Its been a week, but for good reason. I haven't really been up to much during the week. Friday, after classes, I went straight to the train station to get a train to Manchester. From Manchester, I flew a 45 minute flight (yes, FORTY FIVE minutes) to Dublin. I arrived around 9, went through customs (I'm pretty sure I was the only non EU person the plane), and took a bus to city centre. That's when the adventure began. I had texted my friends who were already in the city to figure out where to meet them. There was some confusion, and I got off at the stop they were not actually at. And then they ran out of money on their cell phones. Luckily, I had the address, so eventually I hailed a cab. The driver wound up asking me some questions, and it turns out his sister was getting married in San Fran over the summer, so he was asking me questions about the states. When we got to the street, he wasn't sure where it was exactly, but he got me to the block, but I was sure I could find it. Since we had a nice chat, he took some money off my fare. Then the fun part came. So Dublin is weird and changes the street name every block. So I went the wrong way up the block instead of down and wondered around the same block for like thirty minutes. I found it eventually. It was just an adventure. We were all tired and it was late by then, so we just went to bed in the sketchiest hostel I've stayed at.
The next morning we were up early. We did some exploring, got some breakfast, and then went on the free tour that Dublin has. We saw Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, Trinity College, and so much more. I learned a lot about the history of Ireland and Dublin. It was really interesting and awesome. Here are some pictures from the tour.
After the tour, we took a walk to the Guinness Factory. On the way there, we discovered the wonderful sounds of the crosswalks in Dublin make. Its where the title of this blog comes from and it made me feel like I was in some old school video game. It was fantastic. Well, we made it to the Guinness factory, which was interesting. However, it was kind of expensive and a self guided tour. I did learn some crazy things about Guinness though. And I learned to pour the perfect pint, even receiving my own certificate. I could not drink very much of the Guinness though. It was not good at all. Blech. Here are some pics from the factory:
After the Guinness Factory, we went to find somewhere to eat. Dublin is really expensive, though, so it took us a while. We wound up finding somewhere to eat in the Temple Bar area that wasn't super cheap, but was kind of reasonable. I got Steak and Guinness Casserole with Mash, which was delicious!
After dinner, we wondered around the Temple Bar area, going into a few places to hear some traditional Irish music. There were also some street performers. Some played music, some spun fire, but all of them were really good. We then went back. At 4am, we woke up to catch the bus to Belfast in Northern Ireland. When we got there, it was straight onto the tour bus to see the country side. We made a few stops at some small towns along the coast, then finally made it to Giant's Causeway. It was absolutely beautiful. It really reminded me of the pictures I've seen of California. Here are some pictures of the places we stopped and the causeway.
After the causeway we went to a few more small towns and also stopped at this old salmon fisherman bridge. Its 20 meters across and 30 meters down. We walked across it. I thought it'd be a lot more frightening than it actually was. We got back to Belfast and were exhausted, so we just went back to the hostel and hung out for a bit. Monday we walked around Belfast, but there did not really seem to be too much to do in Belfast.
Today is Pancake Day in England. Its what they do on Fat Tuesday instead of a Mardi Gras celebration like we do in the states. My flatmates made some pancakes and let me try one. They are not like the pancakes back in the states. They are somewhere in between crepes and pancakes. They also put a bunch of different things on them, including lemon, sugar, and chocolate sauce. I tried a syrup that was like a thicker version of maple syrup. It was pretty good. This weekend I am off to Oslo, Norway and am so excited!
The Perfect Pint Pourer,
Jessica
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