Send me stuff! A Final Plea

If you are feeling ambitious, now is your last time to mail me things before I leave Ireland. Letters, cards, cookies, tasty treats, and St. Nicholas Day gifts can be sent to:

Ms. Brianna Stapleton
27-29 Rathmines Road Lower
Dublin 6, Ireland

Visit your local post office today :)

L-A-Z-Y

This was the most relaxing weekend ever.

On Friday after class, Peter and I decided to go to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. This idea was a bit silly because I hate modern art, but I always, always want to give it another chance to see if I'll like it. But it never comes through. I still hated pretty much everything I saw at the museum. Once Peter stumbled upon the sculpture that was filled with maggots, we decided it was time to go. Thankfully it didn't cost anything to enter the museum.

There was one cool part of the museum, and that was the response room. It's basically an art room full of supplies and walls to hang things on where visitors can create art in response to what they've seen in the museum and then post it on the walls for other visitors to enjoy. Cool idea!

We went to see The Darjeeling Limited at the Irish Film Institute that afternoon. What a beautiful cinematic space! And the seats were comfortable, and the theatre so warm, it was difficult to not fall asleep. The movie was perfect for a cold and wet afternoon because the sunny color palette warmed me right up. I loved the soundtrack as well. Tickets were a good price, and they screen a wide array of indie films. Maybe if I have another rainy afternoon I will go again.

Friday evening we crashed and relaxed, and I slept in on Saturday morning. Then we went to the Temple Bar farmers market - my new favorite place to be. We bought food for supper and had lunch there and enjoyed sampling the wears of the cheesemongers, avoiding the dead rabbits dangling from the butcher stand, and gawking at the squid for sale from the fishmonger. That afternoon we went around finishing up some of our Christmas and souvenir shopping. Then it was back to Pete's apartment to cuddle up to stay warm and eat our farm market supper.

Sunday - again, slept in until a scandalously late hour. Not much exciting happened. We went to see the Christmas Festival of Lights on O'Connell St., where there was supposed to be a parade and a choir and such, but there was nothing there! We waited and waited for something to happen, but nothing did, so we finally went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and then I went home to work on papers. Again, not very exciting, but still a lovely day to relax and recover for the next two weeks which will be pretty intense.

Tabletop Entertainment

At this evening's Thanksgiving dinner out courtesy of IES, myself and the RA Padraig demonstrated the towel chicken for the fellow theatre students:

The napkin chicken revealed.

Napkin chicken dances with napkin chicken in a dress.

...and in my head I dedicated this performance of the towel chicken to the Talen family. I hope they're doing ok.

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Also, I want to thank Anna and Jim for being great guests, for being patient during all the bad weather, and for buying us lunch and tea.

The Anna and Jim Show

Anna and Jim arrived safely on Friday. We took them to Queen of Tarts for a first-day-in-Dublin lunch. Right across the street was Dublin Castle, so we took an afternoon tour. There were some beautiful details from the tour:
Anna and Peter mugging in the hallway.
The super fancy corridor.
The parlor where rich and royal guests were entertained.
This was the undercroft - the slightly smelly and eerie underground, medieval portion of the Castle.

Then we shipped them off on a bus to go to Guinness Storehouse, while Peter and I rested for a bit. Friday evening was another Dublin Musical Pub Crawl, which was not quite as cool the second time around, sadly.

On Saturday morning we got up very, very early to get to the Paddy's Palace hostel, where we were picked up for our Cliffs of Moher tour. It's difficult to express exactly how nutty our bus driver was. We drove to Limerick, where we had a brief break and then were herded onto another larger bus. I took the opportunity to run and get a snack from Tesco, where I was delighted to find gingerbread mean, which got me in a Christmasy mood. I caused a whole mess of problems at the self-checkout line though. So I took out my frustration on the gingerbread man.
This bus took us to The Burren. It was rainy and quite cold and windy, but we got a few good pictures! This is on the western coast, where the old sea floor is exposed, leaving a rocky and unusual landscape.


After The Burren the bus took us to Doolin for lunch, where I bought seafood chowder. To my dismay, I realized that the seafood in the chowder was still in its shells, so I didn't eat any of it. Luckily I had packed a PB&J for backup.

