Rambling Rovers

Following our normal travel pattern, we went out this morning to explore, then came back to the hotel to chill for a bit before heading back to town with a more definitive goal. We took the 16a from the hotel to downtown, picked up a 5 day bus pass (20 euro for unlimited bus rides? Heck yeah!). Our first stop was Chapters bookstore on Parnell street. I was shocked because even at 11 am very little was open. I picked up Urban Shaman, which was signed by the author, a new Torchwood novel, and a couple of moleskins so I could take notes on addresses and directions without carrying the big heavy notebook I'd brought. I also stopped at a Boots to pick up toiletries, since I have terrible luck finding things that I'm not allergic to in Italy. At least here, I can read the ingredients and find things that I would normally use at home. Boring, but it made me extremely happy.

Have I mentioned how many bookstores there are in Dublin? We passed at least seven just today, and are forcibly limiting ourselves to entering only one a day. Otherwise, we might not have money for things like food once we get back to Florence.

I picked up a few other little things too: a present for my mom, a bracelet, some Cadbury eggs (they take their creme eggs very seriously here!) and a wallet because the one I had, the big one, is just not so good for vacation.

back at the hotel, we chilled out for a bit, looked up movie times. I caught up on my blogs. Left a comment on C.E. Murphy's blog about buying the book and being in Dublin. Took a tap to try to quell a headache. And when I woke up--a email was in my inbox. From C.E. Murphy. At some point on Friday, we're going to meet and she's going to put a dedication into the book to go with the signature.

I'm still in shock, even now, hours later, after going to a movie (Leap Year, at the Savoy Cinema, which is officially the most awesome theater I've ever been in).

I'm going to go curl up with a book and eat a Cadbury egg, and hope the dream isn't gone when I wake up.

The Luck of the Irish

Landing in a foreign country is always very exciting, and also a little scary. This time, I felt an insane sense of relief--for the next six days, I don't have to attempt to speak a foreign language every time I open my mouth. Now, having been in Ireland for all of two hours, I can say that understanding the locals might be a bit more of a challenge.

We're staying at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport. It's more expensive than we normally go, dedicated hostel travelers that we are, but it's so worth it. At check in, the hostess confirmed that I wanted a smoking room, since that's what the package we bought was for. I said that we had asked for a non-smoking room, not that it really mattered much to us, and we were instantly upgraded. We have our own beds (we did in Italy, too, but because of space constraints they were butted up to each other and might has well have been a single king, rather than two twins). There's a tv (in English, a real treat), and outlets for American, UK, and Continental plugs--which is great, because between us we've only got three adapters (all different) for our plethora of electronics.

We're here, we're safe, we're happy, and now we're off to get dinner.