been the trip of a lifetime, but you know what I mean. I just got back
from Dublin, Ireland, last night! It was SO much fun... the Irish are
ridiculously nice people. The first time we opened the map on the street
looking for a bank, an older Irish gentleman asked if we were lost and
needed help. He even pulled out his wallet to see if he had change for my
€100 that I needed to change at the bank. The security guard at the bank
ended up pulling out HIS wallet and exchanging it for me since the bank
wasn't going to be open for some time. What a bunch of nice people!!
WARNING: I am going to write a lot because I really enjoyed this trip and
I want to remember all of the wonderful memories made during it. Please
don't complain about the length of this entry, if you think it is too
long, just don't read it and don't say anything if you don't like it, it's
not your trip and not your blog, either. And my mom likes having something
to read... so THERE!
Anyway, Jenny and I flew from Düsseldorf airport to Dublin. Düsseldorf is
THE worst airport ever when it comes to security checks. Okay, they do a
good job, but it's a pain in the neck and took us almost 30 minutes to get
through and they searched our bags. It didn't help that a bunch of Turks
were in front of us in line trying to smuggle plants and peanut butter. No
one seemed to know anything about anything in line at security at the
Düsseldorf airport. ANDDDD there was passport control BEFORE leaving the
airport, it was crazy... Oh well. Anyway the flight was very pleasant. We
flew with Aer Lingus. As I got on the plane, the guy checking the boarding
passes saw my name and was like "you're Irish!" and I was like "no, I'm
not"... because I'm not. Funny thing was, although my name is allegedly
Irish, I could only find ONE souvenir with my name on it in the entire
souvenir store! There's a time difference of one hour between Germany and
Ireland so we "gained" an hour and got there 20 minutes after we left :-)
.. technically.
Once we got to the airport we had to go through passport control again,
where we had another pleasant experience with the Irish... they really are
nice!!! We hopped a bus after some difficulties finding the right one and
headed into town... took about 40 minutes and was only €1,90, whereas the
other buses going into the city charged €5-€7! It pays to do research in
advance, folks!! The hostel we stayed in was nice, we were in an 8 bed
girls only room with our own bathroom... we were bummed because we booked
in advance and ended up having to pay €8 more per night after they lowered
their prices to €10 a night once they realized they weren't going to fill
up those nights... but since we booked in advance like smart people
usually do, we were stuck with €18 a night. Which was okay, I mean, that
still wasn't bad.
Wednesday morning we dined on buttered white toast and orange juice
provided by the hostel, then began our journey around the city. It's a
small city, easily reachable by foot mostly... We first headed down to the
big park, St. Stephen's Green, where Big Willy, the giant seagull, and all
of his friends had been vacationing. HUGE HUGE HUGE seagulls. I enjoyed
watching one of them venture over to the pigeons getting fed and laughing
about how huge he was next to the pigeons, haha... seagulls are the
pigeons of the beach. Next, we went to the Iveagh Gardens (pronounced
"Ivy"), which was once known to locals as the "Secret Garden"... we found
it after a sign ironically pointed the way for us... after playing around
and exploring the garden a bit, we headed over to Trinity College, where I
engaged in a conversation with a guy working in the library... those Irish
people love to talk!
We took a bus to the Kilmainham Gaol (we learned that this word, Gaol, is
pronounced like JAIL!... tickled me pink, those Irish quacks). The tour
was really cool and really cheap, apparently the Irish have a very
terrible history in their quest for independence and survival... the jail
cells were open and people could go inside. The tour guide we had was
interesting, he explained everything in such a friendly way, we didn't get
the full effect of the grim events that had taken place in the jail
because he sounded so nice!! After lunch (purchased at the grocery store
next to our hostel) we went to see the St. Michan's Church, established in
1095... the church itself was strange enough, but the main attraction was
down in the SUPER creepy crypts below the church... there are naturally
mummified bodies on display down there and some of the crypts are still
"active", meaning if someone in one of the families that own the crypts
wanted to stick another body in there, they could legally do so... the
tour guide was amazing, he spoke in such a bone-chilling tone that we all
kind of felt creeped out... the bodies were mummified by the constant
temperature and the limestone walls down there... he even let us into the
crypt with the mummies on display to touch them (we didn't, though!)...
all the other coffins (not caskets, these are the real deal coffins with
the funky old school coffin shape, which are apparently still in use in
Ireland today... I saw a hearse at a stoplight with one in the back, which
we thought was strange enough considering there are usually curtains in
the back of hearses... maybe it was empty....) probably have mummies in
them too, but since the crypts are still active, they aren't allowed to
excavate them... so that church was the neatest and coolest thing we did
the whole time there... we both agreed!
We found this really cute cafe in the Temple Bar area behind our hostel...
it was called Cafe Irie and I had a Chicken tikka panini and it was SOOO
good... I should mention that food in Dublin in RIDICULOUSLY expensive and
this was one of the cheapest we found... the rest of the evening we hung
out in the hostel and turned in early so we could get up early the next
day...
And the next day, Thursday, we headed out to the Georgian style Merrion
Square... there are hundreds of tulips planted there and it was so
pretty... we wanted to go to the Natural History Museum after that since
we had read about it in our travel guides, but we got there to find out it
was closed... as I yelled through the gate in frustration "WHY IS THE
MUSEUM CLOSED?", two older Irish gentlemen stopped and explained that the
staircase had collapsed about three years ago and the museum has been
closed ever since... blimey! Our next stop was to see the well next to St.
Patrick's Cathedral... we stopped the corner of St. Stephen's Green to
check the map and a dreamy young Irish lad cheerfully offered us his
assistance... after which, as I watched him walk out of my life forever, I
fell slightly in love ... he cruelly continued to haunt my memory... my
almost lover, I never got his name, nor he mine... and what may have been
I will never know...
