I travelled with 4 other people: my roommate Lindsey, Kayla, Lauren, and Angelo. We took a 4 hour train (it was cheaper) to Rome, which then we took a bus to the airport, waited 6 hours (our flight got delayed by 2 hours) hopped on a 3 hour plane ride to Dublin. It was a long travel day, but the end result was so worth it. If anyone knows me well enough, Ireland is one of my favorite places in the entire world. I got the chance to visit with my mom and sister in June of 2006, and it was one of the most memorable trips of my life. I'm so glad that I was fortunate enough to come back, 5 years later :)
The trip started out perfectly with the simple cab ride to our hostel. Our Irish driver told us all the "hot spots" to go, and then proceeded to tell us all about his weekend trip to London to a funeral where we got drunk because "that's how the Irish do it...it's FECKING mad!" Oh Lord. How can you not love these people? Anyways, he was quite friendly and gave us a discount on the ride. I remember coming to Florence for the first time, and the Italian cab driver hardly said two words to me, except correct my mispronunciation of my street name. I'm not kidding when I say Italians are snobs, and the Irish are the friendliest people you will ever meet.
Anyways, we got into our hostel at 12:30AM (due to late plane) and this place reminded me so much of my dorm from freshman year of college. It was all "hip" and geared towards American students, clearly. I can't complain though, the staff was friendly, the facilities were awesome, it was super cheap, and only a 10-13 minute walk away from the main part of town, AND 2 seconds away from the Jameson Distillery. Perfect. The next day we woke up, and I realized I had an infection (not pink eye, but close enough) in my eye, so it was glasses time for me. :( We prepared our day with some traditional Irish breakfast at a pub called the Boar's Head, and at 11AM everyone was drinking a pint. I slightly celebrated 11/11/11 at 11:11AM by taking a picture of the time and my breakfast, whoop whoop! After that, we walked around Dublin. It was a perfect Irish rainy day, except by perfect I mean terribly annoying. My umbrella broke, I wasn't wearing the right shoes (but then again, I never do...), and my glasses kept fogging up. I was struggling, to say the least. Luckily, we managed to get out of the rain by heading to Trinity College, one of the oldest universities in Europe (established by Queen Elizabeth 1). I fell in love with the campus, and I learned that they have excellent law school and historic preservation programs! Hmmm.... :) Anyways, the main purpose for this visit was to see the Book of Kells, another thing on my Art History bucket list. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. It's considered one of Ireland's national treasures, and I got to see it! The college created a mini exhibit, explaining the history, techniques, and other facts/tidbits about monks and illuminated texts at the time. The book itself is in a highly preserved case, and no pictures were allowed! I managed to sneak one in of descriptions of decorated letters in the text...not very exciting. We also saw the famous hallway of the library, with many famous books and texts. They had on display one of the original proclamations from the Rebellion of 1916, which was so exciting to see because I wrote my HL European History paper on that topic! It was so warm and cozy inside, and it definitely made me rethink some future plans I may have with art history/preservation.The rest of the day followed with more wondering around Dublin, mostly trying to get our bearings down, and visiting multiple pubs, as that seems to be the highlight of Ireland.
I miss the Irish pubs. Like Oktoberfest, it felt like the happiest place in the world. Yes, I know it involves alcohol, but here in Europe it feels much more than that. There's a sense of community, pride, and an overall positive attitude that makes you realize that it won't be a bad night. The people are some of the nicest I have ever met in my life. Makes up for the nasty teeth I suppose. I especially loved the pubs with live music, because everyone was dancing, singing, laughing, and enjoying the environment. The singers will actually sing to you, dedicate songs to people in the crowd, and make everyone laugh. Funny enough, I actually knew almost every single song the performers would sing due to the fact I bought an "Irish Drinking Songs CD" 5 years ago at an "Everything is 2 euro" store. That made my time extra exciting as I was able to belt out "Whiskey in the Jar," "Cliffs of Doneen," "The Wild Rover," and "Galway Girl."
Saturday was an early one, as we decided to go on a day trip all over the countryside and to the Cliffs of Moher. We had a hilarious tour guide with much Irish pride, historical facts, and advice/tips for things to do in Ireland. Some things I learned from him...
1. Craic = An Irish term for "having fun," and it's pronounced like "crack" (yes, like the drug). For example, I was craicin' around in Dublin this weekend. Or, "what's the crack?" as in what's going on, what's happening, etc.
2. Feck = Surprisingly, it's not what you think it means, but it sounds awfully close! :) It's more of an emphasis word, like "very," "really," or as people in New England say "wicked." It's not really seen as a naughty word like the other "F" word is.
3. J.R.R. Tolkien (author of Lord of the Rings) would escape to the Cliffs of Moher on a yearly basis to collect his thoughts and write. There are two small ruins in the area, and supposedly he got inspiration for the title "The Two Towers" from this area.
