Recap: Days Two Through Seven

I have been a bad blogger lately. So I'm going to try and make up for that. Normally when I am online, I'm talking with my friends (that I miss very much). Anyway. this is all copied from stuff I had written down.

Dublin, Day Two:

We took a bus tour. It was a "hop-on hop-off" bus. So we took the whole tour first, and then "hopped-off" at Dublin Castle. It was cool. The best part was the remnants of the Powder Tower. The Castle burnt down and was rebuilt at some point. Don't ask me when. I don't remember.

After Dublin Castle, we walked over to Christ Church. I'm not a big fan of "touring" churches (we didn't really tour, we walked around it). They all basically do the same thing, some are just bigger or older or of a different denomination. I'm more fascinated with how they built the churches back when they had no machinery. That is very cool. I tend to get bored with places like churches and museums rather quickly. I'm the only person I know that groans when someone suggests (when I'm in New York) going to the Met. It's like they just said, "Let's go stab ourselves in the eyes with needles." Okay, so maybe it's not THAT bad. But still...

On the other hand, the Guinness Storehouse was amazing. It was really awesome--even if we did sort of get lost getting to it. There's a big fountain as you walk in, and like any fountain, the bottom was flooded with coins. We look over and see a kid, maybe six or seven years old, standing in the water taking money! I wonder what happened to him. No one was saying anything. It was quite amusing.

That night we went to the area of Dublin called Temple Bar, named after Sir William Temple. It's where all the street performers go and stuff. Really cool place. Well, we went to a restaurant called "La Med". I had a cheeseburger, and basically died. There were onions ground in with the beef and I didn't know that. Basically, I was poisoned. It was bad. Later that night we went to Bewley's for dessert! That was good. Irish ice cream is amazing. It was very good.


Dublin, Day Three:

We hit up Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) today. It was wicked, wicked, wicked cool. I loved it. U2 filmed a video in the jail's East Wing. I thought that was awesome. I have become obsessed with U2 ever since I went to Dublin. I'm excited about that, though.

We walked over to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. It was weird. I didn't care for it at all. We took a taxi back to our hotel. My parents went somewhere, and I decided to check out a guitar store. Unlike American guitar stores, you can't just plug in and play. They keep the good guitars (Fenders and Gibsons) locked up or behind the counter. I didn't feel like asking to play them because I like my guitars better, and they probably wouldn't have let me because I wasn't seriously interested in buying one. They are wicked expensive, too! An American Standard Strat was 900 Euro! That's like $1500! They're $900 in the States (not that $900 is cheap)! Ridiculous.

We hit up Temple Bar again. This time we went to a reknowned Irish pub (actually, it was a "boxty house") called Gallagher's (Gallagher's Boxty House, to be specific). It was very good. I had a cheeseburger that was onion-free, and a dessert that was to die for. We sat next to these two very friendly Canadians.

That was that. We returned to the hotel and slept.


Dublin, Day Four:

We decided to go out to Malahide and see Malahide Castle. So we took the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) out there. It was about a half-hour ride. It was also a lengthy walk from the station to the castle. It was a very pretty walk, though. The castle itself was very cool. But what was even cooler than the castle was the playground a little ways back. It was the coolest playground ever. Ever ever ever ever. I'm still in love with it.

And for the third night in a row, we went to Temple Bar. Shocker! Haha, only this time we did something aside from eat. We did a Pub Crawl. You go to a few pubs, and listen to Irish musicians. They play music and talk about the history of it. Then at the end they ask if anybody wants to/can play music. So I did. I played "Blackbird" and "Day Tripper". It was cool. then we ate a place called THUNDER ROAD Cafe!!! Thunder Road! Bruce! It wasn't too good, but still..BRUCE!


