Last Free Day in Dublin

I spent the day roaming around on my own. I'm realizing that roaming around on my own is a lot nicer than going places with the group. For one, there's no set time to be anywhere and meet up with the group, so I can go at my own pace and if I get lost, so what? I'll get there eventually. For another thing, I don't have to constantly worry about being split up from the group. Also, I don't have to worry about "fitting in" or "being part of the conversation" or anything like that. Sure I might have to ask a few strangers with accents where to go, but (see pro number one of wandering alone). I will get there eventually. This time I was a bit more adventurous than the last time I roamed around on my own. Instead of sticking to O'Connell, I wandered the whole city. Well, of course I couldn't do the entire city in a day, but I went all the way from Parnell Square (where our hotel is located in the northern part of the city) to St. Stephen's Green (which is in the southern part of the city). Embarrassingly enough, I got lost on my way to the post office. It's right there on O'Connell and we've passed it and stopped at it a million times, but somehow I made a wrong turn close to the hotel and wandered around for a bit before finding my way back to O'Connell to drop off some post cards. I never asked anyone to write directions down for me. I just repeated "left here and then a right?" or whatever and they were at the point of nodding and saying "yeah, go on, get outa here" (not really, they were very friendly, especially the Americans). I figured if I made a wrong turn I could take out my map and try to figure out where I went wrong (I did that a lot on the way home) or just ask somebody else. So I went and dropped off my post cards at the post office. Then I went to the famine memorial, which is a couple bridges over from the O'Connell monument. It was eerie, which I guess is the point. It really is sort of offensive that they would sell spaces on it to have your name set there. Then I made my way back towards the O'Connell bridge and then down the Grafton Street area towards Trinity to find that Irish music store I'd passed so many times but never gotten to check out, Celtic Note. I got Grandpa McCallum an Irish folk collection. Then I went and found the Molly Malone statue. That area is so busy that the first couple times I'd passed it I didn't get a chance to take a picture. Then I made my way down to St. Stephen's Green, ate a croissant, a piece of cheese, an apple and a banana I'd saved from breakfast and went shopping at Stephen's Green Shopping Center. It's essentially a 3 story mall. A few of the stores were more high-end. I bought a dress at a store called "noname." The third floor was essentially a hobby shop, an art gallery and framing store, a bizarre, Hot-Topic-like store called... hmm... Asha? I can't remember, and bathrooms, but there were more than just bathrooms. There were baby feeding rooms, changing rooms, etc. After I went shopping I went across the street to St. Stephen's Green, the actual park, and walked around there for a bit. Then I wanted to find this "Secret Garden" place Elise had been talking about. The real name is Iveagh Gardens. It really was "all that." It was so beautiful (see pictures on facebook), though some of the rose bushes were wilted in one spot. Otherwise it seemed like it was very well kept. It really does seem to be "one of Ireland's best kept secrets." There was hardly anyone there compared to St. Stephen's. I made my way back to the Green and went around in circles for a bit trying to find my way back out towards the shopping center. Finally I stopped some American-looking people and we walked out together. One lady was from Florida and her mother was from New York. I told them I was from California and about the class. The lady from Florida said something like "Really? Would the teacher notice if I snuck into that class? That sounds great." She helped me plan my route back to the river and I went on my way back to the hotel. I must have made a couple small mistakes as I kept having to look at my map and figure out which street I was on. It's so hard when the street names aren't posted on signs and the ones that are painted on the sides of buildings are white on light blue so they're hard to read from across the street. On my way home I stopped at Subway and there was a big protest, something about Israel and Palestine, going on along O'Connell. Somebody handed me a little flier. There have also been signs up about a rally against abortion on the 4th of July. Anyway, I came home, ate my sandwich, and here I am now, tired and snuffly. Maybe I'm getting sick. Maybeit's just allergies. As my facebook status says so artistically, I feel like I've been "deliriously roaming the streets of Dublin all day."