Monday through Wednesday were full of midterms, and therefore stressful and not worth writing about. However, we left late Wednesday night after my midsemester studio review (which I got an A- on, woohoo!) and with the time difference, we got to Dublin around midnight, their time. We took a taxi to our hostel from the airport and our driver almost got lost. But he was a nice guy and took some money off the fare for the time spent navigating. We got the hostel and checked in, we were in a 6 bed female room and didn't know if anyone else would be there yet or not. There was one girl there sleeping, we felt bad for waking her up. Her name was Gwen and she was from Germany, she had an internship in Dublin and had been staying at the hostel for awhile. She was really nice and didn't get mad that we woke her up. Later in the weekend, two more German girls moved into the room, who were very nice as well :). It had been a long day by that point, so we didn't bother her for long and we went to bed.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hostel for 1 euro. It was actually pretty good. The milk was cold, which is something I have learned cannot be taken for granted. We had grabbed a bunch of pamphlets from the front desk and went over those while we ate breakfast to see what we wanted to do. We decided to go on a three hour, free walking tour of the city, but it didn't start until 1, so we went and got ready and explored a little on our own first. Dublin is a beautiful city, with the river running right through the middle and all the charm that European cities just seem to have by virtue of being European. We stopped at a little cafe and were psyched to see they sold bagels, since they don't in Spain. (Dublin was good for finding American foods we had missed in Spain.) We met up with the tour group right next to city hall.. or so we thought. We found out after about 10 minutes that we had accidentally tried to join a privately booked group of Austrian engineers.. Whoops. They weren't angry, but it was a little embarrassing. Either way, we backtracked a block or so back to the meeting point and there was another group about to head out that was not privately booked, so we joined them. Our tour guide was a girl named Ingrid, she was really funny and had a wonderful accent :). We found out at the end that we had only been her second group and we were super impressed. We saw all the main sights of Dublin, including Dublin Castle, which isn't much of a castle, but still cool, Christ Church Cathedral, which is beautiful, Trinity College, and St. Stephen's Green, among other places. It was a good way to see all the main sights of the city and it ended up being helpful for us to do it on our first day because then it was a lot easier for us to navigate and orient ourselves in the city. It's a very walkable city, which I like, unlike Berlin. We walked everywhere except to and from the airport. We rarely got lost and everything was really pretty close, so it was great. After the tour, it was only like 4:30, but we were really hungry from walking for 3 hours (plus it's not quite as strange to eat that early in Ireland as it would be in Spain) so we went to a restaurant we had scoped out during our exploring before the tour. It was called Gourmet Burger Kitchen and that's exactly what it was and it was wonderful. They don't have American-type hamburgers in Spain, so we had all missed them a little. It was a really great meal; food in Dublin was a little more expensive than it is here in Barcelona, but the portions are bigger and the food was just really good, everywhere we went. We then went and bought pretty cupcakes from a little bakery stand really close by that we had also scoped out. We walked around a little afterwards, went into some really cute little shops, and then headed back to the hostel to eat our cupcakes and go to bed early, because we had places to be at 6:50 the next morning. However, we all had a little trouble sleeping. The hostel had pretty thin walls to begin with, being it was an old school building (it was a really cool place, by the way), and then there were people doing goodness knows what in the hallway. All. Night. I literally heard them right up until I left the room to go shower at 5:45 am. It was so loud. All I remember thinking in my half-asleep, irritated state was "how is it humanly possible to be that loud?" The funny thing is, guess what language they were speaking? Yep. Spanish. Apparently they aren't used to the earlier closing times of bars and such since they hardly even open until midnight in Spain, so since they were used to staying up until 6, they just partied in the hallway of the hostel. Awesome. The next day we had to reactivate our room keys (a security measure) and the worker at the desk, after seeing our room number, asked if we had had problems with noise and said they would take care of it and to come tell them if it was a problem that night too. Luckily, it ceased to be an issue after just the one night, but we appreciated that the hostel worker was on our side.