The well ended up being just a fountain, those Irish quacks who wrote my
guide need a dictionary!!! In the park, though, we did see the ONLY dog in
Dublin... after the first day we realized just how few (zero) dogs we had
seen in comparison to Germany. The next stop after that was the city hall,
which had a less-than-impressive exhibition on the history of Dublin
downstairs. We headed over to Dublin Castle only to find out that due to
governmental business, there were no tours... next door was a great garden
though and I found The Dublin Cat sunning himself peacefully on one of the
benches... he was sweet and he only tried to bite me once, hahaha... he
lives in the hedge and judging by his size, is exceptionally well fed. The
Chester Beatty Library was beautiful... they had a fantastic exhibition on
world religions upstairs that kept me busy reading and perusing for over
an hour. Upstairs they have a Japanese garden providing a great view of
the Castle and the gardens next to it. Down in the lobby of the library we
met a pretty bitter but friendly Irish man who is moving to Panama City,
FL in September because he is "sick of Ireland"... we were hungry and
wanted to leave but he really wanted to chat... he recommended a fish and
chips joint to us but we had the sandwich stuff from the day before still
so we just went back to the hostel to eat where we met two German guys,
one of which was on his way back from a two semester long stay in
Wisconsin... they were interesting, the two, we had some drinks by the
river with them later that evening and just chatted about life and
politics, maybe thats what the Irish do?
Found this really quirky thrift shop in a basement and I found a brown
suede handbag for €10... quite a bargain I say. We then went to the Christ
Church Cathedral, where we did a self-guided tour of the place which had a
LOT to offer... one of the walls, for example, is LEANING about two feet
toward the outside... downstairs in the crypt there are mummified remains
of a cat and a rat who were discovered inside the piping of the organ!
THAT was creepy... the cat still had whiskers!! We returned later that
evening (after enjoying the fine taste of FAT FROG, a green alcoholic
beverage we discovered in the supermarket, and some Cadbury cream eggs,
unknown to the US except around Easter) to the Christ Church to take part
in the Evensong service, so we got to hear the fabulous choir sing
beautiful (albeit boring) music... it lasted about 35 minutes and there
was a lot of sitting and standing, but I really enjoyed it anyway because
somehow it allowed me to cut out other stuff and just sit and listen.
We ate dinner at Eddie Rocket's, which I swear is the EXACT REPLICA of
Johnny Rocket's back home... right down to the menu!!! You have to pay 20
cents a song for the juke boxes, though, and it is WAY more expensive...
we got two burgers and split some cheese fries and it cost over $30!!!
Jenny had never been to a 50's diner though, so it was worth it for her to
have the experience... anyway as I mentioned earlier we had drinks on the
river with the Germans and it was amazing in a crazy way because I looked
at the river once to see that TWELVE swans were swimming in it, they
literally came out of no where and it was breathtaking to see them
swimming around the river in the moonlight!!
The next morning we got up early and took a bus Howth, a suburb by the
sea... it was AWESOME there... we saw the Irish sea, the mist hovering
above it, hiked the trails down the hill and to the port where we saw
seals, some more giant seagulls, and a boat called Dipper... we asked some
locals about the other sights in the area, and we walked up to the ruins
of an old Irish abbey which to me was strangely beautiful in an old Celtic
sort of way... there were so many old graves and it was cramped in the
surrounding cemetery, so much so that there were even graves inside the
actual ruins... we walked down the road to the Howth Castle, which is now
the Transport Museum, where we were met by another babbling Irish guy who
told us to go take a look over the city from the first hole on the nearby
golf course... we trekked up the road and really got a great view of the
sea, littered with sailboats, the port, the castle and even the rest of
the city of Dublin. On our way back a Romanian guy who told us about Jesus
gave us a ride back to the main road (don't worry Mom, there were two of
us and he worked for Enterprise Rent-a-car!
We went back on the bus to Dublin, had lunch for cheap at a nearby cafe
run by Asians, then went to the airport where we caught our flight back to
Düsseldorf... we were tight on time once we got there but I asked the S
bahn driver to wait just one minute, to which he smiled and replied that
he wasn't allowed... but he waited anyway, we think, because he left one
minute later than scheduled, as soon as we got on the train (it pays to be
cute and ask really nicely sometimes in desperate situations...) otherwise
we wouldn't have gotten home for a really long time... 11:30 was late
enough...
That's it for Dublin... in other news, I think I may need glasses, as my
eyes seem to be having trouble focusing and I seem to have "headaches" but
behind my eyes... don't fancy going to an eye doctor here, though... my
computer is still ridiculously slow but in further research I may have
discovered that the problem lies in the FAN... since November or so it has
been constantly running and running and running, but the computer doesn't
get hot... I learned that there may be a lot of dust inside the fan area
which causes this and therefore the computer to slow down and that
cleaning it out may improve things drastically. Of course tomorrow is
Sunday and NOTHING is open tomorrow so I will have to wait until Monday to
do something about it... perhaps get a can of air to blow out myself or
head over to the school to talk to the tech guys, for sure they have
something to take care of it and maybe I won't have to buy anything OR go
into town... I am also translating English to German now, maybe I can
speak this language after all. So far I am two pages in, and it's not even
that hard. Granted, it is definitely not going to be as good a translation
as it would have been had a native done it, but it also doesn't have to
be.... which makes me happy, ha ha...
Next week Kerstin and I are going to Stockholm for a few days...
I apologize also for the delay in getting pictures uploaded, the computers
on campus do not support Facebook uploader anymore for some reason and I
used to take my computer there to do it but since it is now running like
such a turtle, it may be a while... there are lots of pictures coming as
soon as I can get this computer up to speed!!
Caitlin
