Day Tour of Wicklow!

You know when you let life point you in the direction you should go? Even with the simplest of things...it always turns out to be exactly where you need to be. Lately, I've been trying to live my life this way.

This particular example was our Day Tour of Wicklow. We just asked the front desk to recommend a tour and in 5 minutes we were signed up.

Our tour guide, John, was like an old friend from the moment we approached him on O'Connell Street. Everything he said was something I needed to hear.

The Fabulous John!

Sara and I at a beautiful photo stop

Every molecule in my body relaxes when out in the open, breathing fresh air.  Staring out at the vastness and thinking about everything...and nothing.

The water used for making Guinness comes from the Wicklow Mountains. We were literally at the source!

A little babbling brook of Guinness :)

John and Sara :)

A lake of Guinness (Lough Tay)

My twisted love affair with photographing cemeteries continues.  This one, at Glendalough, had a beautiful wildness and energy to it. The trees were shimmering and the stones were glowing after the rain:

I learned that Ireland was a Scotland stand-in for "Braveheart."  It's like I've been living a lie!  :)  This is where the wedding scene was filmed...Gorgeous:

We stopped for lunch in Avoca, where Ballykissangel was filmed...

Fitzgeralds

I wonder if "Cheesy Chips" are like "Disco Fries"

BEST. LUNCH. EVER!

Irish Soda Bread...of course!

I would have licked the bowl clean had I not been in public...

Where Thomas Moore wrote "The Meeting of the Waters"

Us and John

Back in Dublin

My best friend's Dad nick-named me "Leeson" when we were kids



********

Thanks Again John!

XO

Thank Goodness for Guinness

Me, after our free pint :)

The day after our night out in Dublin we visited the Guinness Storehouse! The exhibit is really well designed...

Water

Barley

(Yeast rounds out the list of ingredients in Guinness)

Sara got this lovely shot of the wall

The remains of my free pint.  

When we got up to The Gravity Bar, one of my new favorite songs was playing, "Coming up Easy" by Paolo Nutini. Bliss...

View from The Gravity Bar

On our way to the Storehouse, we passed the oldest pub in Dublin, The Brazen Head, est. 1198!  So on the way back we stopped in for some dinner and a pint.  Sara ingeniously used the photo she had taken to see if they served food (zooming in on her camera to read the signs out front) as we made our way from a quick rest in Phoenix Park. She should be a detective!

I had Irish stew and we chatted with a hilarious Scottish man and his family at the next table.  We were talking and laughing with them so much the hostess combined our bills because she thought we were together!

Good times.

XO

*Thank You to Sara for the use of a few photos (Hops, Brazen Head, "Poetry in a Pint," and ME!)

Saturday Night Out in Dublin

 Scotland/Ireland Scarf

Scotland was in town for rugby and had just won the game when we left our hotel for The Abbey Theatre.  So we joined the flood of joyous, kilted men along O'Connell street. Us on our way to the concert, them to the Temple Bar area for celebrations.

We joined in later.  I do recall making eye contact with a handsome Scottish man at McDonalds earlier in the evening (I was afraid we'd be late for the concert, so I asked that we unhealthily eat some quick fries there). I had an idea that it would be hilarious to travel to different countries and only eat at McDonalds...or Burger King...and then blog about it. But I digress.

In high spirits after The Waterboys show, we made our way to the Temple Bar area and found a bar where the whole crowd was singing along to "We are the Champions." Scotland was in the house. The jukebox then segued into "Eye of the Tiger!" Excellent.  After a Guinness, my fringe dress decided to make advances when it snagged on a very attractive man's pants.  I'm still not sure what it caught on but no matter! I was forced to reach over and stop him, lest he rip my dress.  He seemed rather confused, but not unhappy, as I reeled him in to unhook myself. He responded (in a lovely Scottish voice) "I thought you were grabbing onto me!"  :)  Hee Hee. Maybe my dress had the right idea!

After singing along to some truly awesome 1980s power ballads...we were off to another bar. There we met three Irish fellows...and one of them spilled my Guinness. Shame! But he bought me another and we spent time talking with his two friends. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.  My favorite moment was when I was offered 50 Euros to knock the beer-spiller out cold. I laughingly said, "But I have no upper body Strength!" and the response was, "But you have a bar stool and the element of surprise!"  Priceless.

The evening ended on an anti-climactic note when the beer-spiller got kicked out of another bar...but we had all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

"All the single ladies, put your hands up!!!"

 The blurriness in no way reflects Sara's state...or mine :)

An Appointment With The Waterboys

 The Wonderful Waterboys

Satisfying.  This is the paltry sounding word that came to mind...and I was later teased for...while watching The Waterboys make magic with the poems of W.B. Yeats in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

I also had the thought that often runs through my head when listening to them on my iPod..."I Effing LOVE THEM!" :)

But I WAS! I was SO satisfied by this concert.  Maybe satiated is a more emotional word?  I was satisfied like having a really amazing meal and the dessert was the encore which included "The Stolen Child," "Don't Bang the Drum," and "The Whole of the Moon."  Delicious.

"An Appointment With Mr. Yeats" was beautiful on so many different levels: musically, visually, energetically. There was so much to absorb!  Jet lag had put me into a mildly fuzzy-headed state so I was oddly observant.  I remember being transfixed by the way the flautist stood on one foot while she played, how all the guys seemed to be wearing pointy-toed shoes (Mike Scott's were black velvet?), Steve Wickham sang along when he wasn't playing his violin and closed his eyes when he was...

In fact, I loved watching Steve Wickham play so much, I found myself looking for him when he wasn't on stage. I suppose my years with the violin makes me partial :)

It's such a gift to watch artists, such as The Waterboys, so IN their music and clearly doing what they were meant to do. It captivates you.

The incredible Mike Scott!*

  The amazing Steve Wickham

The magical W.B. Yeats

This concert was the catalyst for my Ireland getaway. Back in July, when the box office opened, I thought I was slightly out of my mind to even consider purchasing concert tickets for a show in Ireland. After all, I had a two week trip to Scotland coming up!  But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the right thing to do (all be it a little crazy). So I bought 3 tickets and was put in row "L.":)

But wait! It gets better! The friend who introduced me to the band was going to take one of those three tickets! So I flew from America to Ireland to meet my English friend who lives in Scotland to see a band with a Scottish leader and an Irish fiddler put the work of W. B. Yeats (an Irish poet) to music.

I was a little frustrated at myself because afterward, jet lag was robbing me of recall!  It was like when I wake up in the morning and know I dreamed but I can't quite clearly remember.  It took me a few days leafing through my Yeats book and the help of a fellow blogger Alison Ní Dhorchaidhe (and her wonderful review) to piece things together. It was a delightful little puzzle. Some of my favorites: The Song of Wandering Aengus, The White Birds, Mad as the Mist and Snow, Sweet Dancer, News for the Delphic Oracle, A Full Moon in March, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, Politics, and a shimmery version of Down by the Salley Gardens.

"An Appointment With Mr. Yeats" keeps getting clearer upon reflection and I realize now that I was really forced to be in the moment during the show...and what wonderful moments!

XO

 *Photo of Mike Scott by Sara (Awesome) Osten