So the whole next day was taken up by our Cliffs of Moher day-trip on a tour bus. It was my favorite day/activity of the weekend. The cool part was that we didn't just drive to the cliffs, hang out and then drive back. We stopped at all sorts of other places, which was why we chose the tour company we did. And we were particularly lucky because our tour guide took us to places that weren't even listed on the official itinerary on the website. He was awesome (we had such good luck with tour guides!), his name was Bud and he was like someone's grandpa, a little old man with a great Irish accent, of course. He was really funny and he had obviously been giving the tour for many years, so he would ask us if we wanted to make extra stops and he just knew of other cool places he wanted to show us that were along the way, so it was great. He also played Irish music on the bus and sang along :). First we stopped in the town of Limerick [no oysters, though...(if you get that joke you win ten internet points)] and saw the remains of the Walls of Limerick and King John's Castle. We then stopped at another castle (a Bud addition to the tour), Bunratty Castle. We didn't get to go inside any castles during our stay in Ireland, but we saw the outside of quite a few! We then stopped in the seaside surfing town of Lahinch (Bud addition) to take pictures of the sea. There were actually surfers, too! And it was not a particularly warm day. After that we made it to our destination: the Cliffs of Moher! It was incredible, they were even more beautiful than I expected and we had really good weather as far as visibility, so we could see everything :). It was so unbelievably windy up there. We were worried about losing our scarves, if not falling over. It added some humor to some of the pictures, so it was good all around. We walked around there for about an hour and I of course purchased some souvenirs at the gift shop, including an Irish artisan chocolate bar. It was dark chocolate with crystallized ginger and almonds. Do you care? Probably not, but it was gone by the end of the day and I am remembering it fondly. Our big tourist group (about 40) then got back on the bus and headed to the little village of Doolin for lunch. First we stopped by the shore in Doolin where Bud orchestrated some very touristy photos of us all. After lunch we drove through the Burren region of Ireland, which if I remember correctly means something about a land with a lot of rocks. And that's what it was. Sounds lame, yes, but I had never seen a landscape like it before, so it was pretty neat. We stopped for a few more photo ops and everyone's hairstyles got better and better each time as the wind continued to be ferocious. It was entertaining watching them all come back on the bus (we sat in the front so we could see out the front window). I was very glad of my short hair. Next we visited the ruins of Corcomroe Abbey, which was really neat. It's literally the remains of a broken down abbey in the middle of nowhere in the Irish countryside. It was really cool and a little creepy. We drove on along Galway Bay, which was beautiful of course, stopped in another little town for coffee, saw the outside of Dunguaire Castle from a distance, and then got back on the "motorway" to head to Dublin. It was about a two hour drive back and since I had two seats to myself, I slept and listened to The Script :) one of my favorite bands who just happen to be Irish. Then we got dropped off back in Dublin around 7, Bud gave every one of us a hug, and we headed back to the hostel. On the way, we stopped at a McDonald's because one of us wanted french fries, and I noticed they were advertising Shamrock Shakes. How could I not get a Shamrock Shake in Ireland? So I did. I was a happy tourist. We went back to the hostel and then went just down the street where there were literally three Chinese restaurants in a row. We chose one and it was really good. We were almost the only ones there because we were eating at Spanish dinner time, since we hadn't had lunch on the tour until about Spanish lunch time. We were all pretty tired so we went back to the hostel then and went to bed.
The next morning, Saturday, we got up and went to the Temple Bar food market Ingrid had told us about. It was really neat and everything looked delicious. Having never had them and being in Europe as I am, I went with the crepes, Nutella and banana. It was a good decision. We then headed to our scheduled noon tour of the old Jameson Distillery. It was really neat old building, but the tour itself was nothing special. We got a free drink at the end and I didn't think I'd be able to swallow whiskey, but I got it mixed with cranberry juice, so it wasn't too bad (better than the Guinness, but more on that later). Then we went to this neat store that was like an artists' collective and I got a hat I had seen on the first day and had thought about ever since. It's hand crocheted Irish wool and I love it :). It's a good souvenir. Then we headed to the train station, as we had decided the night before to take a little day trip to the town of Malahide to see Malahide Castle. On the way we took a detour to Christ Church Cathedral so we could go inside and see the crypt. It was beautiful on the inside, too, and we happened to visit while there was a Norwegian Gospel choir singing, so that was fun :). We explored the church a little and went down to the crypt to see the most photographed attraction in Dublin: Tom and Jerry. A cat and a mouse that had gotten stuck in a organ (the cat obviously chasing the mouse) and preserved. For whatever reason, when this was discovered someone decided instead of getting rid of them, they should be kept and are now displayed in the crypt. So there's that.. Also, we found it hilarious that there was a cafe in the crypt. Who wants to eat in a crypt? Apparently, some people do because there were quite a few people there eating, actually. After we were finished exploring, we headed out and happened to pass by the coffin of Strongbow in the main part of the crypt. It was funny because he was a very important Irish rebel leader, I believe, (either way, very important to Irish history) and Ingrid had even mentioned how more people go to see Tom and Jerry than Strongbow, and sure enough, we had forgotten he was there too and just sort of stumbled across his coffin as we were leaving. I took his picture too, though, to try to even it out. We found the train station and got on a train to Malahide, just about a half hour away. When we got out of the train, we saw... a rainbow! In Ireland! Even cooler than the Shamrock Shake. As we excitedly took pictures like the tourists we were, it developed into a perfect whole rainbow with a hint of a double rainbow above it. Awesome. After we got that out of our systems, we moved onward towards the castle. Approaching it from the grounds takes quite a while, as they're very extensive. They're absolutely beautiful though, all wooded with some huge green fields where kids were playing soccer and rugby. You walk on a little path through the tree and there were little parks and playgrounds too and we could tell it was a really popular place to take your kids to play. We finally got to the castle, only to find out it was in fact closed for renovations until summer and it was destined to be yet another outside-only castle. Luckily, we're all pretty optimistic, easygoing people and the weather was beautiful (not sure what rain made the rainbow, because we never got rained on) so we just sat down in a field and looked at the castle for awhile. Then we decided to do some spontaneous gymnastics, just for fun. (Erica and I both used to be gymnasts and Sandra does an awesome cartwheel ;).) I can still do a front-walkover, yay! After chilling there for awhile, we headed into the town to explore. That didn't take long, because it's a pretty small little village. Very cute and quaint, though, and right on the sea, so we walked along the boardwalk for awhile. Then we headed back to Dublin on the train (where it was raining when we got back, unfortunately, but not much) and found a pub with live music to have dinner. It was really fun and felt very Irish. Erica and I got burgers again because we just really missed them and they're just really good in Ireland because they're big on natural, locally produced things (maybe why the food was a little more expensive). We realized it was our two month study abroad anniversary that day and thought there was no better way to celebrate than by not being in Barcelona, haha. Not really, it was just kind of ironic, especially since by that time we really didn't want to ever leave Dublin. We headed back to the hostel and Erica and I just hung out in the lobby. She had homework to do, unfortunately. Sandra went on a pub crawl and I feel like I probably should've gone because it seems very Irish, but I had been in Spanish mindset thinking that if I did that I probably wouldn't get back until 5 or 6 am, not realizing that duh, it's not Spain and people don't stay out that late here. Sandra was only gone until like 1 or 2. Also, it didn't cross my mind until afterwards that since I don't drink, I wouldn't have even needed to buy the wristband deal that got you free drinks and I could have in fact just tagged along. Oh well. That's what I get for being a lame-o.
