- Ate sushi! With chopsticks, because I am an adult.
- Went to see the Christmas lights turned on at Grafton Street, where we all met this scary creature and his other half, a woman in a white witch costume at whom I repeatedly shouted, "TILDA SWINTON, I LOVE YOUR WORK."
- Finally went to Fallon & Byrne and to Avoca, two magical Dublin foodie wonderlands.
- Finally watched Brave, which I had somehow failed to do in the entire time it's existed.
- Did some ~networking~
- Did some ~calligraphy~
- Ate a five-course meal at a five-star hotel for Thanksgiving dinner.
- Went to Norway.
Obviously, this last one is why we're here. I went to Norway this weekend - a nation whose name would be a lot more fun if it were, as its adjectival form would lead you to believe, "Norwegia" - and it was pretty cool. There was snow on the ground, which, having lived in Ireland for the past three months, I'd basically forgotten was possible. Everyone was attractive. There was a lot of focus on stark, clean, colorless Scandinavian design. It was like an extremely chic and vaguely emo Arendelle, and I was one happy tourist.
We had two primary goals for our time in fair Norwegia. The first was to be shameless tourists and see as many sites as possible in our very brief visit. The second, of course, was to eat a lot. On both fronts, we succeeded. In our one day of sightseeing, we saw the Vigeland sculpture park (lots of naked people), the Viking Ship Museum (if you bury silk in a box in clay dirt, it will continue to be recognizable silk for 1100 years), a big fjordy island (terrifying in winter), the Norewegian National Gallery (The Scream!!), and the Opera House (structural soundness is nowhere near as important as looking cool). Clearly, I learned a lot at each place we visited. It was quite the day of touristing.
Unsurprisingly, my favorite stops were those places where I was in greatest danger of spending every last dollar that I own. First was the Mathallen food hall. Wikipedia describes it as a food court, but Wikipedia is stupid and wrong. Mathallen is not a food court; it is a dreamland. Once an industrial warehouse, Mathallen is basically just a big ol' barn filled with every kind of food you could ever want to eat. There's a tapas restaurant. (We picked that one for lunch because their menu was in Spanish, and we figured 30% comprehension was better than the 0% comprehension we'd have at the Norwegian menus at all the other restaurants.) There are several bakeries. There's one shop that sells only pies, another that sells only chicken, and a third that sells only cheese. There are multiple artisan grocery shops. There's everything. When we'd finished our lunch, we had to more or less run away from Mathallen, because, without a formal exit strategy, I would have stayed in Mathallen until I literally ate so much that I died.
My other favorite stop was a wonderful store called Granit, which 1) is basically a Scandinavian Crate & Barrel, 2) we referred to as "the pretty store" every time we walked by it, and 3) is precisely what my heaven looks like. They had big geometric stars you could make out of cardboard and hang around your house. They had whole rooms of just storage systems. They had DIY calendars. Scattered around randomly, they had jams and jarred candies and stuff, which I didn't totally understand. They had Christmas decorations. And most importantly, they had craft supplies.
My friends, I have no idea what I'm buying anyone for Christmas this year. No clue. But after my frenzied shopping spree in the pretty store, I know exactly how it's all getting wrapped. I bought washi tape. I bought twine. I bought some paper. I considered buying a literal stick of wax and stamp press with which to make my own envelope seals, just because the option was presented to me. This store had everything a person could ever need and, again, I didn't want to leave. Family members reading this, I'll warn you now: your Christmas gift from me will probably be average, but it will be wrapped in some flawless Scandinavian hipster art, and you had better appreciate it.
In summary, my bestie trip to Norwegia turned out to be quite the success. And now that we're into December, we're four weeks of classic Christmas-prep insanity from my week back home and my second Eurotrip of the year, a week of travel which, because I live for spontaneity (??), I have not yet planned. See you soon, readers - if you need me, I'll be crafting stuff with my new art supplies from Scandinavia.
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