4. The Princess Bride and Harry Potter 6 both had scenes filmed at the Cliffs of Moher!
5. Parts of Braveheart and 300 were filmed outside of Dublin.
6. People who lived in the Burren area especially suffered during the potato famine.
7. Frederick Douglass (African American activist who wanted to free the slaves Civil War era) escaped to Limerick at times to relax and collect his thoughts.
8. Bono usually stays in a fancy hotel called The Clarence right by the river. The lights in his room are purple.
9. Ireland produces 45% of Europe's beef.
10. Ireland has 10 out of 15 of the world's most famous and best golf courses.
....And much more. It was such a wonderful day. Although it started out way early, we got to see the sunrise and arrive to the Cliffs with the most perfect weather. It was moderately warm, not so windy, and just pleasant. The sun was out and I took the most beautiful pictures I think I've ever taken. I was the happiest girl at those cliffs, and I did not want to say goodbye. The funny thing is, it's my second time going to the cliffs (I went 5 years ago with my mom and sister) and back then, you could easily hang off the edge if you wanted to! Now that there has been so many deaths (both accidental and purposeful) they have created a barricade so you cannot cross it. However, I still decided to cross over (oops) and take pictures, which ended up turning out perfect. We left the cliffs (sniff sniff) and headed towards Doolin, where I had an amazing Irish lunch: stuffed chicken, taters, beats, and other things. It was extremely satisfying. We continued to drive to other places, such as the Barren (part of Ireland completely made up of rock, it used to be below sea level), Galway Bay, some ruins of an abbey, and more countryside. It was a perfect day weather-wise, sightseeing-wise, and Irish wise. We got back around 7:30PM, and headed off to another night of Irish pubs.
Sunday was filled with alcoholic drinks and learning. Yes, you read that right!
We visited the Jameson distillery, the Guinness Storehouse/Brewery, and went to the oldest pub in Ireland. It was such a great and fasniating day. I learned so much about how to brew alcohol, what it means to distill the water (make it sweeter), why storage and aging is so important, and how this has had a huge cultural and economic impact on Ireland. Both places had really great and interactive exhibits, and I highly recommend them to anyone who goes to Dublin. The Jameson Distillery was a guided tour, while the Guinness Brewery was an individual tour. Both were very different in their own way, and yet I learned so much from each establishment. I got to be a whiskey taste tester at the Jameson museum, in which I had to compare the differences between Jonnie Walker whiskey (distilled twice), Jack Daniel's (distilled once, which I think is why it tastes awful) and Jameson (distilled twice). I liked the Jameson better by far, and at the end I got a certificate! The Guinness Brewery was a blast. The museum itself is shaped as the world's largest Guinness glass, and at the bottom you can see the lease that Arthur Guinness signed to keep the establishment for 9,000 years. Again, I learned a lot about production, storage, the history, advertisement, how to pour a perfect Guinness, and cultural impact. At the end of the tour, there is a bar on the rooftop which shows a 360 degree view of Dublin. We timed our stay there perfectly, because once we got to the top to claim our free pint, we were able to watch the sunset over a gorgeous view of Dublin. I'll never forget that moment. Once our stay was done, we headed back to the Brazenhead pub for another night of cracin' around, involving life talks, meeting new friends, laughing, and singing drinking songs with the old Irish bartender (who looked an awful lot like Dennis Hopper).
Monday was the day to say goodbye. :( It was a long and tedious travel day: bus to Dublin airport, waiting around, plane to Rome, bus to train station, waiting around while almost getting robbed (no worries, nothing was stolen and everything/everyone is fine), and taking a sketchy night train back to Florence. It was hard for me to say goodbye to this country I have always loved and to come back to Italy, where no one speaks English, everyone thinks you're annoying because you're an American, and you almost get robbed. I'll get over it...it's Italy after all :) I am so lucky I got to take this trip, because it was definitely the best weekend I have had since I've been in Europe. There is no doubt that I am definitely coming back to Ireland someday, and hopefully for a long while.
And know for the moment I know you all have been waiting for...picture time! I promise they won't disappoint.
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| 11/11/11 at 11:11AM...Irish breakfast and tea in Dublin! |
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| Rainy day in Dublin |
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| Book of Kells exhibit |
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| Trinity College |
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| Temple Bar area, Guinness ad! |
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| My first pint of Guinness! So delicious. |
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| Me and Irish singer guy in a pub |
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| Fish and chips!! Mhmm |
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| Countryside |
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| Happiest girl |
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| The Barren |
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| Celtic crosses |
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| Old abbey |
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| Jameson Distillery |
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| Guinness Brewery |
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| How the storehouse is shaped |
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| Top of Guinness Storehouse, just in time for the sunset |
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| Dublin is perfect |
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| The Brazen Head, oldest pub in Ireland |
Ciao!
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