and that's how i got pneumonia...
remember what i was saying last time about the rain? i take it back. i take it ALL back. i walked around dublin on monday after writing that, and was subjected to downpour after downpour. my poor little umbrella was barely defense, but even worse, my shoes were soaked almost instantly. to make matters worse, i was totally lost looking for the jameson distillery, which should have been on the corner where there was this huge glass hi-rise. not exactly a mark of history and/or whiskey there.
i met up with grace at our designated spot and time, and she too was soaked. but she had the wherewithal to go shopping for new shoes, so she invited me over to search for some $20 shoes too. the result? some pretty rockin' blue boots i am now the proud owner of. we went to see a movie and allow ourselves to dry out a little before we donned the new shoes. sad to say, the old ones went in the trash since they were beyond the point of return and were falling apart. why am i constantly leaving shoes behind in foreign countries??
yesterday i ventured solo on the train out to the west of ireland to a little sea-side town called galway. it was THE place everyone told me to go, and yeah, i get it. but i was admittedly a little grumpy as the sun was shining bright as day, and it was, again, pouring rain. at least if you're going to dump on me, match it with some gray skies and don't be so schizo about it. i wandered in and out of shops (avoiding the rain), and made my way back to dublin on some crazy train scheduling (posted was a 5:20 and a 7:10p... i decided to take the earlier one back since i'd had enough of the weather, so i got to the station around 5:10p. turns out the train decided not to leave until 6:05p, and it was a good 3-hour ride). by the time i got back, i had been traveling more than not that day (5 hours to get back? trains, trams, and buses, oh my).
today, i am accompanied by grace up to the north to belfast. technically, we've already missed our train, so we decided to duck in to check our email; we've got a few hours to kill until the next train. we got a late start, plus the bus wouldn't let us off anywhere near where we wanted to be. oh well, hopefully getting home won't be too bad. today and tomorrow, we have a big list of To Do's to accomplish, including getting in to my tummy some authentic shepherd's pie, irish stew and soda bread, plus buying some very specific items including a special postcard (wink), and maybe (just maybe!) finding that damn jameson distillery
current mood: praying for good health