So the first day was the flight there. It was an overnight flight so I didn't technically arrive in Ireland until Friday morning. The flight was pretty nasty though...I lost my baggage claim tickets and my boarding pass for my connecting flight but luckily I was able to find the boarding pass on the bathroom floor later. Close call.
First impressions of Ireland: It smells like a big giant ashtray, people are ridiculously friendly...and girls get called 'chickens'. I think it might be a pickup line. Marty Mcfly would have a throwdown if he was a girl in Ireland.
I rented a car at the airport (I was gonna get a manual because of how much cheaper but then I started getting really nervous about the whole driving on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road thing). Got an automatic instead =) It was crazy how much they tacked on for insurance though! Apparently accidents happen all the time in Ireland and they don't have enough people to divide up the cost so it jacks up insurance prices. So I guess Irish are like Asians in a weird way =) JK. Anyway, the driving ended up being a little easier than I expected. Most of the time I'm just following the guy in front of me though instead of watching the stoplights. Honestly, the rules are different with other side (like rights of ways and stuff) and if I worked for Thrifty, I wouldn't have rented me a car. Hell no.
I ended up staying at the Abraham House Hostel. Caroline, you would have hated it =) The house was ridiculously old and they put me in the last bed which was in this 10-girl en suite on the top floor and in the back corner (but it was only 15 euros and I actually liked the communal feel of the house). All the girls are so friendly though. I had a blast meeting them. A few of them are foreign exchange students (from France and Germany) that are going to stay in Dublin for the semester and are just temporarily at the hostel while they look for a more permanent housing. One of the girls, Bernice, and I went to Temple Bar area (the party area) at night. To all the OCC-ers, especially Kanin...I went to the Auld Dubliner in Dublin!! =) They kinda look the same. You gotta give credit to the Dubliners in Irvine for giving it a pretty authentic feel. The only difference is in Dublin, the entire bar is full of Kanins (aka a total and complete lush, hee hee!)
So Dublin itself is a pretty awesome city! It's a walking city so through the course of the day, I pretty much walked everywhere.
- Trinity College: That was the first place I looked for. Got completely lost. Pretty much I realized that Ireland doesn't use street signs. I had two maps with me but it still didn't help cuz I never knew where I was. Anyway, I finally found the Book of Kells, which is this book of 4 gospels that's over 1000 years old.
- St. Stephens Green: This one was per Neeraj's suggestion. It looked like Central Park to me.
- Oldest Recorded House in Dublin: It's now a pub. This sweet old man bought me a pint of Guiness!
- St. Patricks Cathedral: Big church...really big
- Christ Church Cathedral: Both of these churches are in the Cathedral District...surprisingly.
- Dublin Castle: Pretty anticlimactic. It didn't really look like a castle except for one castle drum on the side. I'm sure it would have been better if I paid the admission to walk inside but I was too cheap.
- St. Audoens Gate/City Walls: The walls that used to surround Dublin.
- O'Donovan Rossa Bridge
Anyway, that was the first day! The second day, I drove Bernice to the airport so that we could pick up her friend Ellie. They also rented a car so we caravaned over to the Galway with a little stopover in Kilkenny. I had the GPS so I was leading but my stupid GPS loves ridiculously small streets. At one point we drove THROUGH a medieval cathedral. There were 10 ft stone walls on either side of us with only a few feet of clearnace on each side. It would have sucked if a car came at us but then again, I don't think any of us were supposed to be driving through that cathedral to begin with. The stop at Killkenny was worth it though! We got to stop through super cute towns and see the real Ireland. Lots of backroads and small streets.
Now we're in Galway! We got in last night and then went out to the Skeff for drinks. We met and hung out with some guys from a batchelor party. Random observation: There are way more men than women here in Ireland. They were hilarious...I now know what Sheepshagging is (along with tips on how to do it) I think they were joking...maybe.
Today, we took a little day trip to the Cliffs of Moher today and hung out around the Burren area. We tried to get a ferry to the Aran Islands but we missed the last ferry so it'll have to be saved for another Ireland trip like Northern Ireland. Tomorrow, we'll head over to Connemara and maybe do some hiking before we have to head on back to Dublin. Bernice and Ellie have to catch their flight back to London at 7 and my show at the Abbey is at 8. Whew! Lots to do! Talk to you soon!
