Adventures in Dublin

Yesterday morning we left our little home in Derry to travel south to Dublin. We arrived at the bus station around 4pm. What we didn't realize when we got there, is we had no idea where we were! We had the address to our hostel, but did not map out how to get there prior to leaving our dorms in Derry. We tried getting online, but there was no WiFi in the bus station, and there didn't seem to be an information service. We had a map, but we had no idea where we were at that point. So, we walked around for a while until we found some street names that were on our map. We made it to our hostel in about 20 minutes, so it wasn't a very far walk. We freshened up and went on the hunt for an ATM and some dinner. We found an ATM, and the Dublin Hard Rock Cafe. We sat down at the Hard Rock, and realized that a cheeseburger would cost us about 20 Euros. So, since a waitor had not stopped by yet, we bailed! The hostess gave us a strange look, but we hoped she just figured we were visiting the store! Instead, we went to a small pub because we saw a sign outside for a sandwich special. Most of my friends ordered the sandwich special, but when they got the food, it was a very wimpy sandwich. I lucked out and ordered a chicken wrap, and had a wonderful meal. It had vegetables in it, and even came with a side salad! It was very refreshing, since about everything over here seems to be fried. Then, we went exploring in the Temple Bar area, which was extremely lively with many street musicians and other various performers. We stopped at a pub that had a sign for live Irish music, and sat at a table that was a beer barrell. The Irish music started, and the band was made up of three musicians. A singer/percussionist, a guitarist and a bagpipe player. They played traditional songs, and many people in the pub were singing along. The singer got some of the audience members involved, and it was a great time. We got back to the hostel fairly early, because we knew we'd have a long day of touring ahead of us!

Today was just what we expected, a long, but exciting day. We mapped out a touring route last night, so we set off at 9:00 this morning. Our first stop was Dublin Castle. However, when we got there, the sign said that they didn't open until 2pm! So, we headed to our next stop which was St. Patrick's Cathedral. The gardens didn't open until 10am, which would be like a 15 minute wait for us. So, we waited outside the gates, then entered and took pictures of the outside of the cathedral and the gardens. We could have paid an entrance fee to get inside, but we decided against it. Next, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. We took their tour, which was extremely interested. It was a self-guided tour that started off by taking you through the ingredients, then the steps of the brewing process. As you go through the tour, you progress up the levels of the storehouse. Other floors include their growth of the company and transportation systems, advertising campaigns, an interactive quiz, and finally the taste test! Every visitor gets a free pint of Guinness on their 7th floor, called the Gravity Bar. It is a 360 degree circular room, with windowed walls. As you walk around, you can see all of the city of Dublin. My group had a great time chatting about the tour and reminiscing about our memories so far. Then, we were in need of lunch. Since we hadn't had great luck with food so far, we decided to go to a Subway! Our sandwiches were delicious, and the store was very similar to those in the States. By this time, a few of us were pretty tired of walking, so we decided to invest in a tour bus. The tour company we chose was a "hop on, hop off" bus, that goes all around the city all day. We took about half the route to get to our next stop, which was the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. We got to the entrance, and it was a pretty expensive entrance fee. So, we decided to pass up the tour, and just shopped at the gift shop and took pictures outside. On our way back to the bus stop, my friend Cory got the great idea that he wanted to "punt" a pigeon. So, he tried sneaking up on the city birds and kicking them. He didn't have any success, those birds are a little too quick for him. We got back on the tour bus, and continued about halfway around the city. It was a double-decker open air bus, and we got to sit on the top on a nice sunny day. It was a wonderful way to see the city, without becoming too exhausted! Next, we stopped at Trinity College. There wasn't much to do, and again there was an entrance fee into the library to see the Book of Kells. Since the book didn't mean much to any of us, we just walked around the campus a little bit, and took some pictures. We still wanted to get back to the Dublin Castle, but a few were tired, so four of the six of us went to the castle. We got there around 4:30, and the last tour left at 4:45; we were just in time! After the tour, we headed back to the hostel, where I'm sitting right now to write this blog entry. We're planning on going out to dinner around 9 (it's 7:00 right now) and then enjoying the Dublin nightlife. Tomorrow, we are taking a bus to Galway on the western coast for the remainder of the weekend.

Cheers!