what life is really like most of the time, neither perfectly happy nor perfectly sad, but a sort of imperfect hybrid, whose composite proportions shift as time passes. Time to listen to a bit of The Corrs, I think, as I settle in for a night in the airport with David Mamet's The Village and my iPod for company whilst everyone else goes to sleep. Thank God for the McDonald's that's open 24 hours today!