Our bus pushed forward through the miserable weather to the Cliffs of Moher, where the weather was so bad I almost didn't get off the bus. I did, and I'm glad, because I got to see funny signs like this:

We spent most of the time in the visitor center trying to dry off, but the clouds cleared for just a few minutes, allowing me to take some ok but misty pictures.


That's Anna and Jim unsuccessfully attempting to stay warm and dry at the cliffs. I would really like to go back on a sunny day. Did you know that The Princess Bride scenes with Inigo Montoya fighting The Dread Pirate Roberts on the cliffs were filmed at The Cliffs of Moher? Now you do!

On Sunday we took Anna and Jim shopping for souvenirs, and we braved the rain and cold to see the lighting of the Grafton Street Christmas display. It was pretty neat!
The minister of something-or-other came out on the mezzanine of Bewley's to welcome Christmas officially to Grafton Street, and an old man band wearing Santa hats sang Christmas carols.


The minister of something-or-other switched on the lights, everybody ooed and ahhed, and it was pretty. The light display was designed by the same company that lights the Eiffel Tower. So, now Dublin looks like Paris, but not quite as chic.
Then Pete and I got romantic and everybody said "Ew!"
And that's the end of our weekend story. I had a rough end to the weekend when I received news about the death of the son of someone I respect and admire very much, and I was very sad for his family and the tough times they have ahead. Peter and I have been struggling with this news a little so it was hard to get through classes today. I am trying to cheer up and look forward to Thanksgiving, but I will be thinking a lot about that family.

Get ready for Thanksgiving!

Sketchy Neighborhoods & Stray Cats

Ladies and Gentleman, I'd like you all to meet Conor McPherson, our cat.

He likes turkey, and sometimes being petted, and he REALLY likes Cozy. She got him to come into our kitchen and he had a grand time rubbing up against the legs of our kitchen table and chairs, then he cuddled up to the oven because it was still warm. Otherwise he usually roams our back patio hunting for (ugh) mice and rats. But I'm going to pretend that they don't exist.

On Sunday I went to see the Lambert Puppet Theatre production of The Three Little Pigs and The Man Who Knew Best. It was so loud. Really, really loud. Screaming children crawling all over the place. An eye opening experience indeed.

Yesterday Peter, Kenna and I went to a performance of Coraline by Puca Puppets at The Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire. For the record - Coraline is a children's book by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. It was very exciting for me to find out that there was a puppet version of the book, and I was not disappointed. Seeing this, and also participating in the first reading of Peter's adaptation of The Seagull, has inspired me to think about doing a Neil Gaiman piece for my senior project in children's theatre. I would like to adapt one of Neil's other books for children, probably The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish or his new version of Snow White. Since Peter has such a knack for adapting, this could be a fun project.

Note to family: Mom, you should get The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish from the library and read it. It's supposed to be an excellent children's book. And Alanna, you have to read Good Omens. It's on my bookshelf.

After seeing Coraline, I had to go to the head office of the National Association for Youth Drama to pick up a book for my independent study. They had told me in an e-mail that it was a little difficult to find, but I was armed with the street address and a description of the building and bus routes to get there. Peter initially didn't want to go with me but I begged him to because I didn't know where the heck I was going, and he acquiesced. The moment we stepped off the bus a woman approached us and said, "Where are you going?" I told her, and she said, "Just mind yourselves. This is a really bad neighborhood. Just...watch out." Yikes.

And it was a bad neighborhood. Really dingy and frightening, and I was so puzzled as to why the NAYD office was there, but I managed to get the book and get out of there safely. Thanks to Peter for coming with me to watch my back.

Today Peter's cousins, Anna and Jim, arrive for a visit. We are going to show them around Dublin, then go to the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow, and then see the lighting of Dublin's Christmas display on Sunday. I have been looking forward to that all week!

Toddler Logic

Overheard at a marvelous performance of Circus last night:

Onstage there is a middle aged man wearing a lion suit. He is barefoot and playing the accordian.

3 year old girl: "Why does the lion not have any shoes on?"
Father: "Because lions don't wear shoes."
3 year old girl: "Lions don't play music either!"

The show was really fun. It was 1.5 hours long, and only one word was spoken, once: "No." The physical acrobatics and clowning routines were pretty sweet.

