walking day

We began our day waiting for everyone to get up. After the day before, it took awhile, but that time gave the rest of us the most wonderful two hours of sitting to listen to the murmured languages all around the room, journal whatever came up in our minds, and spend time over our wonderful breakfast from the hostel.

We started off by walking out the door of our hostel and turning. No plans, just floating towards what we thought looked interesting. We ended up going onto Trinity College's campus.

Here is Austin looking at the buildings with his "monocle." His glasses broke in the first few weeks of term. Poor fellow.

Around lunch time, we felt a little hungry and, turning into the closest cafe, we stopped and talked for two or more hours, asking questions such as "If you were on a deserted island without a Bible, what would you do? Rewrite it in paraphrase? Would you focus on story, or theology?"

We walked past some of the cutest little cafes. I started collecting my favorite names and ended up with "Goose on the Loose," "Pie Dish," "The Humble Bean," and "Applewoods Cafe."

We then passed through St. Stephen's Green...

...and then off in random directions. We ended up walking through a lovely alleyway that was a graffiti free zone. It had some of the most beautiful street art I have ever seen in person. Look at this gradation!

We then toodled over to Dublin Castle, which is Ireland's center of government. You can walk right up to the central buildings, giving the whole area a feeling of home and openness in government. I am certain that the security is strong, but it was a lovely welcoming after the cold, shut off areas in London. Not to mention the bright colors that the castle has been built up with.

Having got ourselves quite twisted around, we had to rely on the map to get us back. 

I have officially found my favorite mode of travel. It's walking with people who are willing to say yes when you say "Ooo! Look at that random little street! Let's go down it..." It becomes about "on the way" instead of "get here then."

On our way back, we ran into Saint Patrick's Cathedral and stopped to stare for awhile.

From there, it didn't take us long to reach the canal and recognize the way back to our hostel. That night we put together a simple dinner of orange chicken, rice, and sauteed mushrooms. While cooking, I stood and listened to the languages bouncing around the room and smiled.