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.