Copenhagen, Day Five:

We landed in Copenhagen at around 2 PM local time, and went straight to our hotel. A little while later we called up Steph. She came over around 6, I believe. We ate dinner and walked around the city center. We didn't do anything. The plan was to find a pastry shop, but we didn't. The three of us thought Steph knew where some good places were in the area, but she didn't. So we walked. And walked. And walked. Eventually we walked so much that we ended up back at our hotel. It was an uneventful day.


Copenhagen, Day Six:

We got off to a late start today. So late that I missed breakfast. Even in Copenhagen it rains. It rained today. It rained more today than it did in any day in Dublin..funny. We took yet another bus tour. It was a "hop-on hop-off" tour as well. So we "hopped-off" at another castke, and the Little Mermaid statue. Then we headed back to the hotel, rested, got ready, etc... And then we met up with Steph.

Tivoli Garden is one of the coolest places in the world. It was Walt Disney's inspiration for Disneyland. It was wicked awesome. The rides are so cool. There was one that was a combination of the Flying Trapeze and a slower version of the Dragon's Descent (there was a a real Dragon's Descent there, too). It was awesome. There was an upside-down rollercoaster and a bunch of other cool rides. Steph and I sampled a bunch. We also got homemade cotton candy. It was gooooood.

Steph went back to her place, and we went back to the hotel. It was a fun night.


Copenhagen, Day Seven:

We got up early today! And took another bus tour. We "hopped-off" at the Danish Resistance Museum (basically a mini Holocaust museum). It was very interesting. We also "hopped-off" at the Royal family's palace. We just walked around the grounds.

It was very sunny today! Well, until 3ish. Then it rained for a bit. We went over to Steph's exhibition. It wasn't just hers. It was the whole DIS's (Danish Institute of Design's) summer program exhibition. It was really cool. Steph won an award for her glassblowing, but would you expect anything less?

We took a bus (just a regular bus this time) back to the hotel. And now I'm here.

And now I'm not.

Tu Me Manques

As much a I love being in Europe, I do miss some people (yeah, you know who you are). It's funny though: Now that I have the Mac, I almost miss them more because I can communicate constantly. It definitely has more benefits than downsides, but still. It kills me in a way to know that I won't see ANY of my friends until the 19th at the earliest, and I won't see Bob until after the 22nd (sucks BIG TIME).

Most of you might ask if I miss them now, what will I do come Berklee time? Well, I'll have Danielle and Julia in the Boston-area. Julia (thank God) is right down the street, and Danielle is a T-ride away. Unfortunately, Drew is going be in UMaine (Orono), Jordan's going to be at Colby (Waterville), and Alex will be in DC (which is actually the easiest for me to get to). But college is different than being abroad with only your family--you make friends at school. Don't get me started on Bob. I hate knowing that I won't see him on Monday. Yes, I'll be in Copenhagen, but a big part of me wants to (almost needs to) see Bob on Monday.

...I just realized why I miss my friends so much. Everytime I've been to Europe, I've gone with at least one of my close friends (and Dale came once, too). This time I'm only with my parents! And we're not going 24/7. I don't have Debbie to entertain me. I don't have Mrs. Roller to get me lost at 1 in morning in Italy. I don't have Danielle to break any toilets or to fall asleep as the maintenance man comes to fix the drain. I don't have Jordan to be my on-again-off-again boyfriend. I don't have Julia to be the only European-looking American with me. It's much different, and I love change, but I think I enjoy Europe with friends more than I do with parents. Not that I'm not enjoying it, but you know what I mean. Even if I have a guitar, I'd rather have my best friends with me.

I think once we're out of Ireland, it'll be much more fun. Dublin's cool, but I can't wait for London.

My European Adventure! Day One: Dublin

At last, I am here. After much to do (flight cancelation, endless check it and security lines, etc...) I'm in the land of half of my roots. Dublin is not a city in the way I think of a city. There are virtually no skyscrapers, the streets are wicked small, and there's a pub every five feet (no lie). It's still cool, though. It doesn't have the hustle and bustle that American cities do. It's not beautiful in the same way that Paris and London are. It's got its own identitiy that I think it is very proud of.

