BMW in Ireland: Weekend in Dublin

I am back safe and sound and still up late at night in Galway, so rest assured that the weekend with Brigid went swimmingly.

Thursday: I took the bus out that afternoon, getting dropped off along the Liffey River, and made my way to the Kinlay House via the mental map I had of that area of town. Brigid had gotten in about fifteen minutes before me, so after we cleaned up we headed out to Bull and Castle around the corner for a bite to eat and a free pint of Galway Hooker upstairs. It was early and a Thursday night so pretty quiet; we had the bar mostly to ourselves and quickly made friends with the bartenders although they were out of the Galway Hooker (or so they said... perhaps it was just a ploy to get us to come back the next night). We chatted for a while then headed off to the Brazen Head, a pub rumored to have good traditional music. It turned out to be a nifty, laid-back little place where the band was just sitting at one of the tables like everyone else in the small room, except that they were playing old Irish songs and singing along. We didn't stay out too late since we wanted to be rearin' to go the next morning.

Friday: Quick breakfast then walked out to the Guinness Storehouse which only took maybe twenty minutes. Toured that for a few hours, etc. Oh, and quick note to anyone that ever ends up there - you get a free pint by going on the tour and you can either use it pouring your own pint (I think around the 5th floor), and you get a certificate, or you can redeem your ticket stub at the top in the Gravity Bar. I highly recommend the latter option as this Bar has an almost 360 degree view of Dublin. We then grabbed lunch at a pub and headed for the Jameson Factory. [aside: yes, I know, this sounds ambitious and overly-alcoholic, but they were both a bit out of the way of most of the other things we wanted to see, and relatively close in proximity to each other.] Unfortunately we got there and it appeared to be exactly the same as the Guinness Storehouse, except it was whiskey which neither of us have a particular taste for, so we opted to pass on that. We made a detour on the way back, however, at the Four Courts, the courthouse in Dublin that overlooks the Liffey and wandered through there for a bit (sorry, not allowed to take pictures). We returned to Kinlay House in a rather roundabout way, passing through the Temple Bar area to see what all the fuss was about. Really it's just a huge tourist area with a lot of pubs. We had a little more time than anticipated when we got back so we took a very short nap then went back out near the Temple Bar to eat dinner and start a pub tour. We're near 7:30 at this point, FYI. We went to four pubs, nothing noteworthy, then decided to end the night back at Bull and Castle with our bartender friends. However we missed closing time by fifteen minutes, so we went back and were in bed a little after 2:00.

Saturday: Woke up nice and refreshed, again with a quick breakfast, then meandered out towards Kilmainham Gaol, the prison-turned-museum. It was out past the Guinness Storehouse and as we were walking we passed someone who looked like Claire Ferguson. It didn't dawn on us until it was too late to turn around and see if it was her, but we shrugged it off. Well, no, actually... we looked it up later and she was in Dublin that very day for a concert. And to think six years ago I was her tour guide for her overnight visit at Thacher. And I digress... We got slightly lost/didn't walk far enough because the jail wasn't clearly marked on our map so a friendly old man with a really thick accent helped us. We nodded and grinned and went about our way... still as confused as before. While we were puzzling over which direction to head another man, this time with two kids, stopped to ask if we knew where Kilmainham was. Perfect. We joined forces and carried on our way. We arrived soon after (we were closer than we had thought) and went on a very sobering hour-long tour. I highly recommend going there. We had a lovely lunch of fish'n'chips and continued out to stroll around Trinity College (perhaps a seven minute walk in the other direction of Kinlay House). The afternoon was spent hitting the typical tourist spots - Merrion Square, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grafton Street, Dublin Castle - and stopping in a few little shops. One boutique I was particularly fond of was Cleo, a fabulous little wool store on Kildare Street. We ate dinner then went out to Duke Street Pub for a literary pub crawl. Relatively entertaining, there were two fellows leading who would do scenes from plays and tell us interesting stories about Joyce, Wilde, etc. Hands down the best part was winning a shirt for getting the most trivia questions right at the end of the night. Too bad it's an XL. It was snowing by the time we came out of the last pub (gargantuan flakes, mind you! think an inch in diameter - no hyperbole!)... We made our way back to Bull and Castle for the last time and met up with our bartender friends who were thrilled to see us and gave us free drinks the rest of the night. It was packed, too. We stayed there until closing then went back to... not sleep. Brigid had a flight out at 6:45am so she left at 4:30 so we stayed up until then. I slept from 4:31am until 8:45, got breakfast, and booked it out expecting to be able to sleep the three hours on the bus. Heads up: you cannot sleep on an Irish bus. They accelerate and decelerate much too frequently, take roundabouts and dizzying speeds, and stop in every small village along the way.

That was my weekend, though. This weekend I'll be going down to Kilkenny with Bethany and hopefully Noel (group project just assigned; we'll see if she makes it) to see Kilkenny Castle but most importantly to attend The Hibernian Orchestra's performance of Arvo Part, Mozart, and Brahms. I've been counting down the days to this ever since I found out!! It's sure to be phenomenal!!

And before I depart for bed, a few shots from Dublin:

Four Courts

This is what you should ponder next time you have a Guinness...

Here's to you, Michael

Inside Kilmainham

I almost went crazy when I was locked up in a cell in those dank halls, the silence pressing in all around! But I made it out without too much lasting damage... or that's what I tell myself.