Dublin, Ireland

Last Thursday the 11th I skipped my seminars so that I could go to Dublin for the weekend. I got up at 6:30 AM to begin what would prove an easy trip to the Irish capital. Fortunately, flying Ryanair was not a problem contrary to the negative reports I have received on it from friends and acquaintances. When we landed, my Persian friend was detained for a bit because she didn't have a visa which is required of people of her empire to enter Ireland. Luckily, I was on hand to vouch for her dedication and reverence for the Western world and she was ultimately let through on a warning. After getting on to the airport bus, we had about a half hour ride to get to the Four Courts Hostel. This time was extended a bit because we missed our stop and had to backtrack from Heuston Train Station. However, it was a sunny day, so it was an enjoyable walk. After receiving conflicting reports on the location of our hostel, we finally found it. The directions the hostel provided were convoluted and unnecessary. All they need to say was, "we're right across from the Four Courts building, the one with the big green dome":



Our room wasn't ready yet so we dropped our bags off in the luggage room and went to look for something to eat. Again, the hostel pointed us in the completely wrong direction of where all the food was and we ended up having to find it on our own. I can't quite recall what we had for lunch, but we had some pretty good Italian for dinner. After dinner we walked around and explored the Temple Bar area which also includes the famous bar of the same name. This is me gettin' my hustle on in front of it:



There was also this guy in a Leprechaun suit across the street taking pictures with people. At one point he took off his mask for a smoke. This is the picture I wanted. I approached him and asked if I could have a picture with him. He said sure and went for his mask and I said, "you can leave the mask off." Kind of awkward, but boy did I get a good picture:



We continued walking around the Temple Bar area and eventually made our way into a pub called Farrington's. There was some really good craic (pronounced "crack") here, as the Irish refer to good atmosphere. There was a musician playing and plenty of drunk Irish and Welsh people having a good time in anticipation of the Ireland versus Wales rugby game that would come on Saturday. We had a pint of Guinness and then decided to see what other pubs there were waiting for us elsewhere. We didn't have to travel far before discovering another pub that looked like it had some really good craic. It had a Gaelic name that I can't pronounce nor remember, but I think it was also called The Quays Bar (pronounced "keys"). We spent the rest of the night here and had a great time conversing with lots of middle-aged men and women. For example, there was a group of Welsh mothers who were enjoying getting smashed at the bar and flirting with any guy they came across. Kind of disturbing if you ask me. We got a picture with some of them:





There was also this really kind and funny Irish guy who talked with us and flirted with the Welsh women. After a while though, he mentioned something about losing enough money to one divorce and then left us to go have a cigarette, poor guy:





We left soon after to return to our hostel for the night. After being asleep for about 2 hours, I was abruptly awoken from my slumber by a fat French man falling off his bunk bed, and in the process, bringing the whole bunk bed down with him to the ground. This was our introduction to the 10 revolting middle-aged Frenchmen with whom we'd be sharing our room. They kept trickling in throughout the night and making tons of noise and basically being as disrespectful and discourteous as possible. Here's a picture of my room:



It was alright, nothing special though. The next day, my friend got a room change though, so the rest of the trip it was me and these creepy Frenchmen who never stopped staring at me. On Friday we did a walking tour of the city that seemed a bit suspect since it was free. Nevertheless, I got to see and take pictures of some landmarks including Trinity College.





One thing I have to say about Dublin is that it is a beautiful city, but only when it is sunny. All the buildings are gray, and when it is overcast, everything seems washed out and dreary. Luckily, it was sunny for most of the walking tour so we got to see most monuments in their full glory. After the walking tour, we decided to get something to eat. While looking for food, we came across this street performer who reminded me of Pierre from Tim and Eric, especially when he started to clap his hands:



After he got us thinking about our dads for a bit, we ate some kebabs and then went back to the hostel for our routine mid-day nap. After getting up, we showered and ate some dinner at the hostel before meeting these cool Canadian kids in the hostel who happen to be studying abroad in Chichester which is a town to the West of Brighton that I passed through on my way to Portsmouth. We went out to a bar called Fitzsimmons with them and had a good time, drinking Guinness, dancing a bit, and chatting. Coincidentally, two of them are going to be in Berlin when we are there, so we might meet up. After Fitzsimmons we went to a club that seemed like it was private or invitation only or whatever, but we just waltzed in through the front door. We chilled here for a bit and then went back to the hostel for the night. On Saturday we did a great deal of walking on our way to the Kilmainham Gaol (jail). We saw some of the less attractive parts of Dublin:



It was still nice to see the other side of the city and what life was like in the lower income neighborhoods. By the time we finally made it to the jail itself, we had to wait another 45 minutes before the next tour started since that was the only way of seeing the interior of the jail. We got some tea in the cafe on the top floor to pass the time. I was fairly unimpressed by the tour itself, but I still took pictures of the cells and significant points of interest:





That night we ate at the oldest pub in Ireland, The Brazen Head:



We both got burgers which were quite delicious. We met up with the Canadians later in the night at a club called Purty Kitchen. It was nothing special. The real place to go in Dublin for a good time is the pubs where you get to interact with the warm-loving Irish people. Sunday morning we ate at a nice little cafe called The Queen of Tarts which proved to be a good choice. I thought we should try it because in the song "On Raglan Road" by The Dubliners, they reference a Queen of Tarts. I don't know whether it is the same Queen, but it was a great place nonetheless. After that we went to the Guinness brewery which proved to be quite a let down. There was this sweet picture though:



The best part of the tour comes at the end when you go to the top of the building to the Gravity Bar. It is a bar that provides a 360 degree panoramic view of the entire city. The views entertained for a bit, especially the view of the Wicklow Mountains:



After the Guinness Storehouse we went back to the Temple Bar area one last time before we left. We had a good Italian lunch and enjoyed the sunny afternoon with all the activity on the quaint streets. That more or less concluded a fantastic weekend. This Friday will mark the start of my month spring break and the first stop is Barcelona, where I will be meeting none other than the infamous Nic Wise!