دبلن - Dublin

Tuesday 7/26

 My trip to Dublin began at 5:30am.  I had a taxi come and pick me up at Hili and take me to the Abu Dhabi airport.  I arrived at the airport at 7:00 and began the check in process.  This was a bit more difficult than usual.  I had booked my ticket with American Airlines since Etihad doesn’t fly from Dublin to the States.  American Airlines and Etihad are now partners, but I’m not really sure that means anything since all American Airlines rules applied.  American only allows 1 checked bag (Etihad 2), and you’re only allowed 23kg vs. 27 on Etihad.  I had planned on checking both of my bags since I was taking my laptop and purse on the plane and that’s all that’s allowed (1 bag and one personal item either a laptop or purse, for a total of 2 carry on items).  I had to do some creative re-packing and I still had to pay for 2kg over the limit.  The one good point was that I was able to get an exit row seat!  Hopefully I will be able to pack better on Thursday so I don’t have to pay an excess baggage fee.  The flight was long and boring, but uneventful and smooth.  8 hours is just a long time to do nothing. 

I arrived in Dublin at 2:30pm and had an easy exit through customs.  Susan had booked business class and had a car waiting to pick her up at the airport and I was able to join her for the ride to the hotel.  The walk to the car was incredible; just nice to be outside and walking and not sweating; very cool and refreshing.  We got to the hotel, which is really a bed and breakfast, around 4:00.  We got refreshed and headed out to do some exploring and find something to eat.  We walked up and down Grafton Street before we had dinner.  Grafton Street was very crowded and busy.  There were street performers all over.  Some playing instruments, some drawing, some just dressed in costumes, and some doing acrobatic stuff.  Dinner was at a nice little local pub and I had fish and chips and they were delicious!  Nice and crispy batter, fresh, clean tasting.  Good dinner.  Susan had a Guinness, but I didn’t.  I wanted my first taste of Guinness to be at the Guinness Factory where it is free.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I was in bed by 9:00.  It was a long day and I was finally getting tired.  I will say that it was quite weird to be going to bed when it was still quite light out.  I’m not used to that; it gets dark around 8:00 in the UAE.

Grafton Street

Wednesday 7/27

I had a great night’s sleep!  It helps to be extremely exhausted.  It was nice to be able to sleep with the windows open as well.  Today started with breakfast at the hotel and then we headed out.  Our plan was to go to Guinness and then see what happens.  We decided to walk to Guinness since it was so nice outside (22 instead of the 45ish that we’re used to).  Our walk to Guinness took us past Christchurch Cathedral.  The church was huge and beautiful. My favorite part was the area where an artist had painted personal aspects of Christ’s life and the people in His life.  The pictures were moving.   It was ancient and I would have loved to go to a service there, but I’m not going to be here on Sunday. 

Christchurch Cathedral

It is nice to be in a country where there are churches on just about every corner instead of mosques.  Churches and pubs.  It’s weird.  One on side of the street there may be a church and then directly across from it there is a pub lined with kegs.  A common site while we were walking was trucks filled with kegs, not camels like in the UAE.  Weird. 

After the Cathedral we made it to Guinness.  The factory had been turned into a storehouse and it was made in the shape of pint; the largest pint in the world.  I am not a beer drinker at all, but I decided to go anyway.  It is a huge part of Dublin so I just had to go.  The tour was pretty interesting, for a tour of beer making.  It showed the ingredients and gave a lot of facts about Guinness.  At the end of the tour we went to the Gravity Bar on the 7^th floor.  The Gravity Bar had awesome views of the city.  The Gravity Bar is also where I was able to get my free pint.  Like I mentioned, I’m not a beer drinker, but I tried.  I think I had 1/3 of it.  I just couldn’t drink anymore, (Ann wasn’t there to make me drink the entire thing).  Sorry to all the Guinness fans who are reading this, but it’s not good at all.  Very pretty looking, but not good tasting.  We got our souvenirs and then had lunch.  I had a very good beef and Guinness stew.  I guess I can handle the Guinness when you cook with it instead of just drink it.  The gravy was awesome.

