Like our weekend in Paris, our trip to Dublin began early. However, this time Matt and I were up and at 'em by 5:30 instead of 3:30! We're improving! We took the tube to Victoria station where we boarded a train that would take us to Gatwick Airport. Once there, we got on our plane and after only one hour, we landed in Dublin.
If you all remember, Matt and I weren't just going to Dublin for kicks, we were also visiting our friends, Annie and Andrew. Now, Andrew had given me instructions on what to do once we got to Dublin. The instructions went like this:
"When you get off the plane, walk out to where the buses are and get on one of the big green ones, 747 or 748.
Get off the bus after it passes the river.
Then call me. "
Hmm.............ok, sure. We got on the bus and about 15 minutes later, the bus stopped. At a bus station. No river in sight. We called Andrew, who directed us toward the river and then gave us these directions:
"After you cross the bridge over the river, turn right. You'll pass a Heineken building, turn left. There will be a fork in the road, go to the right. The road will curve to the left and you'll see Trinity College. Wait for me there."
Hmm.............ok, sure. Just like Dora the Explorer, we went over the bridge, turned right and saw a Heineken sign. Not a building. We had no clue if that was what we were looking for or not, so we went ahead and turned left. We came to a T in the road. Not a fork...a T. So we went right. The road curved to the left. We saw a building that looked like it could be Trinity College, but of course, there was no sign to tell us if we were right or not. So we waited. Oh! I forgot the best part! During all of these shenanigans, it was raining cats and dogs. And it was very windy. Brilliant. Finally, Andrew found us (turns out, we were standing in front of Trinity College after all!) and we made the long trek back to his house. The LONG trek back to his house. IN THE RAIN. Matt dropped off his stuff and we journeyed even farther to Annie's house. My goodness, I've been spoiled by the London Underground. Dublin, technically, is a walking city. They have a bus system, but in terms of public transportation, that's about it. I thought we walked a lot in London, but nope, we've got nothing on these Dubliners. They're insane.
Our first day was mostly spent getting situated. We grabbed some food, made a game plan for the rest of the weekend, bought tickets to a rugby game (more on that later) and ended up back at Annie's house for the night. And yes, this is a house. Not a dorm room. Annie lives with three other girls, she has her own room and they have a kitchen, two living areas, two fireplaces...the works. How is this fair, I ask you??? They get a house and I have the world's smallest dorm room that is occupied by two people! Ugh!
Anyway, the next day we spent some time at a very interesting prison, called Kilmainham Prison. This prison was used to house many Irishmen (and women) who fought for Ireland's freedom against England. Ironic, isn't it, that they were put in jail in their own country by outsiders? Not one of England's finest moments. Afterwards, we went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which was a beautiful building surrounded by tons of trees, all with leaves colored yellow, red and orange. Then we went to the rugby game.
Let me preface this by saying that I have never seen a rugby game before in my life. All I knew was that it was slightly similar to American football. Ha! Similar to American football....rugby players would destroy American football players. They are just as rough, if not even rougher than football players and they do everything without pads. These are just about the manliest men in the world. It was awesome. The teams playing were Leinster (a county in Ireland) and Edinburgh. Naturally, we cheered for Leinster. And they won! Side note: Irish fans are much classier than most American sports fans. They are quite passionate about their team, but there was far less drunken, Texan accent yelling, obnoxious old men at this rugby game. Like I said, it was awesome.
Following the rugby game, the boys decided to go out, while Annie and I stayed in for some much needed girl time. Handfulls of pretzels, two drinks, one home video, two TV episodes (LOST and Gilmore Girls) and lots of laughter later, we were wiped out and gladly went to bed. We slept in on Sunday morning and after lunch, we met up with the boys and headed over to the Guinness Storehouse.
The Guinness Storehouse looks like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. But for adults. The museum part consists of a self-guided tour through floors showing the process through which Guinness is made as well as a lot more information about advertising and distribution of Guinness. It sounds boring, but it really wasn't! The whole thing ends with a free pint, which can either be obtained from the Sky Bar at the very top of the museum, or it can be poured yourself...the right way. Yes, there is a "right way" to pour Guinness. It's very precise, but not hard and it was quite neat to see how it's done. We sat down with our pints and drank to our heart's content. That makes us sound like alcoholics, doesn't it? I promise, we only had one pint each! Except for Annie, who doesn't like Guinness.
Later that night, after a delicious meal that we cooked for ourselves, the boys and I hit the town, determined to have a fabulous Halloween. And we definitely we did. We were a couple of dancing fools and I would not have it any other way. We didn't get home till laaaaatttteeeee and Matt and I had to be up at 5:30 again the next morning to catch our flight back to London. Needless to say, it's been a heck of a weekend.
On the way back to London, I thought about how glad I was to have spent a few days in a city so different from the one that I've become accustomed to. Dublin is a lot more easy going than London. While London is very "GO! GO! GO!" Dublin takes its time. But you know what? I still love London the best. There is something about this city that makes me so content. I just want to give it a hug. Then I thought, if I gave London a hug, what would I give Paris? I decided that a curtsy would do. A pretty little curtsy, for an elegant, posh city. And what about Dublin? That's easy. Dublin gets a high five.
17 days until HP. Yessssss.
The ending was wonderful! I am glad you had fun.
ReplyDeleteI liked the party about the Guinness factory. I want to go to there.
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