Today I'm going to see the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown as part of my children's theatre independent study. This should be amusing.

A Nice Friday

Class on Friday was a whole different sort of ordeal as we walked like fruits and vegetables for two hours. Although it felt completely ridiculous, there was an element of hilarity to watching everyone.

After class I went out to lunch with Katie Rice and her parents at Queen of Tarts, one of my favorite Dublin restaurants. They were very nice! I had a sunny-side up egg with my meal, and that made me want to try making sunny-side up eggs. I usually scramble my eggs. I think for breakfast this morning I'm going to try frying an egg instead of scrambling. Hmmm...

Friday afternoon I went to the National Museum of Decorative Arts and History. It was fantastic. Not only was every exhibit free, but the exhibits were amazing. Everything was so gorgeous. I really liked Irish Country Furniture because there were really beautiful pieces made from native woods, and some really innovative designs. The best exhibit, by far, was Irish Haute Couture of the 1960s. I learned that Ireland had a thriving couture house in Dublin throughout the 50s and 60s, but the fashion industry of Ireland died out around 1969 because people lost interest in Irish fabrics such as wools and tweeds. The garments on display in this exhibit were some of the most exquisite I had ever seen. I wish I had brought my sketchbook - the seaming on the dresses was really unique, and there were so many beautifully made suits, with great pockets and button details, and just really well made clothing.

Another great exhibit was The Way We Wore, tracing the evolution of clothing and fashion throughout Ireland's history. Again, more exquisite examples of garments and really interesting information about how fashion was connected with the political history of Ireland.

I was so delighted to find these exhibits, because it was complete chance - I had no idea what I was in for when I entered the museum, and it really was a fantastic afternoon.

I then walked through Grafton street at peak time and saw some of the craziest things I've seen yet:
-A homeless woman missing limbs, selling her life story for 15 EUR
-A mostly naked man dressed as an angel, modeling for the department store Brown Thomas, with feathery wings and white frosted chest hair
-A street 'performer' who brought a bag of sand and a water bottle, sculpted a pig out of the sand, and then stood there waiting for people to give him money for his sand sculpture

And then I treated myself to some Butler's Hot Chocolate. If I have not already raved about this, I really should devote some time to it. Butler's Chocolate Cafes sell chocolates and coffee drinks, and the hot chocolate is the best item on the menu. First, they take a scoop of this fudgey consistency chocolate mixture and put it in your cup. (Frankly, it looks a bit like dog poo, but I try to ignore that because it tastes wonderful.) Then they fill the cup with steamed milk and froth it all up really well, top it with cream, and sprinkle with chocolate shavings. The whole shebang is served with a Butler's Chocolate Truffle. Yep, pretty awesome. And the best part is that it is served at the perfect temperature so that you can sip it right away, unlike most other cafe concoctions. The only downside of Butler's Hot Chocolate is when the cup is empty.

I Can't Dance

...which is why movement class is really, really hard for me. Also, I have trouble learning sequences quickly so basically I just bumble around during all of movement class. But I still enjoy it.

Just a few updates on what I've done lately. I went to see Uncle Vanya at the Gate Theatre and it was a very good production. The set was amazing.

Peter and I went to visit Newgrange and The Hill of Tara this weekend. Newgrange is a 5000 year old Neolithic fort...older than Stonehenge, older than the pyramids. It was SO cool. At The Hill of Tara, there is a stone called The Destiny Stone. The person who touches it and makes the stone roar is the next king of Ireland. Peter tried, it didn't roar, so unfortunately we won't be claiming the throne any time soon. These sites were both pretty amazing. Also, we stopped at a church that had the relics of St. Oliver Plunkett. We saw his preserved head! It was a bit eerie, so Peter and I dashed to the bakery next door to the church and had delicious tasty éclairs. I never liked éclairs before this trip, strangely, but now I am quite fond of them.

I'll post pictures from the weekend trip later. They are all on Peter's camera so I have to wait for him to upload them!!!

