Dublin

I'm trying to get myself psyched up for this. I mean, I leave in a month and a week and it still doesn't even feel real. So, I've been doing research on Ireland and Dublin, and Europe in general, and that's always exciting anyway. It still doesn't feel real though. I can't really believe that I'm going to be gone that long. I keep thinking about what it's going to be like to come back too. My room isn't going to be clean no matter how much I like to talk about it--it's just wishful thinking. I don't know if I'd want to come home to a pristine room though. It'd be fake. But anyway, this makes things exciting at least.

First of all, for my literary side, there's Oscar Wilde's house. I love Oscar Wilde. Dorian Gray is somewhere on my favorite book list. And there's this crazy statue across the street. He's a badass.
There is also a statue of James Joyce. Right now I'm reading Dubliners because I don't want to be seen reading it while I'm there and look like a total tourist or something. He also wrote Ulysses. That one is super long.

Now, a little less sophisticated, but very cool, is the Stag's Head bar. It's one of the oldest bars in Dublin and it looks exactly like what I think of when I think of Irish pubs. There are the high bar stools and the low round tables and the perfect dingy-clean lighting. And it's in the Temple Bar neighborhood, so after--or maybe before--checking this place out I can go see what all the other tourists go to see.

The Irish Museum of Modern Art is absolutely next. The building itself looks like a hospital or a boarding school or maybe even a prison. It's gray and imposing. I'm sure on the inside there are tons of crazy cool things. It's modern art so it's probably more crazy than cool, but thought provoking. That's the whole point of modern art I guess.
BUT! I want to go to the Hugh Lane Gallery which is part of the Dublin City Gallery because they have this:

THAT is the studio of Francis Bacon. It was originally in London, but when he died they transplanted everything--the floor, walls, ceiling, everything--to this place in Dublin because he was born there. I think it's so cool. It's just so chaotic it's perfect. I don't even really like Bacon's work--it freaks me out actually. But this seems like a work of art in itself.

Here's this damn picture again. It's the Old Library at Trinity College. This is where they keep the book of Kells. I know what that is now too. It is a copy of the gospels from the 8th century. It was copied in Scotland and then the Irish monks brought it to the monastery at Kells to protect it from Viking raids. That's so cool! And this library is just amazing to me.


Alright on the left there is Marsh's Library. It was the first library that was opened to the public. And this cute little one pushed between two buildings is the Chester Beatty library. It has the oldest surviving copy of Romans and all kinds of cool books--some written on palm leaves and folded like an accordion and another carved out of jade. Sounds like something I would love.

This ends the libraries. I promise.

There's also the Guiness Storehouse...of course.

Now, I know it seems like I just want to see a bunch of books in Dublin, but it is a literary city. Everything I've read about the city talks about how scholarly it is and all the authors that were born there. So, it's not just me leaving other things out.

There are a million other things though: Ha'penny Bridge, St. Stephen's Green, St. George's Arcade, Powerscourt Townhouse, Sheridan's Cheesemongers, Michelle Darmody's Cake Cafe, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin castle, and a ton of things I don't even know about yet.