The plane ride was..well, who honestly enjoys transatlantic flights? Not me. It was fine. Small layover in Heathrow was the same: fine. We landed in Dublin around 10:15 AM I believe. We took a taxi to our hotel, dropped off our bags and then had something to eat. After brunch (I would call it brunch. I had pancakes at lunchtime), we returned to our hotel and took a nap. I slept a good two hours, although it didn't do me much good (I was still exhausted). I took a nice, long, hot shower, and that made me feel a bit better.

We went to a wicked good restaurant called One Pico. It was excellent.

We walked back to our hotel and that was that. My body has no idea what's going on. Should I be tired? Should I be awake? I don't know. It's 5:45 PM back in Maine, and it's 10:45 PM here. I don't know what to do!

21 Hours And Counting

I have been awake for almost 24 hours. For almost an entire day, I have not slept a minute. I don't know why, I just couldn't get to sleep last night. I went up to bed around 1:30 AM, and just..couldn't. It was weird. Around four in the morning, I was in a really weird state of mind. I would have told you anything you wanted. I don't have any secrets that I can think of anyway, but if I did, I would have told them all to you without even caring. My guard was down completely. That's a weird feeling. Everyone has a guard, myself included. I was vulnerable, but there wasn't anybody around so it didn't really matter.

I still find it hard to believe I'm awake. And on top of it all, I wrote a pretty decent song last night and I went for a run at 5:30 this morning! That is unheard of for me. I was running with the sunrise. I saw it on my way back and it really gave me a boost of energy. It was a really cool sight to see. I hung around outside for a good hour after my run. Partly because I didn't want to open the garage door and wake my parents up (they aren't up yet), but mainly because it was such a cool morning and I just wanted to take it in.

Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Bruce'll Stop The Rain

Saturday night was just about the best night of my life (or at least the best concert I've been to). Based on a purely musical basis, Bruce beats the Who and Billy Joel (the experiences I had at those two shows involve interaction with the artist. So..yeah).

Bruce is my guy. There is no one I love more than him. He's number one. With the exception of Mark Fisher, I don't know anyone that loves Bruce as much as I do. I can't even explain it. Like...I don't even know what it is about him that I adore so much. It's a combination of everything: the music, the personality, the beliefs, the showmanship, the energy, the band...I can't get enough of him. He's the only artist I love 24/7 (okay, he's one of two--Billy Joel). I go through a lot of phases. Some days I want to marry John Mayer, some days he gets on my nerves. I've never said, "You know, I'm not in the mood for Bruce." I'm always in the mood for Bruce. I've been like this for more than two years now, and there's no end in sight. If you get into Bruce when you're young, there's no stopping. You don't just stop being a Bruce fan. His music buries itself deep in your soul. It would take a million years for it to crawl out of you. And the only person that could possibly live for a million years is Keith Richards.

It poured Saturday night. And I mean that. I've never seen it rain so hard in my life. Bruce didn't come on stage until a little after nine. But he made up for being tardy (and he stopped the rain). His set-list was near-perfect. Only Ramrod, Bobby Jean, Darkness, and Candy's Room could have made it better. He's so wild on stage, I love it. I cried several times, to be honest. I get very emotional at concerts, especially at Springsteen shows. As Bob said: It's great to have heroes. Bruce is my hero. As big of a guitar freak that I am, I'll take Bruce over them all. They can't do what he does. Nobody can. And maybe nobody should. His shows are indescribable. He pours his heart out night after night. I would trade in ten Red Sox/Yankees games for one Bruce Show. Yes. I am being 100% honest (when do I lie anyway?). Bruce means more to me than any baseball game could. Game Seven field box seat at Fenway or floor seats at Bruce? Bruce.

I have an inexplicable passion for him. And I wouldn't have it any other way.