Otherwise, this week I am just working on papers, making a playlist of Christmas music to get in the appropriate seasonal mood, and cooking. I made a Mexican tuna casserole last weekend that was good but didn't sit well with the stomach. I will try a different variation next week. Nora made pasta sauce last night and that was great. Tomorrow night is fajita night at the Leeson St. apartments, and our entire theatre class will probably be there pigging out on their tasty fajitas. I'm just enjoying the food that everyone else makes for me and I'll be grumpy when I have to start cooking again.

I'm planning upcoming trips to Cork (maybe) with a side trip to Blarney Castle and Killarney National Park. And the rest of the time I will try to see what I haven't already seen of Dublin before I leave. But for now...I have to do laundry.

You want to hear about London? Fine, I'll tell you about London.

I've been avoiding making this post because I knew it would be a massive picture-heavy posting, but now I have a paper to write and this was a glorious opportunity for procrastination.

So, I went to London. On Thursday of last week I got up earlier than the sun - earlier than any sane person should ever wake. I hauled my sleepy self over to the AirCoach bus stop outside of Peter's apartment and was on my way to the airport. The flight to London was short and sweet, but not sweet enough to allow me to get the much-needed nap I had been hoping for.

Our first "London outing" was seeing the play Boeing Boeing. It was a 70s farce. Not a very tight production but a comedy was just what the doctor ordered for sleepy-face Bri. It starred the actor Kevin McNally, who played Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies. He cleans up well.

The IES staff members who were traveling with us took us out to supper at an Indian restaurant. I don't eat Indian food often because we don't have many options for ethnic cuisine at home, but I enjoy trying new things, and this meal was nice. Not so nice later on though, as my stomach decided to start a rebellion, causing a long and awful night of lots of sickness and little sleep in our filthy tin can of a hostel.

What is the first thing Brianna does when she has free time to see things in London? Visits Platform 9 3/4, of course! King's Cross Station put up a Platform 9 3/4 in honor of the Harry Potter books and our group had a photo shoot there.
Unfortunately we missed the Hogwarts Express by just a few minutes.

That morning our entire group, all of us students, went to the Tower of London. Peter and I broke off from the group tour to explore the many towers and armories on the grounds. The crown jewels are also stored there in a very shiny, velvety showcase tower. I tried to steal the coronation ring as a souvenir, but no dice, those guards are tough.
That's me by Traitor's Gate, the place where they bring in all of the political prisoners who are about to be beheaded. Pleasant place to snap a photo, eh?
This is me reading the prisoners' graffiti carved in the stone walls of one of the tower holding cells. Before execution, prisoners would carve their "final words" - often a prayer or political statement - into the walls of the fortress. These carvings have been preserved, and it's fascinating to peek into the minds of the desperate men and women who were held captive there.

After the Tower of London a more pleasant visit was in order. We toured Shakespeare's Globe, a replica of the original theatre built very close to the original site. I really enjoyed the tour. If only we could have seen a show there! My favorite part of visiting The Globe was the walk through the costuming exhibit. The Globe costume shop uses only the techniques and materials that were available in Shakespeare's time. They cut pattern pieces from burlap and muslin and hand sew almost everything. They dye all of their materials using only the things that Elizabethans would have used. A tedious place to work as a costumer, yes, but the results are amazing.

Here's a picture of all of the IES Theatre Students being ridiculous on stage at The Globe:
After that we ate pizza. Nothing special.

Then it was off to a performance at the National Theatre. In this great little black box performance space we saw The Enchantment. I really liked it, but I don't think anyone else in the group much enjoyed it. Think Hedda Gabler, A Dolls House, and Miss Julie all rolled into one depressing evening of theatre. The playwright committed suicide shortly after completing the script - that should give you a clue as to the tone of the play.

The next day of the trip I made a very poor life choice. The night before I had unpacked the shoes in my suitcase. I brought two pairs: walking shoes and fancy dress shoes. When I awoke, I went to put on the walking shoes, and I found that a pipe in our awful stinky dirty hostel had leaked into my shoes leaving the foam insoles soaked. That meant that I only had one pair of shoes to wear: fancy dress shoes. They sure were cute! But after the first hour of walking I wanted to SCREAM because they hurt so badly. I had five large throbbing blisters on my feet and I really didn't enjoy much of the walking tour of London because my feet were distracting me. One of the blisters still hasn't healed yet - it's red and kind of gross and on my right pinky toe. I named it Pookie and I'm hoping that he heals soon.

