this was my first “open weekend”, traveling only with my new friends, free from the itineraries and guidelines of our group. all twelve of us made it from france to ireland with little hassle. it seems like air travelers are more friendly in europe. in america, i almost never talk to the person next to me. but i had substantial conversations with strangers on both flights this time. on the way to dublin, i sat next to a guy headed to ireland for his sister’s wedding. his name was naill (pronounced “nile”), and he had the greatest accent i’ve ever heard. it was nice to have someone who is able to point out interesting things from the sky. for instance, he informed me when we were flying over the english channel, and bono’s house. or at least the posh island where bono lives.
sunset from the airplane
speaking of bono, i was glad i had my ipod to provide an appropriate soundtrack to the weekend. lots of u2 and damien rice. i didn’t think far enough in advance to load on some “oh danny boy” action. thankfully.
new damien rice album yeah!
shared a hostel room with all eleven others. this was my first time staying in a hostel, but i don’t think i got the full experience. our room had twelve bunked beds lining the walls. it must be crazy to be sharing a room with strangers, but then again strangers might have been preferable to a few of the people i was traveling with. actually, the hostel ended up being lots of fun. cozy, really. maybe a little too much information shared with my new friends, but whatever.
the group in the hostel room
i would describe dublin as london’s slightly scruffy, drunk cousin. a little rough around the edges, perhaps, but dublin still manages to make you feel welcome. it was nice to be able to communicate with other people when out in the city, instead of dumb faces and hand gestures. then again, driving back into france where i don’t understand anything was slightly disheartening.
dublin’s public transportation system is… ridiculous. there are plenty of buses going around, but i never once saw a map that outlined the system. “system” is a generous term in this case. more like total randomness that possibly was decided while under the influence of one to many pints of the black gold. i’m glad i wasn’t the one in charge of figuring out which bus we needed to take.
friday we woke up early-ish to start our sightseeing. first up, dublin castle, which might be compared to the white house in the united states. it was interesting, but not quite what you’d expect out of an irish castle. the gift shop (and all other souvenir shops i visited) had a healthy amount of merchandise featuring family coats-of-arms. particularly interesting were all the malone items i saw. i didn’t buy any, but pointed it out to any and all travel companions who happened to be in speaking distance to said merchandise.
after the tour, karissa and i split from the group in order to escape the bureaucracy of doing things in a large group. on the way to the castle, we spotted a quizno’s, so that’s where we wanted to have lunch. sidenote: i’ve yet to have mcdonalds and only had starbucks once while in europe. ok, thrice. generally i’m against eating at american chains abroad, but that sandwich was delicious.
after lunch, we somehow managed to get on the right bus, and rode out to kilmainham gaol. i learned a lot at this particular attraction. first of all, “gaol” means “jail”. this particular jail was built in 1796 and operated until 1924. during this time, it was host to thousands of inmates, each of whom told part of the history of ireland. during the potato famine, many people were incarcerated. however, it soon became clear that spending time in jail was preferable to being homeless on the streets. leaders of irish rebellions were held here, including the leaders of the 1916 rebellion who were also executed in this complex. in addition to the fascinating information about the history, the jail is a unique example of victorian architecture. this was the second coolest place we visited.
taking the prize for the best attraction, of course, is the guiness storehouse. it really is disneyland for alcoholics, without the rides. i learned everything you could ever want to know about guiness: how it is made and the history of the beer and the past advertisements and my goodness my guiness and the impact it has had on irish life. the tour ended at the top of the gravity bar on top of the storehouse, overlooking dublin city. we got our complimentary pints and enjoyed the view. i can honestly say it’s the best guiness i’ve ever had. unlike my father, i am not burdened with many many years of drinking weak american beer. i’m sold.
friday evening we headed out to the pubs around temple bar. the area reminded me of bourbon street in new orleans, but without the skankiness. we made our way through several pubs, but i was pretty much exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before (you get what you pay for at a hostel… uncomfortable mattresses). i headed back to the hostel a bit earlier than the rest of the group (runs in the family), but still had lots of fun.
saturday was more sightseeing. half of the group trekked out to malahide castle, a medieval-looking castle with a surprising rococo interior. the tour was mildly interesting, but looked cooler from the outside. after lunch, we headed back to the city center.
apparently i’ve started a bit of a tradition of wandering around with only a vague idea of direction and purpose, through areas of town hardly visited by tourists. (see london entry for search for hindu temple). saturday afternoon, post-nap, we divided according to what we wanted to do. i wasn’t feeling another museum, but i did want to see the st. patrick’s cathedral and walk around. so eric and james and i set off walking. well, it ended up that st. pat’s was closed to the public because there was some sort of graduation thing going on. anywho, james wanted to find a particular pub because of it’s name. something having to do with his girlfriend; i never got the full story. without much thought and only a vague idea of the location, we figured out a bus to board and set off on our way. the bus driver asked if we needed directions, but we couldn’t really tell him where we wanted to go. an hour later, after walking the wrong way for a solid mile, we finally found the pub. james got his picture, and we returned to the city center.
we went out again saturday night, this time with a vengeance. truly a pub “crawl”. back to some of the same places as the night before, but this time with a larger group. we had tons of fun and managed to all make it home in one piece. someone got the idea to buy ridiculous shamrock hats, so of course we looked like tourist idiots. i’ll admit, i wore the hat. i’ve got the green glitter in my hair to prove it.
sunday morning we woke up early and headed to the airport. a bus ride, a plane flight, then another bus, and we were back at the chateau, home sweet home.
that's it for the trip. i added a link to additional facebook pictures, if you're interested. also, the 13th marked exactly one month until i am home. it's gone by so fast...
cheers
-katie.
p.s. happy birthday dan!!
