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 ;)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151940044323957&l=6281593210697283980
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!
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