I did get to see Buckingham Palace on the walking tour. It is, of course, grandiose. We saw the curtains moving but no glimpses of Princes William or Harry. We were hoping to see the Changing of the Guard but there was no ceremony that day, so we just sat around and enjoyed the atmosphere of palatial life.

The Queen's Cavalry rode by on a practice trot. They don't really do much except accompany the Queen on ceremonial occasions and ride around looking royal and really rather silly. Here's a picture of them (just for you, Alanna!)
After Buckingham Palace we took the tube to Abbey Road and did the picture taking to celebrate our musical friends, The Beatles.
This was followed by a visit to the National Portrait Gallery. I got to see the famous Marilyn Monroe prints by Andy Warhol, along with many other exquisite paintings and photographs. The most intriguing was a portrait of a Nobel Prize winning geneticist. His DNA was mounted in gel on the wall. It was a clever and very contemporary take on the portrait, one that perfectly suited the subject.

That afternoon we saw the most glorious piece of theatre. Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber. A very talented cast, with names and faces from some very big shows of late, such as History Boys. The show was everything I want theatre to be. In-your-face, seamless, trying, and wrenchingly beautiful. And, of course, I'm a sucker for pop culture references, so I feel obligated to point out that Roger Lloyd Something-Or-Other who played Barty Crouch in the Harry Potter movies was a lead in the show.

Another show followed: Rhinoceros at the Royal Court. Do I like absurdist plays? Yes and no. When performed well, as this production was, yes. On paper? Absolutely not. I'm still mulling over this one.

The next day I put on some comfortable shoes and got ready to enjoy London on my own terms. First we went to Buckingham Palace to see The Changing of the Guard, for real this time. We waited. And waited. And waited. And it rained. And we waited some more. And then it was canceled. These are our unhappy faces upon learning of the cancellation:

So, after a disappointing morning of waiting for nothing, Peter and I went to the National Science Museum. IT WAS THE BEST. You know how I know I will love visiting a place? If there are kids all around it squealing with delight. There were children running wild all over the museum and I could not have enjoyed it more. The medical instrument collection was my favorite, followed by the interactive spy technology exhibit. I wish we could have spent more time here. It was amazing.

What is a trip to London without high tea? Nothing, really. We went to high tea at The Orangery at Kensington Palace and paid a mildly extravagant amount for tea and the accouterments. I knew I was way out of place when I asked for a glass of water and they brought out a chilled bottle of Scottish spring water and poured it for me. Everything was tasty, as it should have been, because we sure paid enough for it. High tea is basically a pot of tea with three courses of dessert. I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so in my opinion high tea is the best idea ever implemented by the aristocracy. Even the cucumber sandwiches were painfully delicate and fancy. They arrived stacked like Lincoln Logs:
Then back to our new hotel to sleep. (Peter and I got out of that horrific hostel for the last night in London. Thank goodness.)

Woke early (again!) the next day for more touristy business. We went to The London Eye. Yet another tourist attraction with monstrously inflated admission prices. The concession tickets were only available for seniors or the unemployed, but not for students! Grrr.

Oh well. The flight on The Eye was beautiful. We had a gorgeous day. Just look at the sky!
The observation wheel took us high off the ground so that we could get amazing views of London. Check it out:
Westminster Abbey and Big Ben
Me on the Eye with Big Ben/Westminster Abbey in the background.
Me giving Big Ben a pinch.

That afternoon we went to the British Museum, where I saw The Rosetta Stone and The Parthenon Marbles. I also very much enjoyed a gallery themed Living and Dying with a great exhibit called From Cradle to Grave that explored the dependency of humans on prescription drugs. And what was Peter doing while I was filling my mind with knowledge and goodness? Taking illicit photos with ancient marble sculptures.
And here are a few more touristy photos from the trip:

Kate, Rachel and myself on London Bridge, with the much more impressive looking Tower Bridge in the background.
Me in one of the iconic red phone booths, trying not to touch anything inside because it was unsavory.
The entire group of IES Theatre students posing in Trafalgar Square. Aren't we gorgeous?

That's all, folks. Time to get to work on those midterm papers!