Nice walk home

The weather has been comfortable and sunny two days in a row in Dublin! I have taken advantage of both to walk home. Yesterday it took me an hour. Today I walked from further away and walked along the coast by the sea for an hour and 20 minutes until I got to the Dart line and took the train the two stops home. My feet hurt but eventually I will walk it the whole way.

On the way out of Raheny towards the coast, I discovered a park. I think it is St. Anne's but I am not sure since it wasn't labeled. It was all nice and wooded and beautiful. I don't know if it was shorter or not but it was a much nicer way to walk to the coast. Today the tide was high so I got to walk by the water instead of the seaweed coastline. There is still a lot of seaweed but at least I could see waves. I really need to start bringing John's digital camera with me so I can take pictures as I walk.

As I was walking, I reflected on how my life has changed since I moved to Dublin a year ago (next Wed). I am a lot more active now and work less. I would never have walked an hour and 20 minutes to get home back home. It wouldn't have been a nice walk either. I would go for hour long walks but it is different when you are walking home from work. I can't really explain it, it just feels nice to be free to take the train or the the bus or walk home. I am not tied to a car. I also really like the topography here. I get to see the sea and "mountains" on a regular basis. Even though we live in the center of the city, in 30 minutes train ride, you can be out where it feels like the middle of nowhere. That was one thing I really missed about Chicago and loved about Minneapolis. In Chicago, you can be in a park but always hear the traffic. You have to drive on the freeway for at least an hour to get out of the the urban area. In Minneapolis, they have a couple parks that are along the river and have managed to be hidden away from traffic. I used to walk over to the park and spend hours by the river in the summer.