The First Days--Dublin

Immediately upon arrival, we dropped our bags off in the hotel lobby and went to the local mall. On the way there Jim thought it would be funny to pull my braids, but then when I flailed helplessly, dropping and breaking my sunglasses, I accidentally whapped Jim in the nose. The beeling stopped eventually, but it was a tad messy. Lunch was pizza in the food court with Jim, and then a gander through Tesco, the local grocery store.

Before we could check into our hotel, we spent the entire afternoon in Dublin's Temple Bar district. It is this little area of town just south of the River Liffey with a bunch of shops and pubs. We were given a little over 3 hours of free time, so Maggie, Holly, and I roamed about, and visited the Anglican cathedral, Dublin Castle, and statue of Molly Mallone, the famous Irish fishmonger. By the time we met up at the restaurant I was exhausted. But my hunger was stronger so I made my way up the stairs and sat down at the coolest table ever. Seriously, this table sat four and was very small, but portruding from the center of the table was a beer tap, serving Guinness and Carlsburg's. Obviously we didn't drink, but were you to pour yourself some beer, the tab was shown on the tap, and the charge went to the table. It was cool!

I wish I could say such wonderful things about the food. Corned beef stew.

The three of us finished out eveing in the hotel watching the top ten greatest Michael Jackson videos, but we only caught the last six. I was surprised that they played the entire video for Black and White, which came in 3rd and was about 10 minutes long, but they cut the Thriller video short. The number one video should not be the video that gets cut.

We began our second day in Dublin with a bus tour given by a local guide, followed by a picnic in St. Stephen's green and visits to the Book of Kells. St Stephen's green is a small park in the center of Dublin, and while we ate, a riot broke out just outside the entrance where we sat. Apparently it was a protest against some bank. What I thought was funny was how somebody sang "This land was made for you and me" but changed the lyrics to fit Ireland.

This land is your land
This land is my land
From the Dublin City
To the Aran Islands
All the way from Galway
To the Channel waters
This land was made for you and me

Friday was also some sort of Zombie Day. People throughout the city made their way to St. Stephen's green dressed as zombies, and from there they marched around the park and through the town. It was strange, but all of you in Seattle will be having a zonbie march on Sunday I believe. So prepare.

The book of Kells is translation of the four Gospels into Gaelic, and dates back hundreds of years. Seeing it was pretty cool, but the coolest part about Trinity College, where the Book is, was the fantastic library with over 200,000 of Ireland's oldest books, arranged by size. It was overwhelming.

Dinner at the pub was really good. We had beef, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. I liked it.

And thus were my first two days in Ireland.