Félix Wishes He Could Name This Entry - Dublin, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru Though my time in London has been full of ups and downs, I think in the end I'll look back on this time and smile. Yeah there's been some tough schools, times when I've felt frustrated, sad, and even triumphant, but all in all I've accomplished what I've set out to do. I have a job waiting for me in September, and a wealth of experience under my belt, all because I acted on an impulse and moved halfway across the world. Now, the fun begins. Monday I had called into work but received no call back. This was a little disheartening, as I now only had three days I could potentially work. So, instead of working I went with mom to Harrod's, mainly to realize how poor we are, as this particular store is notorious for its lavish prices. We toured around the food hall, through the jewelry section and eventually down to the spirits room. The crown jewel of this section was a £95000 bottle of Courvoisier, bottled in the 18th century. However, this wasn't the most expensive item we saw, as there was a diamond and sapphire necklace for half a million. Apparently there are people who come in and actually buy up the place, though neither of us will be doing that in the foreseeable future. That night we saw We Will Rock You, another musical. It was good, though the whole time I wished I was hearing Freddie singing the songs. The storyline was a little tacky too, but it was still fun singing along with all those great songs, as each one reminds me of memories past with different people. I did get to finish my London teaching tenure at my favourite school in West Ham. Overall it was a pretty quiet day, teaching two classes that became usuals at this particular school. At the end of the day I went and thanked the head teacher for bringing me back so often, as easily a third of my time was spent there. After work I ventured with mom down to Leicester Square to meet Lauren in hopes one of us would win the Book of Mormon lottery, as it's the last musical we wanted to see in London. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Instead we parted ways with Lauren and saw This Is The End, which is honestly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. So in the end I guess we did get some comedic entertainment. It turns out I turned down the opportunity to teach for the rest of the week, as I realized it'd be best to spend as much time with mom as possible before we both leave London. On Wednesday we met up with her friend Barb and ventured off to Hampton Court, former home to king Henry VIII. The amount of rich history that was right before our eyes was staggering. We were able to tour around the kitchens, the apartments, the vast gardens etc. It was definitely a nice reminder that I've been lucky enough to live in such a historically significant city for the last 6 months. That night we had a nice dinner with Barb and her husband before calling it a night. The next day I had the great fortune of meeting up with returning visitor Chris Assmus. Chris was passing through on his way to South Africa after refereeing a university games rugby tournament in Kazan, Russia. Keeping up with the rugby theme we decided to take in some related sights: the rugby pitch that hosts both Richmond and London Scottish, Twickenham stadium and The Cabbage Patch, which is a pub that alludes to the story of England's national stadium being built on an old cabbage patch. Later that day we went back into Central London and met up with mom and Barb for a bit before I had to run off for a dinner at our cousin Sonia's. After the dinner at Janet's on Saturday night we were invited to go to Sonia and Edward's for dinner, as it might be the last time we see them. It was a lovely dinner, and let my mom and Sonia piece together the various parts of the Thomas family tree. After saying goodbye I tried to get a good nights sleep, but ultimately failed. I was too excited. Waiting in Victoria station on Friday morning I received a Facebook message from Felix telling me he couldn't use his debit card to get in from Gatwick airport. After a half hour train ride I managed to find him and get him a train ticket back to London. We were both stoked to see each other after such a long absence of hanging out. Back home it would be normal to see Felix at least once a week, but it's good we're starting our trip we've been talking about for years. After showing Felix around Borough market, eating a pulled pork baguette, walking along the Embankment with Chris and meeting mom and Barb for dinner we had a night out with some more friends from Nanaimo: Yvonne, living in Glasgow, and Aimee who was just finishing her own Eurotrip. The first leg of our travels is in Dublin, which will serve as a nice appetizer to the Contiki tour we have next week. We arrived here around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. After meeting some Americans who were staying in our room we grabbed some chow from a local brew pub called the Porterhouse. Back to the hostel we met up with the Americans again and hit the infamous Temple Bar area. The atmosphere was something that we as Canadians aren't completely used to. Nevertheless it was a blast. The next morning wasn't a blast, as we completely slept through it. After forcing ourselves to eat "breakfast" we decided to have an easier day. Having not seen the third Hangover film we decided to head out to the suburbs to catch the flick. I thought it was good, but not as good as the first two. First we walked around and took in some fresh air before grabbing our dinner of baguettes and deli meat, which essentially cost $4 each (not bad). When we got back we decided we might as well go out for one beer as long as we weren't tired. We met some new people who we plan to see tonight, so good thing we did go out. Felix has also been pitching me titles for this entry, this the actual title. Some of his "great ideas" were "Irish We Could Stay Here Longer" and "Beers, Tears & Cheers". Some real winners there, buddy. Today we plan on visiting the Guinness factory and maybe walk around some more. Dublin is quite small, and it's easy to get around. Next weeks entry will be from the road, and if my calculations are correct it'll be from Paris. So until then, au revoir!