Ireland

March 3-6, 2011

                 Racing to a bus, suitcases dragging along behind us, Jenna and I half ran, half walked to the unmarked bus stop on the way to the Stanstead Airport.  We made it with a few minutes to spare, and boarded.  I am not one to get motion sickness pretty much ever.  I grew up boating, and roller coasters give me a rush; however, I have rarely felt more nauseous as I did on that bus ride.  A miserable ninety minutes later we arrived and checked into Ryan Air and waited to board. 

                We took off for Dublin, and after a short flight and a pleasant conversation with the Irishman next to us, we were in the land of Guinness.  We had yet another ninety minutes to wait until the bus came to pick us up to bring us to the hostel.  After staring at some cute Rugby men, we took off to find our bus stop.  We boarded yet again, and took off through the city.  On our way through the city, we saw a 20-something year old get the crap kicked out of him by what looked like a boy no older than 12.  His face was a bloody mess, and the kid was chasing him down the street.  “Welcome to Dublin,” our tourguide announced.  Wow. This is going to be interesting. 

                By nine o’clock we were hungry and tired from a day of traveling, and per the recommendation of our bus driver, we walked up the street to O’Sheas, a traditional Irish pub.  I ordered the fish and chips, and a Coors Light.  I know, I know, I’m in Ireland, but I couldn’t help it.  It was the first time I had seen Coors Light on tap since I got to Europe, and it was the only non-Guinness beer I had all weekend.  As we were finishing our meal, we heard music in the other room.  Curiousity got the best of us, and we went over to the other side of the pub.  There was older couples (I’d guess around 45-65) doing something I can only describe as traditional Irish couples dancing.  It was amazing!

                Two different older men took me up to the makeshift stage to dance, it was probably the coolest experience I had in Dublin!  Around 12:30 am we headed back to the hostel, with the older couples still dancing away.  We set our alarms and passed out, exhausted from our day of travels.

                We woke in the morning and mapped out our day of sightseeing adventures and set out.  Trinity College was first up on our list; we walked around taking pictures, and thrilled by the sight of large areas of grass which are hard to find in London.   The infamous St. Patrick’s Cathedral was next up, and it was very pretty.  I’m finding out that the vast amounts of churches in Europe are starting to blur together.  Don’t get me wrong, Natre Dame will always stand out, but some of them are just starting to run together.  St. Patrick’s exterior was intimidating looking, like it should be in a horror movie.  There was just a foreboding sense to it, until you walked inside. 

                St. Stephen’s Green was absolutely incredible to walk through.  Jenna and I spent a long time wandering through the park, taking picture after picture, and just taking in the nature that surrounded us.  It was stunning.

                For lunch we stumbled into a mall, and got some sandwiches.  We rested our legs and then headed to our next stop.  Christ Church and the Dublin Castle we walked through, and saw some ancient remains in the basement.  There was a cool, eerie feeling in the air as we examined the old ruins. 

                That night we went on a pub crawl, and I ended up feeling kind of ripped off.  We were promised free shots at every bar we went to, and special discounted drinks at each bar as well.  Well we only got 2 free shots and the only special drink prices we received was whatever was already on special at the bar.  At this point, I’m starting to get used to ridiculously overpriced drinks, ad we went from pub to pub to end up at a club.  We entered feeling under dressed, and dumped our coats in a pile making a circle around them.  We were trying to dance have a good time but the unfamiliar music and overall feeling of not quite fiting in made us wary.  Then the beyond intoxicated, obnoxious men began to creep in the background.  Slowly at first, but making their way around us, hands groping, we quickly made it clear we were not interested.  The pattern began; they would saunter away only to return within the next song, stumbling and groping.  After about three cycles of this behavior, I got fed up and found a bouncer. 

                “I don’t know what type of behaviour is considered acceptable here, but when men grope women multiple times after their advances have clearly been declined, we consider that beyond inappropriate,” I told the bouncer.  He immediately knew what group of men I was referring to, and promised to take care of the situation.  The whole ordeal left us all feeling uncomfortable so we opted to leave earlier than planned.  Jenna and I made our way back to the hostel and crashed. 

                We slept in on Saturday, and decided to live it up while we were in Ireland.  We headed to the Guinness factory to tour the facility and drink some of that famous Irish beer straight from the tap.  Jenna learned how to pour that perfect pint, and we both got to try the beer.  I have to admit, the Guinness in Ireland in general did taste different than the stuff from home.  I was told this is because Guinness’ taste is affected by how often the flow of beer goes through the lines of the keg.  Apparently they waste something like three pints every morning bleeding off the lines to get the taste right.  After our tour, I tried the Guinness Foreign Stout, a flavor not available in America. 

                From there we walked to the Jameson Distillery with a little bit of a buzz.  Here there was a guided tour complete with videos demonstrating the various processes.  I had a little bit of insider information from someone we met the night before, and was told to immediately volunteer at the begingin of the tour.  I did so, and was selected to do a taste test of three different whiskeys at the end of the tour.  We went through all the phases of the distilling process, and made it to the end.  I was able to try Johnnie Walker Black, a Scotish whiskey, Jameson’s, and Jack Daniel’s.  Now Jack is only distilled once, wheras Jammeson’s is distilled three times for a smoother flavor.  I found the smokey, woodsy tast of Johnnie Walker Black unpleasant, and although Jammeson’s was fantastic, I still love my Jack. 

                By this time, Jenna and I were beyond hungry, and we made our way to one of the pubs we were at the night before for dinner.  We had seen a group of guys with wings, and decided we had to try them.  We ordered our first plate with some beers, and devoured them.  We sat there for a little while, and then decided we wanted anther plate.  The wings were not like the ones from home, the chickens definitely weren’t on the usual steriods because the wings were rather small, and although they weren’t quite hot enough for my liking, I give my approval for them on an overall basis. 

                Now stuffed, we headed back to the hostel to drop off our souvenirs from the day.  We freshened up for the night and pre-gamed with a bottle of wine.  Looking as cute as we could with the clothes we brought, we headed out to a bar our waitress told us about.  We again felt completely underdressed, and were afraid we wouldn’t get in.  The bouncers were kind to us, and we made it in.  The interior was filled with beautiful women in dresses and heels, but there was a patio outside that had a football (translation soccer) match on where the people were more casual.  There was a group of guys we chatted with for about two hours, and then we decided to go to Temple Bar.

                Temple Bar is the hip area to be in apparently.  We went to a pub, had an overpriced drink, and hung out for a little bit.  Around 2:30 am we went back to the hostel, for about two hours of sleep before we had to get up to catch our flight back to London.  Little sleep and being hungover was not a good combination for an airport, and unfortunately the ariport in Dublin was nothing like the airports at home.  There was one little deli style shop with nothing I care to eat in it.  I was joking with Jenna and was rambling off all the things I would do for Taco Bell.  We finally were able to board our flight after hours of waiting, and went back to London, exhausted but exhilarated.