Once More Into the Breach!

Today was a fun outing into Dublin. I still think it's so cool how I can just set out from my apartment, walking, go all the way across Maynooth to the train station, take the train and wind up in the middle of Dublin. Then from there, I'm so urbanite that I no longer need a map (well, I memorized my route ahead of time). Using the trusty Spire as my landmark, I found Cineworld, the Dublin movie theater (one of them, anyways, and most likely the biggest). The theater was huge! It was four stories tall and had things like a cafe  and game room and around 17 screens. I showed up way early--the movie I went to see, Untouchable, was actually an hour later than I thought, so I suddenly had two hours to kill. So, to waste time I decided to explore the area. I didn't have any real direction in mind, just picked a street that looked interesting and decided to see what was down there. I never strayed too far from the movie theater. I went into Penny's, a huge Macy's-like department store. I went to lunch at this cool retro diner and had a chocolate shake and chicken burger (yum!). Then, just down the street from the Cineworld, I found my haven--the Chapter Bookstore, a huge Barnes-and-Nobles-like bookstore with two stories full of books. The bottom floor had new books and the top floor had used ones. I must've stayed in the bookstore for a half hour at least. They had all the books I could possibly look for. I definitely know where to look, now, if I ever want to buy an actual, physical book instead of an electronic one.

So finally I went to the movie itself, which was great. It was a real feel-good comedy, not like most of the movies you see these days. It was one of those based-on-a-true-story type deals that was really just about two characters, but I really liked it. I was smiling the whole time, which is always great. Afterwards, I pretty much went straight home, making the long trek back to the train and then walking across Maynooth. The whole day was just so neat.

When I got back, I totally made myself some pasta. It was all microwaveable, but I had to add ingredients and mix and stuff so I consider that cooking. Also, when I got back we discovered a leak in our boiler room, but the leak actually came from the apartment two floors above us and we (Kate and I) met one of the guys who lived there and chatted for a bit, so that was nice.

Irish Word of the Day: movie -- scannán
I went to the movies. -- Chuaigh mé go dtí an scannáin.