 

After Guinness we headed to the other side of the Liffey River to see the crypt at St. Michan’s Church.  It was creepy, yet fascinating.  To get to the crypt you had to go under the church through a very old entrance that looked like the storm door in The Wizard of Oz.  The only thing is that only ½ of it opened and it was quite difficult to get down there, the ceiling was very low making it quite a difficult descent for someone of my height.  But it was worth it.  There were 3 uncovered mummies and plenty of graves.  The guy giving the tour was quite funny and animated.  He even acted out how a couple of the rebels died (hung but not to the death, their insides removed and burned in front of them, beheaded, and then cut into 1/4s).  Quite disgusting.  I guess the whole point was to make sure no one else rebelled against England.  Seeing the mummies was not the creepiest part though.  I actually touched one!  Some sort of legend about it bringing good luck.  It was disgusting!  It felt very leathery and you could see the skin.   

Organ at St. Michan's Church

 We left the crypt and headed back to the hotel for some rest; I was feeling queasy and needed to go to the bathroom.  I took some Panadol (UAE Tylenol) and a short nap and then we went out for dinner.  We went to this nice little restaurant and I had a chicken ceaser salad with BACON and gelato for dessert.  YummyJ 

There is quite a difference in temperature during the day and at night.  It was quite nice this afternoon when we were walking.  The sun was out and I even thought it would be weird if I got sunburn in Ireland and not the UAE.  I was not cold at all; that is until we left for dinner.  I brought my sweater just in case and I am glad that I did.  Although with the rain and the sun being gone it was quite chilly.  Yes, it rained but nothing much at all.  Nothing more than what we get in the UAE.  Even though it was chilly it was nice walking in the rain.

Thursday 7/28

Today’s sites included Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and St. Stephen’s Green.  It was quite cold, damp, and windy this morning.  I guess typical Ireland weather, but I wasn’t really prepared for it.  I had to buy a sweatshirt!

We just can’t seem to truly figure out the layout of this city.  We walked down Grafton Street and headed towards Trinity College, but we couldn’t find it so we stopped at the tourism office and asked.  The kind lady told me to look across the street, and guess what it was there!  No sign or anything so I guess you could understand why we didn’t know where it was, but we had literally walked past it 3 times in our attempt to find it.  We walked across the street and entered Trinity College.  Trinity College was a Protestant college; Catholics were not allowed to go there, until 1956.  Today it is fully integrated.  The main reason for the visit to the college was to see the Book of Kells and the library.  The Book of Kells is an artistically decorated copy of the four gospels in Latin.  It dates back to the early 9^th century.  The writing and the pictures are very intricate and detailed.  It was pretty amazing to see something that old.  The long room of the library contains over 200,000 old books and it is still in use today!  There were tons of old medical books dating back to the 1850s.  There were books in the center that were open for display and the walls were lined with books.  You can actually use the books today and you don’t even have to be a researcher or historian or something special.  You just have to have a reason for needing to use the books.  I think it would be pretty neat to open a book that is 150 years old.

Trinity College

From Trinity College we headed to Dublin Castle.  We really only walked the perimeter of the castle since we couldn’t quite figure out how to enter it.  We did see the grounds; which were amazing!  The grass looked beautiful; I wanted to take my shoes off and walk barefoot in it.  The castle is quite weird because part of it is still the castle and yet there are some relatively new parts attached to it.  Parts of the castle are still being used today.

Dublin Castle

St. Stephen’s Green is a park in the center of Dublin.  It is beautiful; lots of trees, and flowers and even a couple of ponds.  It was very nice and relaxing to walk through and see the greenery and then to sit and relax on a bench overlooking the pond.  The son of the founder of Guinness donated the money for the park. 

St. Stephen's Green

In between our visit to Dublin Castle and St. Stephen’s Green we had lunch at another local Irish pub.  I had bangers and mash!  Oh my gosh, it was delicious!  Funny thing is I don’t like mashed potatoes, but these were so smooth and creamy and the gravy was amazing.  It was wonderful to have real sausage as well!  The best meal I’ve had so far!

My vacation ends tonight.  Dublin is a great city and if I had more time I would love to venture out of the city and see the typical Irish scene of green rolling hills and sheep.  But alas I do not have enough time as tomorrow I head HOME!  My henna is fading; I do not like thatL