Unscheduled weekends are the best

This weekend, which is almost coming to an end, was an exception in my diary these months. As it was empty. No visitors, no foreign trips, no domestic trips, no girl friend, no plans. Well, along with Gijs and Pieter we had sort of marked Friday night “gents’ night”, but nothing really had materialised yet until Friday 4 pm, when Gijs had the marvellous idea to go to “Johnny Fox’s”. This pub, being the highest of Ireland, borders a par three golf course, with very pretty views over the surrounding hills. What more could you wish for on a Friday night; playing golf in the middle of an inspiring mountain landscape, with a cold pint of Guiness waiting for you when the dark and cold prevent you from playing any further? And that’s what we did, listening to live music indoors, drinking our pints, enjoying the crowds. The bus took us back home after the last round, from where I walked home, passing the power cabinet on which Gijs and I had nourished our Subway dinner half a day before, a sight apparently so remarkable that people took pictures from their cars waiting for the traffic light. I caught a full ten hours of sleep that night, which I really needed, and awoke on a Saturday, ready to make the most of the afternoon.

Well, that Saturday featured one activity and one activity only which took place outdoors, and the rest of the day / evening / night I was watching Game of Thrones episodes on my projector, feeling like being in a cinema while actually lying on my semi comfortable couch. That one activity was a remarkable one however, as I witnessed Toulon beat Clermont in the Heineken Cup final, which is the equivalent of the Champions League final in rugby. The venue that hosted all this glamour was the Aviva Stadium, which was nearly completely sold out with more than 50,000 spectators present. I had never been inside before, and filled up with people it’s quite an impressive sight, supporters of the two (French) teams mingling and cheering, with Toulon eventually securing the win and claiming the trophy. The scarf I bought for 10 Euros before entering the stadium and which was for sale for 5 Euros afterwards guarantees an everlasting memory of the final, as does this blog post. The Heineken cup final in Dublin, with seats almost at the roof of Dublin’s second stadium, with an entertaining match, even for the rugby layman I am. Not bad, given that I got the tickets for free Friday afternoon, not bad at all ;)

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As for today, I woke up a few hours after my intended wake-up time, but I guess that’s what relaxing weekends are for. The weather today is so lovely however that I found it a slight pity to have missed out on some hours of bright sunlight already, so as I’m slightly regretful now that I cannot write this story outside in the sun. The fantastic bike ride that consumed most of my afternoon largely made up for that however. In less than four hours I climbed hills in the Wicklow Mountains, rode along an azure blue sea, and soaked up all the sun in the world. I was enjoying so much. The journey commenced by going straight down South for 30 km, ascending the hills up to the mountainous plateau, from where the toughest climbing of the ride is already behind you. From there I took a broad swing, largely thundering downhill, past isolated houses and ruins of old cathedrals, slowly leaving the raw beauty of the hills. I thought I had left the prettiest part of the journey behind me, a statement I was reconsidering an hour or so later when I hit the shoreline. I’ve been there before, in Dalkey and Bray and Greystones and the like, and it’s always been pretty, but with a cloudless sky, temperatures that make people walk around in shorts and flip-flops, and even instigate a few daring swimmers, the scene reminded me of Amalfi, with mountains rising up from the endless blue sea, a sparkling tinkling azure carpet dotted with sailing boats and different shades of blue giving away the proximity of the sea bed below. It very well may have been the fourth or fifth time that I got off my bike, took off my helmet, and enjoyed the view, mesmerised by its beauty and growing more and more convinced that Dublin is truly one of the best cities in the world to live in, given the natural treasures she surrounds herself with. The last bit of the journey was a bit tougher, as I felt my legs lose strength until they felt like porridge, and I took one or two wrong turns attempting to find a shortcut to minimise the least pretty part of the entire bike ride. The energy from the pasta I had had for breakfast had already been used up, and my last snack had been the bar of snickers in Enniskerry, where I sat down on a bench facing the village’s central monument, next to a pretty Italian girl who was here on a language course to improve her English. Alas, as she told me, all the friends she met here were either Spanish or Italian like herself, so little came of her endeavours to improve language skills. I decided not to be selfish and had our breezy chat in English, rather than the Italian I was keen to utilise. Anyway, legs of jelly were turned into steel again by nourishing a banana and a huge raspberry muffin at a petrol station, where to guy could easily point out to me how to get to the city centre as well. So many impressions, such a healthy exercise, and so much sun… I could not have wished for a better Sunday to conclude an awesome weekend with!

Back to London

Back in London for a weekend, back into this metropolis where at felt so much at home and at ease last autumn, back riding the Barclays bikes through the city at night, to fancy cocktails in Soho and cheap beers in Shoreditch, back to some of the great friends I left behind, and to new things every day – as that’s what London does to you. As I don’t feel like writing I’ll let the pictures do the talking, suffice it to say I had a marvelous time! 

Three guys in a dorm

Showing two of my dearest friends the best of what Ireland has to offer. In a weekend, kicking off Friday afternoon and hugging goodbye 70 hours later. Admittedly, the weather did cooperate, with bright uninterrupted sunshine to accompany us everywhere we went. I generally find that the more diverse one’s weekend is, the longer it feels when looking back. This one felt like a year and a day.

Deciding to give Koen & Luijkx a good feel of what my Friday afternoons generally are like I took them straight upon arrival to the Barge for a beer, after which we dropped off their bags at home and headed for a long and delightful dinner at Bodega, which towers undefeated on my list of favourite restaurants in Dublin. Also this time she did not let me down, as the food was gorgeous as always. McSorleys and the Bernard Shaw for drinks afterwards, calling it a day not too late as Saturday morning had too much to offer just to lie idle and hungover in bed. Eggs & bacon on bread still warm from the bakery and chop chop off into the car and uphill into the Wicklow Mountains. The first 30-odd kilometres the landscape were familiar to me –as I already discovered this treasure while cycling- but after a while the rugged hills around each curve in the road held new views for me as well. Glad to be driving a Volkswagen with sturdy tires we found our way through the at times spectacular landscape, eventually arriving at Glendalough. The hike around the lake, the excellent food in the local restaurant (dinner and breakfast), even the snoring roommates and crappy shower in the hostel, they all made for a fantastic stay in the mountains. Sunday morning on the way back we dropped by the UK’s and Ireland’s largest waterfall, which really isn’t too impressive after having seen the likes of Gulfos in Iceland, and whose presence generally attracted a whole lot of plebs from town who set up tents and barbecues and treated the whole place generally as a camping. On the way back to Dublin we hit some balls at Leopard Stone’s driving range, where Koen got acquainted with the basics of golf and where Luijkx got himself a double hernia by wielding golf balls with crude swings into the ether, looking more like a logger in the Amazon than a golf player. He did reach farthest though. Sunday evening featured live music, first in my favourite bar in Dublin and later on by the same band somewhere more downtown. We concluded the night in a Brazilian salsa bar and had obtained enough need for sleep to sleep in till noon the next day. Brunch in the bright sun in Ranelagh and off they went, into a cab, and back to the Netherlands. Admittedly I did give them a proper taste of Ireland, but what made the weekend such a great one was their presence. Good friendships last over time, and the fewer you get to see one another, the more intensely you enjoy their presence. Thanks for coming over guys!