The feeling of being truly carefree.

Ireland was a home away from home. I cannot begin to describe the comfort of having a place rendered familiar by virtue of the fact that someone you love lives there. It was so enjoyable for me to see the place where my boyfriend has been spending his year abroad from the moment I hopped into my cab to the second I arrived in his neighborhood and rang the doorbell at that bright blue Georgian door.

Of course, I got ripped off by my cab driver. But you live and you learn I suppose.

I spent my first day exploring Trinity College solo. It resembled Berkeley's campus in many ways, but I guess we can't boast of having the oldest book in the world in our library. Seeing the Book of Kells was incredible. The thought of being in the presence of a book from 800 AD still sends chills down my spine. Following the exhibition, I continued along into Trinity's long library too. Oh to be able to actually have access to such a magnificent library for research! It was so romantic in there thinking of the students and scholars using such a beautiful library.

I lucked out with the weather during my stay. Not a single drop of rain. I miss it so much already. It was just one leg of my trip but I would do anything to be walking around in Ballsbridge right now hand in hand, enjoying the extra long days; the feeling of lightness knowing that I had no obligations the following day. Vacation is such a precious thing.

2 Days in Paris.

I've never truly experienced something quite so surreal as arriving in Paris for the first time--especially after having studied French for almost 10 years. I kept telling Andrew that nothing felt real. And it's such a shame, because the reality that I was in the City of Light for two days didn't hit me until I returned to San Francisco!

I went to the UK for business recently, and had the opportunity to spend the weekend out of town. And what a wonderful weekend it was. Absolutely gorgeous weather for two days spent marveling at how beautiful a city could be.

It was interesting observing Parisians carrying on with their day to day lives. I just have to believe that there is so much more appreciation for art and design when you live in it! There is beauty to be found everywhere in the city. It's no wonder that there are so many more European-based websites and design publications than there are stateside.

So we took the Eurostar from St Pancras International in London into Gare du Nord Friday night. After checking into our hotel in Montparnasse, we walked around in search for a very late night dinner and ended up at a somewhat mediocre place called Au pied de cochon. They open 24 hours. In California, that conjures up images of poorly lit and dingy diners. But the restaurant was still really something else. Quite lively in fact considering it was nearly 2 AM when we left.

The following day was spent in pursuit of the perfect croissant, which is pretty much available anywhere. Bread in Paris is incomparable to what we have back home. I fear what might happen to me if I had access to such great breads all year round!

We started at the Eiffel Tower and made our way down the Seine on one of those hop on hop off boats over to Notre Dame. But most importantly, we made a pit stop at Shakespeare & Company! I am a total Before Sunrise/Before Sunset devotee and naturally an indie bookstore nutcase, so this was at the top of my list for this weekend. What a privilege to have a bookstore like this one at your disposal for studying in! I saw someone quietly working at a table on the top floor in one of the reading rooms. I am sighing to myself right now just thinking of it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring Montmartre. Sacre Coeur was predictably overrun with tourists, so we didn't spend too much time there. We ventured into Le Pigalle by accident and ran into an active protest. I kind of chuckled to myself thinking how very French that was.

The rest of the weekend was a bit of a whirwind. We were totally beat by the end of each day after all of the walking. Sunday was spent mostly relaxing in various courtyards and gardens after visiting the Bastille Sunday Market. Needless to say, I am aching to return. But until my next visit, I'll leave you with more photos of my weekend.