Day of Not-So-Obscure (And Also Not Irish) References...

We had a wonderfully rural day today! We left Kilkenny around 9:30 and headed for Dublin, but we took the scenic route, so it took a little longer and we stopped for pictures at a little spot our bus driver, Declan, knew of. (Reference #1: Declan from Leap Day--technically this movie is mostly set in Ireland, but I don't think it counts as an Irish reference. For the record, Leap Day might be my favorite chick flick EVER. And I love the name Declan. Anyway...) We step off of the bus and are hit immediately with the clean scent of pure evergreens. No pollution to speak of, just clean air and growing trees. Most of Ireland was deforested centuries ago by various invading parties so that said invaders could build ships with the wood, but a lot of it has been REforested now, and that's where the wonderful scent was coming from. I wish I could have bottled it up and taken it home. We spent a lovely fifteen minutes climbing all over this obscure ruin that no one is preserving and taking a bunch of pictures of the valley, the ruined building, the clouds literally touching the ground a couple dozen feet away from us, and each other. Then it was back on the bus for the ride to our real destination between Kilkenny and Dublin: Glendalough. 

 It's this old rural monastery settlement in the middle of the mountains. Most of the buildings are in ruins now, but there is one still standing tall and (for the most part) undamaged: the tall, circular bell tower. (Reference #2: Insert Tangled Here. This was Rapunzel's Tower if it had existed in...monastic Ireland. We were looking at a picture of it before seeing the real thing and one of the girls pointed to the middle of the tower and said "and if you look closely here, you see Flynn Rider climbing." Unfortunately, no Flynn showed up while we were there.)

When we finally got out to the ruins, we got to walk through the cemetery where the monks were buried. Some of the headstones were so old that they had weathered away to stubs, while others around them still stood tall. I just happened to walk past a gravestone that was set up in honor of a family of Cahills (Reference #3! Maybe one of the 39 Clues was hidden in Ireland somewhere!) We walked around the bell tower (which was inside the cemetery) and took pictures, and then set off exploring other areas of the monastery grounds. We found this awesome old gate as we exited the cemetery, on which there was a pretty Celtic design. I took a picture of the gate, but then I had to do a double take. What I saw was this: (Insert Awesome Picture Here) And thus it was discovered that the monks of Glendalough were actually Airbenders. (Reference #4). They probably abandoned the place when the Fire Nation attacked. This is all tongue-in-cheek of course, but it was startling how similar this Celtic Design was to the symbol for the Air Nomads.

Towards the end of our visit, we set out on some of the hiking trails that surround the monastery, taking in the beautiful scenery. Imagine our surprise when we realized that the path we were walking was separating two magical lands: on our right was Narnia--the hill where the Pevensies first meet Prince Caspian on their return (Reference #5), and on our left was the Shire--the large mossy trees that sheltered Frodo and his hobbit friends from their first encounter with the ringwraiths in Fellowship (Reference #6!). Fun Fact: J.R.R. Tolkien spent a lot of time in Ireland and modeled the Shire after it. Not too surprising, when you think about it: the Irish love drinking, the Hobbits love drinking, both sometimes live in houses that are cut into hillsides, etc. To say the least, this is not the first time we've felt like we'd walked into Lord of the Rings.  We would have gone forward more if we'd had more time, but we had to turn around to meet up with the group at the bus. 

...Well that's frustrating! I had this whole post typed out, and then the phone blacked out unexpectedly and half of it got erased! Aw, man, I was so close to being done! Oh well. This is fun. :)

Somewhere between Kilkenny and Dublin we drove through a roundabout named the "Dr. Cullen Drive Roundabout." Reference #7 anyone? I think this one is pretty clear without me hitting it on the nose. Yep. Moving on.

Next stop? Dublin! Or, as Palmer put it when we arrived, Dublindore! (You guessed it: Reference #8. There is actually a large, pointing spire right in the center of Dublin that Declan called the Knitting Needle. I, however, will forever see it as the Elder Wand, in honor of Palmer's wittiness.) We are spending the night in the dorms at Dublin City University. We checked in and unloaded all of our luggage and were then shuttled to the center of Dublin where we were left to our own devices for four hours. A group of friends and I wandered around, found some really fabulous stores with great prices, at dinner at a small cafeteria, and wandered around some more. It's hard to find stuff to do after 6:00 because a lot of the stores close early so the owners can go to the pubs with everyone else. We were left there until 9:00, but we managed to fill up the time until the last hour, when we all sat down at the base of a statue and talked until the bus came.

So...that's basically it. For anyone who cares, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Disney were also referenced at various points throughout the day. Well, tomorrow's my last day in Ireland! It's only been a week, but we've done and seen so much that it feels like it's been much longer. On Thursday we're off to Wales! July 2nd will be spent in Bath. I think we're visiting some old Roman baths. Or some fabulously cool castles. I'm happy either way. July 4th is when we move into our flats in London. Yes, we will celebrate Independence Day by "invading" London. That's that, I guess! Michelle, send me some good vibes so I will remember to pick up a postcard for you from Dublin, okay?

A tree dripped sap on me today. My hair is still sticky. That is all.