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.

Not escaping over these walls too easily.

Trinity College

A walk down this path in Merrion Square...

...led us here!

Doors of Dublin

Inside Dublin Castle

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Christ Church

ditto

Historic Galway

I went on a University sponsored tour of Historic Galway yesterday. We had the neatest old chap, William, leading us about and telling endless stories about the history of the city and buildings and such. We ended the tour in the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, then three of us asked him to get a cup of tea with us at The King's Head so we could hear more of his stories. Good day.

Today's pretty quiet; it's been snowing since morning. Classes start tomorrow as well. Our last roommate, Lorraine, got in last night, so we're having a dinner party tonight. Something tells me it won't be quite up to the standards of Becca and Michael creations, but I am looking forward to it. Though it means I need to venture out in the next hour or so to get ingredients.

Band from our night out in the City Centre of Dublin

Bewley's Hotel - Dublin

Lynch Memorial Wall (we're into Galway now)

Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas

Street near the City Centre of Galway

Mural on the side of Sally Longs - a somewhat "rougher" pub that tends to host hard rock bands

St. Nicholas' Cathedral (I walk across this bridge and around the right of the cathedral on the way to campus)

Looking back across the River Corrib towards the City Centre from the other side of the bridge

River Corrib

Shop Street - leading towards Eyre Square

Looking back towards the Dunnes Stores (the bright spot of light a little on the left) from near Menlo Park

The Next Few Days Include...

I can't sleep. Nor can Molly (my roommate for our time in Dublin). We've been up since about 6:30 (half-six), so to kill a bit of time here's what we're up to for our next few days in Galway:

Monday, 4th January
9:15am All students meet in hotel lobby and are brought to orientation venue.
9:30am Welcome to Ireland
10:15am University meetings
11:15am Refreshment break (oh joy, that means meetings will be a bit dry before and after so we'll need time to wake up)
11:30am Safety talk with a member of the Garda Siochana
12:00pm Depart hotel and take bus to Trinity College
1:00pm Lunch in The Exchequer
2:00pm Guided walking tour of Historical Dublin
4:00pm Self-guided tour of The Guinness Storehouse, home of Guinness
- following the tour we are free for the rest of the evening

Tuesday, 5th January
9:30am Meet at orientation venue
10:00am Academics (what we're doing for the 30 minutes before this I'm not sure)
10:45am Refreshment break
11:15am Food, Cooking, and Health
12:00pm Lunch
2:00pm Student Services
3:00pm We're free for the rest of the day

Wednesday, 6th January
9.:00am Depart for Galway

Getting Drooled On is the Worst

Oh joy! I can officially say, "Howdy from Ireland" now! We arrived at the hotel at about 9:30 and of course our rooms won't be ready until noon, so we were treated to a nice Full Hot Irish Breakfast. So far the concern of the cuisine over here not being terribly tasty hasn't held up. Then again, I was pretty hungry so just about anything was fine by me. We're in Bewley's Hotel Ballsbridge while we're in Dublin (we head out to Galway on the 6th); it's a neat 19th century building. So now that everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that I am landed and alive here's a brief account of my trip thus far:

The Airport - not really noteworthy; there for five hours, met other folks on our trip, did the whole "what's your name? Where are you from? Where do you go to school?" questioning twenty times (of course we all had to repeat this every time a newcomer joined). Flight was delayed an hour taking off. Brief tangent: the group that came to Cork two days ago had to circle around Dublin for an hour because the runways were frozen, then started running low on fuel so flew up to Belfast where they had to wait another four hours before heading back down. So an hour on the runway? Not bad.

The Flight - props to Continental Airlines. Better than average airline food, a choice of forty movies on demand, and plugs under the seat should you need to use your computer. I was sitting next to a little girl and her mom that were on their way home from Disneyland. She was thrilled because she still had Santa Clause to look forward to because they'd been in Florida for three weeks. After a bit I was able to fall into a fitful sleep (surprising amount of turbulence). I woke up abruptly when a head fell onto my forearm. The girl, I suppose, had rolled over in her sleep and it seemed I made a very comfortable pillow. I didn't really mind and drifted off to sleep again. An hour or so later I woke up with a startlingly cool sensation on a particular spot on my arm. I couldn't see over her head, but it appeared near where her mouth was. Great. The kid was drooling on me. I didn't really want to wake her though; she was such a peaceful sleeper. Before I could make up my mind how to resolve this situation she readjusted, settling against my upper arm instead. I chanced a look down to see how disgusting it was going to be (she had, after all, been sucking on a huge green lollipop after dinner). Oh. Oops. Well... turns out the cabin had gotten a bit chilly during the flight and in turn my bracelet cuff must have gotten colder and... point being, no drool. That improved the rest of my flight, though I never could fall back asleep.

Once in Dublin - Everyone got their bags. Hooray! We found the Butler representatives easily enough. Grand. We're off to a good start. We head upstairs to find our bus. No, it's actually downstairs. We go back downstairs. Well really it's another floor below. Ok. We wander outside in the direction of a large bus lot. FYI, I'd categorize the weather as "crisp". Not bitter cold, but enough to wake you up certainly. We couldn't fit all of our bags on the bus. So six of us were shepherded off to a random bus. Both of the leaders got on the first bus, gave our driver, Mark (Marc?), the name of the hotel, and hoped they would see us there. Being as we were all pretty tired at this point and none of us actually knew anyone, we opted to just look out the window. After a while Mark/c finally spoke up.
"Are you all staying in Dublin or moving on?"
(me) "We're only here a few days, then off to Galway to go to university."
"Shame."
"...Er, why's that?"
"Galway's nice. In the summer."
Thanks for that happy thought. But at least we made it to the hotel.

A few other fun facts I've come across:
- it almost never snows in Dublin. And NEVER during December/January. If it's going to snow, it's usually March or April. Those are supposed to be the coldest months of the year. Guess I was a little off on my weather perception here.
- Dublin is divided into postal codes and referred to as such. So we're in D 4 right now. Odd numbers are for the northern half, even for the southern. There are maybe 24 areas? The mother next to me wasn't quite sure.
- our hotel is a converted school for girls.
...and our rooms are ready...
Cheers!