un weekend en irlande

anyone who knows me knows about my thing for ireland.

magic has always fascinated me. as a little- and not so little- kid, i wrote extensive letters to the tooth fairy, left may day baskets out, and even built and carefully maintained a fairy garden in the side yard of my house. it comes as no surprise then that visiting a country that consciously cultivates its mystical image for two weeks the summer i was nine was quite honestly a defining life event. i could almost taste the potential magic glimmering right beneath the surface everywhere in ireland, just past the next pile of peat in a connemara bog, behind a brightly-painted georgian door in dublin, in the rafters of trinity college's cavernous old library, amidst the frothy wake of the boat taking us to the isle of inishbofin. i was lucky enough to have seen quite a few incredible places in the world prior to that trip, and i've continued to have the privilege to travel in the years since, and there are a multitude of places where i've met amazing friends or done fascinating work or seen beautiful sights or adored the culture, and all-around loved the country. but ireland has always stuck in my mind as being special in a different, more personal kind of way.

when marit and i were entertaining the idea of travelling over our 3-day easter weekend, and realised that there was a direct flight from tours to dublin, and that it was far less expensive than any of our other possible destinations, i have to admit i had a moment of hesitation. i've been dying to return to ireland for the past decade, and never imagined it would happen this year, but at the same time, how can any place live up to a decade's worth of mental buildup? i'd mythologised ireland for so long at this point that it scared me to think that it might not be as special as i remembered it being- that perhaps the connection i felt to it had more to do with where i was in my life at that time than it did with the actual place. but then i came to my senses and remembered that ireland was my favourite place i had ever been and how cool it was that i was being presented with this opportunity that i'd been wanting for so long and that i couldn't think of any better way to spend my birthday weekend than in the best country with my best friend.

so we bought our tickets, and we went.

we didn't have time to go to the west coast, which will always have my heart, but we did make it outside dublin to spend friday afternoon getting amongst nature in the ~real ireland~ aka howth, a touristy but very cute village on a peninsula on the north side of dublin bay. 

walking around the trinity campus on saturday morning.

grafton street.

dublin castle.

post-guinness factory tour. 

the view of the liffey from the ha'penny bridge at night.

we went to easter mass at christ church cathedral. marit was happy we picked christ church because it's the episcopalian cathedral of dublin & glendalough dioceses. we were both happy because the church- and its crypt, which is the oldest building in dublin and which houses tons of historical artifacts- usually costs several euros in admission... but if you attend a service, you get to explore it for free. 

st. stephen's green.

 

we had to take a short yoga-selfie break in the park- une petite pause, as our french profs would say. 

parliament. 

it was a fantastic weekend, and over all too soon. but it's okay- spending those three days in ireland only solidified my desire to study abroad at trinity college dublin my junior year with the st andrews english department's erasmus exchange with TCD. i think if you're lucky enough to find the one place that you feel that particular, singular connection to, il faut profiter de ça. knowing that i'll be back in two years makes me so, so happy. 

so as it turns out, ireland is just as magical as ever. 

x

M

48 hours in BsAs

i'm a week late in posting about buenos aires, but better late than never. another weekend, another overnight semicama bus trip- this one was under 10 hours, which was great. marit and i set off on friday evening armed with warm socks and melatonin, and arrived in the capital around 6:30 on saturday morning. 

cold, sick, and tired, we nevertheless spent all day from around 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. exploring as much of the city as we could manage. our hostel, where we stopped to drop off our bags in the morning, was situated in barrio microcentro, a neighbourhood downtown where many of the city's tourist locations are located. 

buenos aires is stunning architecturally. microcentro looks like a strange mix of paris and d.c., and the entire city oozes old-world charm.

one of the few spanish-style buildings that i saw. after gaining independence from spain in the early 19th century, porteños veered away from that style of architecture. 

our first main stop was plaza de mayo, a large square that was the site of the 1810 fight for independence. it was unfortunate that we weren't there on a thursday, because every thursday the abuelas de plaza de mayo congregate to stand vigil for the desaparecidos of the dirty war. 