Sunday we got up and wandered the city a little more. It was kind of early, so not many things were open, although more than are open in Barcelona on a Sunday. Dublin doesn't completely shut down, it just opens a little later, like most cities. Anyways, we found another cute little cafe that advertised pancakes for 4 euros, so we got a pot of chai (I'm becoming a tea drinker since being in Europe!) and pancakes and it was wonderful. Afterwards we hit up some souvenir shops and then headed to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour. The museum was so awesome. It was so well-done and really neat. Also, it was a self-guided tour and the route was really clear, so that's always better. We started at the ground floor (duh) and the exhibit made its way up to the 7th floor, where the Gravity Bar is located. It's a round room made all of glass, so you can see the Wicklow mountains, the sea, and the whole city of Dublin. It was really pretty. Of course, the tour came with a free pint of Guinness. After a tasting session on the second floor of the exhibit, I was pretty sure I wasn't a fan, so instead I opted for the half pint + soft drink option and after essentially chasing every sip of Guinness with Diet Coke, I cannot understand why anyone would drink it when Diet Coke exists. Bleh. I had a really hard time finishing even that little glass, and Erica actually couldn't. She said it was giving her a stomach ache and only drank about half. Sandra didn't have as many problems with it since she had gone on the pub crawl, apparently it's an acquired taste (one which I have to desire to acquire, at that). So I'm sorry, people of Ireland. Please don't hate me. I love your country, just not your beer (although it could have something to do with the fact that I just don't drink beer in general, who knows). After that we went back down to the first floor where they were asking everyone to sign a pledge to make St. Patrick's day the friendliest day of the year and set a world record of some sort. They were trying to get 50,000 and had almost 30,000 when we were there. You just had to pledge to be nice on St. Patrick's day and I figured I could handle that. Then we got to take photo booth pictures and print them :). While we were waiting in line, we were trying to figure out how to email the pictures to yourself, so we were watching the ladies in front of us as they typed in an email address with the exact same format as my school address, ending in umn.edu. What are the chances? Sure enough, we talked to them and they were professors at the University of Minnesota. Crazy. After that, there were still a few more things we wanted to squeeze in before our flight. We visited Butler's Chocolate Cafe, which is as awesome as it sounds, and then really quickly (we were literally there for 10 minutes) went to the National Irish Archaeology Museum to see an exhibit Ingrid had told us about. It was free, so we figured, why not? It looked like a really neat museum and it would've been cool to spend more time in there, but the exhibit Ingrid recommended was one about Irish bog men from like 200-400 BC. I believe they were just people who lived in bog areas, hence the name, and one day they were digging in the bogs and found these people and a bunch of artifacts like really well preserved. It was definitely a little disturbing, but worth seeing. We considered going to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, but it costed 8 euro per person, so we didn't. We then went back to the hostel and collected our bags and then went and waited for the bus. It was a double-decker, so that was fun. We got to the airport, checked in, all that jazz. We were all pretty sad to leave. We got back to Barcelona around 9, Barcelona time and then I took the train, metro, and then walked to get back here to the apartment. It's quite the journey. I always took for granted traveling with my parents who simply parked their car at the airport. Needless to say, I was quite tired and not looking forward to going back to school the next day after such a wonderful long weekend. So I skyped with the family for a little while and then went to bed.
Now it's Tuesday and I'm back in Barcelona. Still a little sad, but it'll be okay. Sorry I was a tad late with the blog this week, but as I said I got back late on Sunday and just didn't have time yesterday, so here you go :). Moral of the story: I love Dublin. It was such a successful trip, everything went smoothly, we had good weather, good food, everything was good. Maybe it's my small amount of Irish heritage, but I just felt at home there. This coming weekend we have a program-organized trip to Valencia for one night, so that'll be in next week's post, along with whatever other thrilling things happen to me this week ;). Adios!
No comments:
Post a Comment