Renaissance Girl

Well, I've been home for...a few days now, I guess. Today I had a gathering thing at my house; several people showed up (yay! for you all), & it was good to see them, although I was still tired & maybe not the best hostess in the world. But there were lots of cookies. Yeah. Joel & I made cookies. And Maggie helped us frost them. And they were scary.

Other than that, I've just been hanging around...Joel & I tried to see Shauna yesterday but, well, miscommunication for the win...so we're trying again tomorrow. I am crossing my metaphorical fingers.

OH! But I also signed the lease to the apartment that Cozy & I will be living in for the next six months! I really like it. More info to come.

Last night I went to the burlesque Nutcracker, the Land of the Sweets, with Ravenna--it was grand, and loads of fun. We were seated right up nearly on the stage, and we drank martinis and watched dancing nearly-naked ladies and awesome aerelists* & drank martinis and generally had a good time.


(* I really want to learn acrobatics, particularly the silks stuff. I think that every time I see someone doing them, & I should really just get up and find somewhere to do that.)


Not much else really. It is ridiculously close to Christmas. We don't have a tree. My room is a mess, because my version of "unpacking" is to open a bag and strew everything about the floor and then hope it puts itself away. Ahaha. I will go remedy this situation, after I write up my adventure in Chicago.

( i condensed it; it's still long. )

This weekend was cold, wet, blustery and very much turning toward winter. That didn't exactly stop us from doing anything, however...I & some others managed to get out of Dublin on both days. Saturday Cozy, Lee & I woke up early (again) and met a tour bus at the hotel near our apartments. The tour was led by Mary, a chatty & friendly guide, & took us & a bunch of others up to Newgrange, telling us all the while about the history of Ireland, from the Stone Age until now. We wandered the visitor centre for a few minutes, then took the shuttle bus up to the actual site of Newgrange Passage Tomb:



( Bones. )( Saturday night )
( Bray! )

Well, I'm back. From Venice. One of the most glorious cities in the world. This is why I adore Venice: I pretty much love everything having to do with boats, old cities, things made of stone that are over five hundred years old, masks, hand-made artisan crafts, and fresh Italian food. Fortunately for me, Venice is built on islands and public transportation is by boat, it is extremely old and gorgeous in every way, and masks and pretty things are in grand abundance. I will attempt to do justice to the whirlwind three days that Lee & I spent there. I will fail, but I will attempt...and at least there will be pictures!

Saturday

We left on Saturday afternoon, planning to catch the Aircoach & instead being taken by cab, after a cabbie pulled up to the stop & said, "You want to go to the airport for the same price as the coach? Hop in." Turns out he was going to the airport anyway, so he drives along the aircoach route & steals passengers, which I think is hilarious. Also, he reminded me very strongly of Sanjay from Slings and Arrows, which was even funnier. We did the whole airport rigamarole, but we got to board our aircraft by walking across & climbing stairs!



I know, it's silly for me to get excited about that but it feels so fabulously old-fashioned, like I ought to be wearing a hat and gloves to get on board the aircraft. There were some beautiful views out the airplane window as well: ( +2 )

We landed in Venice, and took bus to Piazzale Roma (a transportation depot, the last place cars can go in Venice) & then a vaporetto (water taxi) to our hostel. The vaporettos are wonderful, old clunky flat boats with a covered seating area. They stutter along the canals making noises that sound like they will just give up at any moment, and they pull up to the docks with a huge listing clunk. I love them.

Sunday

We woke up early on Sunday to avoid the tourist rush across to the main islands. I stumbled blearily out of bed, spent a long time in the bathroom arranging my towel so I could reach it but it wouldn't get showered on, and then spotted a window in the corner. I stumbled over to it, looked outside, and woke up instantly:



Yeah, so, we're in Venice. No doubts! We got breakfast at the hostel, and took the boat across to Piazza San Marco, where we spent a little time just taking photos and being touristy: ( +2 )

Then we went to the Doge's Palace (Palazzo de Doge). Sadly no photos were allowed inside; I would have loved to show you some of those rooms. They were gorgeous, all blue and gold ceilings, and Renaissance paintings everywhere, carved marble fireplaces. Hidden behind a doorway to a staircase that went nowhere we were allowed, we found a fresco by Titian of St Christopher carrying Christ across the Venetian Lagoon. My favorite room by far was the Shield Room, in which there are no shields but the current Doge's coat of arms. But the walls are all painted in maps of the 16th century, and there are two enormous globes--I mean enormous, maybe three feet in diameter--one of the earth, one of heaven. All old, and brown, and beautiful.

I did, however, take plenty pictures of the courtyard....( +3 )

After the Palazzo, we headed for el Teatro Fenice (the Phoenix Theater), via a church where we caught the second half of mass, a cafe where we grabbed some lunch, a gelateria, and various other mazes and amazing places of Venice: ( +3 )

And el Teatro! It was beautiful...and ironic. This theater, and the company that built it, has survived and rebuilt from several fires, each time renovating the theater to look as close to the orginal designs as possible. Except for when Venice surrendered to Napoleon, & they took out several small boxes in the middle to make a royal box (which is riduclously sumptuous, all red velvet and mirrors and gold).

