When I think of Ireland, I think of lush green rolling hills, leprechauns, four leaf clovers, and of course, a pot of gold. I think of Garth Brooks singing to a crowd of millions, “Ireland, I am coming home…!” I think of my sister because it was her favorite place to visit outside of Italy when she was traveling abroad her junior year. What I did not picture was freezing cold wind, buckets of rain, and weather that could easily rival the North Pole J (hence the title of the blog J).
But before getting into the past two days, here is a quick forget-me-not for Friday - after sight-seeing in the cloudy drizzle on the bus tour we got off at the stop for the Dublin Castle. I can’t believe I forgot to write about this, because it is by far one of my favorite castles – it was so beautifully furnished and lavishly decorated. Our tour guide spoke a million miles a minute (I got a dose of what it must be like to talk to me….) and he brought us around the beautiful staterooms. This castle was originally built as a defensive fortification for the Norman city of Dublin, it later evolved into a royal residence, resided in by the Lord of Ireland or the representative of the monarch. Over the years it served as a place of meeting for parliament and law courts and as a military garrison. The castle is also used for hosting official State visits as well as more informal foreign affairs engagements, State banquets, Government policy launches, as well as acting as the central base for Ireland's hosting of the European Presidency approximately every 10 years – thank you trusty brochure J. It was a lot of fun to get out of the rain and walk around the warm walls of this historic castle for about an hour- and even go underneath to see remains of the original stone fortress from the time of the Vikings…the 930’s (woah…).
Onto Saturday! We woke up to a sunny morning, which was a welcome relief. Confident the weather would hold out, we left the umbrellas behind and after an interesting hostel breakfast Laura and I headed to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Andrea and Jen left a bit before us because they naturally woke up earlier, and weren’t planning on going to the Guinness Storehouse – a tour Laura and I could not miss. So roomie and me walked in the dry but cold morning about ten minutes to the cathedral. We couldn’t miss it! It was beautiful and stood tall amongst the Dublin city skyline, but some of the detail was taken away by the scaffolding that towered up the steeple. Everywhere we go the big monuments or buildings have been under renovation, and this was no exception, but we were still excited to go inside. Our excitement was quickly squashed as we turned the corner and saw about 75 students in caps and gowns all dressed up for a graduation. Feeling completely out of place bundled in our North Face fleeces and jeans, we soon were told the church was closed all day for the graduation, and Sunday it was only open for mass. So we were not able to go into the cathedral, which was a big disappointment, but we instead decided to utilize the last couple of hours of our 24 hour bus tour.
On the bus we circled around the city some more and listened to the live commentary giving us the history of the sights. We rode the bus for about 30 minutes, before getting off to walk along the River Liffey and cross the historic Ha’Penny Bridge built in 1816. We then walked to Trinity College – the Harvard of Dublin. It had a beautiful campus that we strolled for about a half hour. It reminded us a lot of Elon, but stone instead of brick. It also houses one of the oldest manuscripts, but we forewent paying the fee to see that once we realized it was already 12 pm and it was no longer too early for a beer or two J. So we hopped back on the bus and took it to the Guinness Storehouse – Arthur Guinness’s historic brewery.
This building is a huge tourist attraction for the city, evident by the lines of people waiting to buy their tickets to this seven-story experience. The building itself is designed in the shape of a giant pint of Guinness, that if full would hold 14.3 million pints! Arthur signed the lease on December 31, 1759 – a 9,000 year lease, which is part of its charm J. We waited in line for about 15 minutes, while watching on the screens above classic commercials for the beer, got our student discount tickets and headed up to the first floor.
The first floor is the brewing cooperage and transport floor. It is an interactive step-by-step journey through the brewing process. There was a huge waterfall for the water, and vines of hops, piles of barley and buckets of wheat, and then of course the ingredient that turns it all to alcohol- yeast, which forms the magic that is Guinness. We then journeyed up the stairs to the tasting lab and tried our first sips of Guinness fresh from the barrel. It was so……DISGUSTING! I realized that just because it looked like a milkshake did not mean it would taste like one…but it was a fresh sample that had not quite matured so we were still looking forward to getting our free pint on the 7th floor.
So moving on up, we made it to the second floor where we learned all about Guinness advertising campaigns over the years (I thought of you Lynnie, thinking you must have loved this floor!). There were television screens playing commercials and cases of artifacts used in the marketing process over the years. The third floor was the choice zone, which was an interactive computer room where you got to test your skills in a series of games and quizzes about Guinness, alcohol consumption, losing your inhibitions, how your body responds to alcohol and being socially responsible. The fourth floor is where you can learn about the story of the building and Guinness around the world, which was a quiet floor where you could visit a huge map to see where Guinness is produced and available around the globe. The fifth floor consisted of two bars, that we surpassed, excited to make it to the 7th floor - the 6th floor doesn’t actually exist… it is just a floor of bathrooms on your way up to…drum roll please…. The GRAVITY BAR (ooo…ahhhh….)!
