A Newgyptian in Ireland (& London): The further details
September 25, 2005
So Jing wants to hear more about Hedwig, and I promise that is coming. I need to devote a good part of an entry to it because it really was one of the big highlights of my time in Dublin, especially as it came on the last night of my time there when I was starting to think that Dublin is kind of a weird place and coming to the terms that I didn't like it very much. Hedwig was awesome, and helped allow things to end for me on a good note.
But, on to the further boring details...continuing from where I last left off:
I got to my room to find my 5 other roommates already asleep, and tried to creep into bed as quietly as possible. Next morning, I woke up early and chatted for a few seconds with Ted - the Colin sort of look-alike - at breakfast. I also chatted with three of my roomies - two of whom were Malaysian and the 3rd who was Korean - and we had a nice time and exchanged phone numbers and emails.
I then met up with JIM at Trinity - making sure to get there 15 mins. early even though he was already there - and we headed to the DART (train) station with plans to go south to Dun Laighore (argh, I think that's how it's spelled; actually I know I'm missing about 5 letters), a seaside town. Seeing as it was a Sunday, the DART wasn't running, and we were going to have to take a bus, but neither of us really felt like it so we just hung out in the park instead and waited for the National Gallery to open because we wanted to go back and see some things. We had a nice-ish chat in the park, where I realized that JIM wasn't...upset or disappointed or annoyed by me, but that he really had just gone through this big, sudden emotional change the results of which he couldn't really control I guess. We touched upon some of the old subjects we used to discuss, and it was a pretty nice time I think. It probably helped that it was the first sunny day we'd seen in Dublin, which helped brighten my mood at least.
So we went to the National Gallery, and I paused for a really long
time to just stare at Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ. I really love Carravaggio, and I must have spent a really long time staring at it, because one of the gallery guides - an older, rattier-looking Rowan Atkinson type - came up behind me and
said, "You know, you can take it home with you if you like." He then proceeded to regale me with the story of how the gallery received the painting "by accident" when the local Jesuit branch brought it in for cleaning. It seems that the painting had hung in their meeting hall for 200 years, no one realizing that it was a masterpiece. Sometime around 1980 they decided to get it cleaned, but didn't like the price quoted them by a private cleaner, so one of the brothers brought it to the NG to see if a friend of his there would clean it for a better price. �It was then that they realized that they might have a masterpiece on their hands, and proceeded to investigate the painting.
Anthony, the guide, offered some other really interesting bits of information about the painting, and that event basically made my day.
This is what I realized about Dublin - it really was the little things that just made it for me. Otherwise, I dunno, I think I'd be much more disappointed with my experience, so far, there.
Anyway, we eventually left the gallery and JIM decided he was tired and wanted to retire to his hostel. I was pretty tired as well and went back to my hostel and took a much needed 3-hour nap.
I then met up with Maz and his friends - one of whom turned out to be the daughter of one of my dad's co-workers in Kuwait - and a really chilled out time was had by all. We were celebrating one of Maz's friend's birthdays, so we just hung out at her apartment, ate pizza, had a really sinful chocolate cake, and then worked all that food off with a very enthusiastic few rounds of foosball. It was a low-key night, and was very good for my wallet.
Two of Maz's friends then walked me back to my hostel, and we commented on the drunken stragglers probably going home from the 50 Cent concert that had been on that night. At the hostel entrance I had a smoke with the night deskman who is from Mauritius, and we had a cool conversation about that. As tiring and annoying as it sometimes was, it was really nice to stay in the hostel for all the people I met.
More later, Dudes! I'm off to the markets with Yaz.