So, we weren't actually allowed to take pictures inside El Teatro, & in the auditorium and seats there were very attentive guards; but in the other rooms no one was around, so I stole a couple photos just to show you how amazing the entire place was: ( +2 )

Just past the Fenice is a beautiful little courtyard. That small building in the back is a hotel, & is, I've decided, where I'll stay the next time I go to Venice. (When I am rich, apparently, and can afford it...)



I could spend so long here...

And the rest of this I'm doing as one great lj-cut lump, because there's no set pattern to any of this... Here are pictures of masks, of bridges, of buildings, of why Venice is strikingly and disgustingly picturesque: ( see? everything is pretty )

So that was Day One of Venice. But I got back to Dublin today, have spent a lot of the day doing laundry & uploading pictures, & I am tired. A lot of my clothes are still wet, I have to pack again because we're going to London tomorrow...& we have to catch a bus at five am. It's 10:25pm right now. So y'all are going to have to wait for more Venice. I will probably do a ridiculous round of Venice & London posts when I get back, after I see my parents!

& now I really do have to pack. And sleep. Love all. Ciao.

I MET HELEN MIRREN. HELEN MIRREN!

Cozy, Lee, Meghan and I got up early this morning and went to the Hughes & Hughes bookstore in St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre to get in line--in the queue, I should say--to meet Helen Mirren. (HELEN MIRREN.) We held each other's places in line while we all went to buy the book (none of us but Cozy had really planned on buying it before this morning, but--it's Helen Mirren. And a good book). We were among the first in line and we were only getting more excited as the bookstore started to open and people were setting things up.... The line had stretched far back behind us by this point.

And then with no warning, there she was. Just calmly walking out along the line of adoring fans, saying, "I just wanted to come out and say hello to you all."

Did I mention that I love her voice?

She disappeared into the bookstore after a little while. By this point there were a bunch of gawpers standing about the entrance, probably intrigued by the many large news cameras and the enormous queue. Then she came out again, though you could hardly tell with all the newspeople and their cameras surrounding the little signing table, you couldn't actually see her. The few people in front of us went through, and then Cozy (of whom I never got a good picture because some random person was in the way the whole time. Bah).

And then I went up to the table, and she took my book and looked at the postit, and said, "Are you Kenna?" in that beautiful voice. And I said I was, and as she was signing she said, "you must have got up very early," and I burbled "oh, no no, it was worth it!" (Or probably something closer to "nunun...worthit," really.)

I did manage to get some better pictures afterward, though none of them are particularly good. But what do I care? I MET HELEN MIRREN!

( some pictures anyway... )

...and that's pretty much all I have to say.

This weekend was my explore Dublin, poke about in museums weekend. So far it's been going well. Friday I made it my goal to get to the Dublin Theater Festival box office in Temple Bar, which I did, there and back in about four hours. Had I been walking there direct it would probably have taken me an hour and a half total, but I meandered, and I walked through St Stephen's Green, and the arcades and architecturally gorgeous shopping centres between here and there, and took many photos. Saturday I spent wandering the National Gallery, seeing things I didn't see the first time, and then going to Ivanov. Today I'm going to the National Museum of Archeology* and then to see Hibiki. Hot damn, but do I feel cultured.

( here's your medley... )

And this is the video of the Grafton street quintet that we like so much, playing La Traviata. It's short, just about forty seconds. Ignore the fact that it changes to side view halfway through, please...this is me learning my camera's capabilities. And being a little stupid. Oh well.

( bum bum buda-bum.... )

* I would just like to register my continued annoyance that the Dead Zoo is closed. I mean. What? It's for repairs, okay, but it's been closed since July. If I miss it....rrrargh.

So today we found out that since our voice teacher (his name is Cathal Quinn. I want that name.) is off being professionally theatrical until the beginning of the Gaiety semester (second week of October), we don't have Friday class until then. Which means even more time for travel.

So today I decided to take a ferry to Holyhead, a port in north Wales, and do something there. I am more than ridiculously excited about traveling around Ireland and the UK. Trouble is I don't know where to go in Wales or what to do...but I figure if all else fails, I can probably just wander around Snowdonia for 36 hours and call it good. There are far worse problems to have.

(I am also trying to wrangle horseback riding, but none of the stables in North Wales are close enough to any town with rail service to get there on foot. This is the problem traveling by myself: I am on my own two feet and relying on railways and buses, of which there are few in the remote countryside in Wales. Or Ireland. Or anywhere. We'll see. Maybe I'll just hike four miles to go hacking for another two hours. ....I would do that, wouldn't I? Jaysus.)


Not even going to try to write about classes yet. I don't even know. (Except for two things: they are going to be really good and challenging; and our Devising teacher is frighteningly similar to Ki.)

And I leave you with this: ( Cannot even TELL you how thrilled I am for The Golden Compass movie! )

Love to all.