Hamlet, Howth, and Hops

Faithful readers! Thanks for coming back! If you accidentally stumbled onto this or wound up here anyways...... I think you know where the back button is.

SO, the days have been pretty packed so far. Yesterday was my first Friday in town, and although I didn't have class, I still stayed fairly busy. I woke up and went to go see my FIRST IRISH THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE. Hamlet. From an Irish viewpoint. I didn't take my camera, but here are my thoughts right off the bat:

1. They used a minimalist set that incorporated hanging plastic sheets (which came into play in a big way with the death of Polonius). It was a modern adaptation? I think? I mean, the adults wore skinny jeans, so I assume they weren't trying to be retro/ironic, I think it was just European. And the actor who played Hamlet was the son of Barry McGovern.
2. WOOOOOOOOOW. Shakespeare on stage>Shakespeare on page. This was a really good production, and everything flowed fantastically. Keith Thompson, whoever you are, you really nailed it on this one. I hope we're related.
3. They took out Fortinbras from this production, which is ok because it put more emphasis on the main plot being Hamlet's utter descent into madness. I never realized what games Hamlet's character plays with Ophelia until I saw it. Interesting...

Anyways, I spent the rest of the day catching up on sleep/work/doing light reading while trying to figure out what I was going to do today with some friends. The night ended with my two friends on youtube watching cat videos while eating chocolate ice cream and feeling homesick (OK, these things do go together. I promise, sometimes you just have to listen to your emotions).....

Which brings us to today! We woke up super early (before 9, still early in Irish time) and headed out to the DART station in Blackrock. After waiting only about 20 minutes, we managed to catch a train up to Howth, a city about an hour north where there were supposedly dragons castles, seals, and a lighthouse. What we found was this:

Yea, I bet you wish you had a map on a wall.

No, but in all honesty, we spent an awesome day just wandering around the city-part of Howth looking at how gorgeous the Irish country-side was. We walked out to this turret thing that they converted into a radio-tower.

 

The view from up top

The turret itself.

 

 

The Coastline

And afterwards wandered into a restaurant called "the bloody stream" to get the classic seaside fish and chips. It took a little while because they didn't have the kitchen open until midnight, so we sat around warming up by the fire instead. They had a thing where they charge 10% more on saturdays and don't split up checks either, so I think they were trying to appeal to the tourist crowd. So, afterwards, we attempted to make our way out to the lighthouse on the pier of the island. However, we did not expect HURRICANE FORCE WINDS to be attacking us on the way out. I would lean over and try to fall down forwards and the wind would push me upright again. It was blowing so fast that the masts of the ships were blowing together and tapping to make a symphony of noises. In addition, there were metal structures along the way that the wind was whistling through, creating vague chords. I know "cool" is an ambiguous word for any writer to use, but IT WAS COOL. I'd highly recommend Howth to everyone who comes to Ireland. It's only a 5.20 Euro roundtrip from Dublin, and you could spend the whole day there.

And there was a nice view.

After escaping from the fierce wind, and taking a powernap on the train back to dublin (about an hour), my friend Gretchen and I split up from the rest of the group and went to the most famous place in Ireland (the determining factor of most famous place being the place I'm asked about most by my friends)....

I think Disney has "the happiest place on earth" trademarked

It was a fun time to be had! We got to explore and see how things were made, and at the end of the tour we got to pour the perfect pint of guinness, for which I received a certificate....and I mean, it's not like they give them out to everyone. Just the very best...It's not like they pre-print them off before you even pour the pint or anything. But the rest of the factory was pretty interesting, they have a 360 degree glass room at the top of the building where you can see everything in Dublin. Afterwards, we stopped at a little bistro and then came back to campus. I collapsed on my bed, fighting fatigue. Another full day in Ireland (or any other corny tagline you can think of here)