Mommy-Daughter Dublin City Adventure Extravagana

We were stuck in the house yesterday for a Dublin-Summer-Rain-Day and it was tough. So, I decided to have a whirlwind, Mommy-Daughter Dublin Adventure Day! (part of this was planned but you'll see, that part didn't exactly work out) :)

Here we are at the DART station heading into the city (this is outside our apartment building and takes 13 minutes to be in the city centre).

This hat was a birthday present from Auntie Sarah and I absolutely love it! Norah does too and insisted on wearing it today.

 One destination for today's city adventure was "The Ark" (an artsy Children's museum in Dublin). Well, turns out its very, very popular and their exhibit on The Circus was sold out. Such a letdown for Norah because I've told her about this for a week!

"Alright, fine, there are no tickets left to your dumb show?? Well, we're still gonna hang out in your lobby and take stupid pictures in this face-cut-out-thing. And...then we'll go."

And this here is the result of Norah asking to take my picture, aiming the camera and finally capturing me!

Uh oh, a hipster wearing a candy-necklace, enjoying her lollipop on Dame Street!

 One of the most incredible parts about living in Dublin is being 30 minutes from a picnic in front of Dublin Castle! This is what I should be doing with Norah all the time. (other than it being a bit of work, the weather being downright heinous for 9 months of the year and costing money for the train ride....yes, I should do this more) :)  

We had the most delicious (and eclectic) little picnic. We had pickles, roasted beets, a pear, pistachios and sandwiches. (man, this kid has interesting taste buds) Can't get her to eat a piece of string cheese but roasted beets? Oh yes, please pass those.

Back through the tourist-trap of Temple Bar to the National Art Gallery!

The best thing is that all galleries and museums are free in Dublin - so dropping into the National Art Gallery for 20 minutes to do some free-coloring is not an issue!

The children's art area is in this massive atrium and while I didn't see more than 2 paintings during our time here, I'm ok with that. She had a ball drawing and I had more fun coloring with her than walking through a silent gallery anyway. :)

Then a short walk over to the National Library (Mimi, you went here!) for a hot chocolate before our ride back home. We were all OVER this town today. The distance doesn't quite show in these photos but we zig-zagged all over the place.

She IS her mother's daughter.

And here she is, conked out on the train home.

Last week we attended this lovely going-away BBQ for our friends' Ernesto and Alan. Ernesto is a professor at UCD who first taught Wayne and then became a friend. Alan is a diplomat for Ireland and, unfortunately for us, has been transferred, for four years, to Washington D.C. We're sad to lose these two.

We've been to two of their incredible BBQ's and each time we meet the most interesting people ever. This couple on (bottom, right) are both from Istanbul, but live in Grenada, Spain, each doing their Ph.D.'s there. One in literature (she's studying an Irish author, Roddy Doyle, of all people) and he's studying Economics! (so they're obviously fluent in Turkish, Spanish, English, Irish Lit. and Economics....) :) Such an interesting couple. Others were a professor also from Grenada, Spain and several other University professors. Nothing like hanging out with 15 academic geniuses to make you feel like an uneducated simpleton. But, to be fair, that's never the impression you have - you're just in awe of how intelligent, interesting and gracious other humans can be. Any BBQ that leaves me with that feeling is a success.   

Center is a running friend - "Scottish John" as he's known (which is because we have 4 or 5 'John's' in the group - including Scottish John, English John, John C. and John O.) We don't use their last names ever, we actually refer to them as Scottish John and English John. Anyway....Scottish John and his family recently moved into a new home and given that's he's...well, Scottish, he decided to have a Scottish theme. It was really fun! They made traditional Scottish food (Haggis and neeps) and even did a Scotch tour with tiny glasses for everyone and a bit of a tasting-competition. I couldn't handle more than the teeniest sip of each one (4 in total) but Wayne is seriously into this tasting-thing and nearly won the whole thing. They planted an "imposter" whiskey in one bottle and Wayne even guessed which one was labeled incorrectly.

We were asked to wear Scottish garb and while I couldn't find anything for us in charity shops, I had this small plaid skirt for Norah - one that we borrowed from cousin Megan way back.

Norah trying haggis, which she loved.

Norah was very brave and walked outside by herself and starting playing with the older kids.

We thought this was very creative artwork on Norah's behalf. She was working on her art pad when she called us over and told us to look at her new painting. Legos make a painting 3D!

This last week we went with Kirsten, Goran and little Lilia, to see Monsters U. Cute movie, not mind-blowing but cute enough. :)