This was by far my favorite floor of this amusement park of alcohol - a Disney world for drunks if you will J. It is the highest bar in all of Dublin with a 360 degree view of the entire city. We redeemed our free pint of Guinness, and had a gulp – I had to admit, it was so gross, why anyone would drink that high caloric concoction is beyond me, but because its production birthed such an awesome and entertaining tour, Guinness is fine by me J. After two or three sips, we handed our pints off to some eager tourists who apparently loved the stuff, and then headed to get some lunch on O’Connell St. at a café called Let’s Eat! And eat we did….the most delicious leek and potato soup with hearty wheat bread. It was perfect on such a cold day.
Laura and I then walked to meet up with Jen and Andrea (who we briefly, by chance, bumped into at the college J ). This is when the stormy sky erupted with rain, pouring down on our meeting spot and ultimately ruining our late afternoon plans. We had wanted to go to Howth, a coastal town just 20 minutes outside of Dublin, so see the cliffs and the coast, but with the unexpected downpour, we opted out of that and instead decided to go back to the hostel and shower before heading out for a night on the town in Temple Bar.
Slight disappointment became unbearable discomfort as the wind whipped the heavy rain into our faces, jumping puddle after puddle on our 25-minute walk back to the hostel. We were drenched, and without umbrellas (I had mine, but it broke in the wind..it was pathetic), we might as well have jumped in a pool. We took a quick stop in Starbucks to try to wait it out, but it was not stopping and we were already soaked, so we just sucked it up and journeyed on. We finally made it back – wet and miserable on top of FREEZING. We hung at the hostel for a bit (which is when I did my first Ireland blog (see below) and tried to warm up in the miserable push button showers as the rain continued to fall.
Finally dryer, we headed back out into the rain down the street to a local pub called The Bleeding Horse. We had a really delicious meal while watching a rugby match playing on the screens around the pub, out of the cold. We then took a taxi to Temple Bar, a huge touristy nightlife area that is bustling with people and is full of pubs and bars. We went into a couple of pubs that were packed wall to wall with people – including the actual Temple Bar, and another that had some live music, but it was impossible to get in, out, or move around at all with so many people packed in. It became kind of frustrating, and we were damp and tired, so after stepping into a gift shop for a bit to regroup, we decided to take a taxi back to the hostel. It was a bit disappointing that the weather was so bad because pub-hopping became impossible, and it just takes so much out of you to be cold and wet.
We all fell to sleep quickly, and woke up this morning ready to shop! Jen decided to go on a half-day castle tour, but Andrea, Laura and I opted to stay in Dublin because touring a castle and coasts in the rain was not sounding too appealing. Instead, I needed some retail therapy! So we decided to go to Grafton St – a very popular shopping street right by our hostel. After eating breakfast, we headed back out into the relentless rain onto the empty street – perhaps it was because of the rain or the fact that it was a Sunday morning, but because not a lot was open at 10am, we sat in a really adorable pub that served a mean Irish breakfast. Andrea had some pancakes and Laura and I had a delicious mocha espresso since we already ate at the hostel. We sat for about an hour and half in the warm and beautiful pub on the second floor, reflecting on our semester, on the fact that one month from today we will all be home, and that we still have so much left to do in London. After, we shopped all up and down the streets and got some AMAZING gifts inside St. Stephen’s Mall – which was decked out for Christmas, which was so exciting! I cannot WAIT to give to my friends and family their awesome gifts J so excited! And it just got me in the spirit of this amazing season! I even started listening to Christmas music on the trip, which is so thrilling – it is the best time of the year and it is all to come! I just love it….and less than one month until my birthday….finally 20! Whoop whoop!
At 2pm, we packed our gifts into our bags and headed back out in the POURING RAIN with all of our luggage to get the air coach, which was a 30 minute ride in a bus that had a perpetual high pitched beeping sound that went off for no particular reason and would ring for minutes at a time… so obnoxious. We then journeyed home…a story you know all to well by now….
We had a good amount of time in the Dublin terminal, where we just talked and kept each other company, and then we boarded the plane for the 50 minute flight home. The pilot said with the wind, we were going 600 mph…wrap your head around that….but we still managed to have a smooth landing, got off the plane and walked IN THE FRIGGIN RAIN to get to the Stanstead terminal (so sick of the rain…it followed us to London – ugh, and I wonder why I am perpetually sick…..). We then ran to catch the 7pm express train into Central London. Our section of the train was packed with 13-year-old Austrian boys who treated the train like a playground, running up and down aisles and taking up tons of seats, flashing their cameras in each other’s faces. I forgot how immature we are at 13 – so glad to be done with that time in my life. They were so aggravating and I had to stand for the 60 minute journey, frustrated the whole time, because there were no seats – so obnoxious, and their mothers were just letting it happen. UGH! Some people….
Now I am home, unpacked, and ready for bed! Overall, Dublin is a wonderful city I would love to go back to when it is not...can you guess?....RAINING! I really did have a good time, and the rain made for some good laughs. And I learned a lot about the history of the city, which was great and well worth the trip. Not to mention, I came to find first hand that the darker the beer, the grosser the taste, and that alone is priceless J.
Love and hugs,
Jenny
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