posing in front of a human rights sign. 

a memorial about the falkland islands, or islas malvinas as the argentines refer to them. 

on one end of the plaza, flanked by political graffiti, is la casa rosada, argentina's white house.

after taking copious photos, we headed north, walking through barrio retiro (known for its parks and green space) en route to recoleta, an affluent neighbourhood full of history.

in recoleta, we decided it was an absolute necessity to make a mid-morning pitstop at la biela, the famed cafe where the authors borges and casares used to hang out. apparently, la biela is also famous for being a hangout spot for formula one racing champions in the 1950s, but i think it's fair to say i'm a bit more interested in the cafe's literary history. today, la biela is a tourist destination along the lines of cafe de flore or les deux magots in paris, but we did see a satisfying number of locals enjoying their coffee there as well.

cafe con leche was overpriced but worth it. 

my bros jorge y adolfo.

right nearby was the cementerio de la recoleta, where all of the old-money names of buenos aires are entombed. the cemetery felt like its own city, full of intricate stonework and beautiful marble.

eva peron's grave is there, and all you have to do to find it is follow the crowd of people.

for lunch, i got in touch with my third cousins who live in buenos aires and whom i had never met. they were so, so sweet to marit and me; they picked us up and we went out to lunch at their friend's upscale italian restaurant in las cañitas. the food and the conversation were great, and it was incredible how generous they were towards me purely on the basis of being related. family ties are an amazing thing. i'm so glad i made the effort to contact and make plans with them.

after lunch, they dropped marit and me off at MALBA (museo de arte latinoamericano de buenos aires) in barrio palermo. we were exhausted but still ended up spending around an hour exploring the museum, which contained art from well-known latino artists such as frida kahlo and diego rivera alongside argentine artists i had never heard of before- some of new ones i discovered included nicolás garcía uriburu, luis felipe noé, and more.

in the early evening, we were tired and headed back to the hostel, seeing a few sights along the way.

el teatro colón

evita's face is everywhere. 

the next morning, we headed over the weekend feria in san telmo, an old neighbourhood full of cobblestone streets, colonial buildings, and gorgeous street art. 

look me in the eyes and tell me this doesn't look like paris. 

afterwards, we took a taxi to the barrio of la boca, home to the boca juniors fútbol team. 

la boca is a mix of high and low; it is a working-class neighbourhood and is rough around the edges, but yet contains one of the most highly-touristed streets in buenos aires, calle caminito. caminito is known for its brightly-painted buildings, abundance of tango clubs, pizzerias (there is a strong genoan heritage in la boca) and scores of shops peddling boca juniors apparel. we were warned, however, not to venture onto side streets, because the barrio turns from crowded and touristy to barren and dodgy very quickly.

selfie time.

the only proper photo of the two of us all weekend... oops.

afterwards, we continued attempting to at least see as many parts of the city as we could by taking a cab to puerto madero, a formerly industrial area on the waterfront which is now debatably the most expensive block in the city.

puerto madero reminded me a lot of southwark in london, with its sleek high-rises and posh restaurants superimposed over what used to be a gritty riverfront area. 

then we headed to barrio norte for lunch, where we used my 1% of remaining iphone battery (!) to look up the address of a health food restaurant we had heard about. marit and i were both irrationally excited to eat something a bit different for a change.

a gratuitous photo of my tofu curry. 

happy camper because ethnic food and tofu. 

it was an adorable restaurant and shop- they also sold baked goods, smoothies, and all kinds of healthy specialty foods. 

with only a few hours remaining in buenos aires, we stopped in congreso on the way home to see the national congress, which is identical to the capitol building at home, except for in this terrifying shade of grey.

pigeons everywhereee.  

after that, we packed up our things and caught an overnight bus home to CBA! two days was most definitely not enough time in buenos aires. i could easily spend another week just sightseeing in and around the city, and i would happily live there, sipping cafe con leche, following fútbol religiously, and riding the subte like a real porteña. 

until next time, 

xo 

m