Ireland is for Lovers

Chapter 3

The next day......

After a quiet breakfast of coffee and chocolate-chip-and-banana pancakes (that I taught him how to make back in the day), we finally made it out of the loft to go do a little sightseeing. Well, 'sightseeing' for me, 'just another trip into that part of town' for him. I imagine he feels about the historic sites and ancient relics scattered throughout the city (and the country, for that matter), the way I feel about the beach or Disney World-- "okay, cool, it's there, I can see it any time...."

We started the day at Trinity College, to see the Book of Kells. We spent about two and a half hours, just wandering through the library and seeing the grounds. Well, I was looking at stuff, and taking pictures, where allowed; I think Max spent most of our time there watching me in amusement, as I grew increasingly more fascinated by literally everything.

Sure, I've been to St. Augustine a few times in my life, and there are some plenty-old things there to look at, but a lot of the items on display at Trinity predates anything in St. Augustine by several centuries. Actually seeing the Book of Kells, a 9th century manuscript of the four Gospels, which has survived all this time, kinda blew my mind.

We moved on to Dublin Castle, which until 1922, was the seat of English, and later British, rule*. And because they're not that far away from each other (about half a mile), we just walked, and stopped long enough to see Molly Malone.....er, rather, her statue.

We spent nearly as much time here as we did at Trinity. Because there's so much to see, Max made sure to take me to see the highlights: the art pieces, and the gardens. We decided to save the chapel and the State Apartments for another time (they will be there, after all).

The Castle Gardens are beautiful. There's the 'four seasons' garden, and then there are four smaller gardens-- one at each corner; three of which are designated as memorial gardens, and all are dotted with specially commissioned sculpture works*.

We finished the afternoon at St. Stephen's Green, and the Little Museum of Dublin, which is on the north side of the square.

We went through the Little Museum first. If the Cliff's Notes of the history of Dublin was a museum, this place would be it. After seeing everything there is to see, we went downstairs and had coffee (because let's be real, coffee is life) and a bite to eat at Hatch & Sons.

While we were eating, he says to me, "You havin' a good time?"

"I am. I've always had a fascination with history--especially world history; it was one of my favorite subjects in school, so I'm geeking out pretty hard," I said with a laugh.

Then I added, "What about you.... are you having fun playing tourist in your own city? I know you see this stuff pretty much all the time, so it's mostly just 'there'....."

He huffed a laugh and said,"You're not wrong there, Love. I can't speak for everyone who lives here, but yeah, that's generally the case. But yes, I am having a pretty good time playing tourist.....with you," as he gave me that butterfly-releasing eyebrow raise on that last part.

After we ate, we went to take a lap around the Green. It's gorgeous there, too; it's a Victorian-style park, and is dotted with various sculptures and ornamental fountains. At one point, I had stopped to take a picture of the bust of James Joyce, and Max says to me, "Hand me your phone, Love?"

I gave him a questioning look as I handed it to him, and he turned it to the front facing camera, and snapped a quick picture of the two of us. About that time, a couple about our age was passing by, and the girl asked if we would like her to take a wide-angle picture of us. We said yes, and he handed her my phone. She took the picture, and started to hand my phone back to Max, and he motioned to me, saying it was mine. She laughed and apologized. I smiled and said to her "Don't worry about it. And thank you so much."

She noted my American accent, and asked where I was from. With a small tone of pride, I told her Tampa, Florida (my hometown is rather small, and not well-known, so it's generally easier to tell people 'Tampa' when asked, because more people know it). Then she asked what brought me to Ireland. I cocked my head toward Max, and said, "I owed this one a visit,"

To which Max added, "We're old friends," as he looked at me fondly. She nodded, gestured toward her boyfriend, and said "Ah. Well, we've got to get going. Enjoy the rest of your visit,dear...."

"Thank you, I will. And thanks again," I said as I waved my phone.

We continued on through the park, stopping every now and then to take pictures of the sculptures, or pictures of us. As we were making our way back to where we left his car, I commented, "You know, that park feels like a little corner of Central Park...." He looked at me in surprise, and asked "When did you go to New York?"

"I haven't, apart from my connecting flight to come here. I've just seen enough of it in pictures, and on TV to make the comparison," I said with a laugh.

He just nodded.

As we were driving back to the loft, he asked me what I'd like to do for the rest of the evening. I said that since we had been out all day, why don't we just stay in and make dinner together, and watch movies. He was totally on board with that idea.

After we got home, and did a little digging in the kitchen, it turns out he had everything for one of my favorite pasta dishes: spaghetti aglio e olio (or, 'midnight pasta', which is literally just any long-cut pasta with garlic and olive oil. Sometimes, for kicks and giggles, I like to add in a little parmesan cheese and a whole lot of black pepper).

So that's how we spent the evening: on his couch with pasta and wine, and Star Wars (I told you he's as much of a Star Wars geek as I am).

*a/n: this info is per these sites' respective websites, and Wikipedia pages, as I've never actually been to Ireland (but I hope to someday)