The 20 Mile Walking Tour – June 27th

Our first full day in a city! Yayyy….

We slept for like 8 hours last night and were still exhausted when we woke up. So tired. After we finally got up and got dressed, we journeyed over to the shopping center across the street to take advantage of the free wi-fi (unfortunately it was slow and my battery was dying, which is why none of these have actually been posted so far – in case you’re wondering, I’m typing whenever I get some time, but I don’t actually have internet so I’ll probably post like a ton at one time). After using the internet, we tossed our computers back in our room, then set out for a fun day of adventure in Dublin J

We walked by/through St. Stephen’s Green – an awesome park- and were making our way to the art museum when we passed a cool looking building. We happened to stop and ask what it was, and found out it was the Taoiseach’s office - basically the Prime Minister of Ireland. It happened to be open for free tours, and the tour guide invited us to join in, so we did. It was really cool. We learned a lot about Irish government and history.

Afterward, we made it to the art museum as planned. The National Gallery of Ireland, to be exact. It was amazing. A huge collection of Irish painters, but some others as well. A wonderful Picasso, a Monet, Goya, and El Greco. Pretty cool.

After the museum we grabbed sandwiches from a café on the street…mine was delicious. Chicken, bacon, lettuce, and like…garlic mayonnaise? I don’t know. It was delicious though. But expensive. As is everything.

While we were at the Taoiseach’s office we also learned that the house of parliament just happened to be open for public tours today. It only opens up maybe once or twice a year. We found the building and the people working were really nice and grabbed us tickets and showed us right in. While standing in line, we got started talking to an older couple behind us in line – okay, so what we were doing was actually a lot more awesome than we originally thought. Apparently, only 8000 tickets were offered for these tours of the buildings, and otherwise the public is not allowed inside the buildings. The tickets got snatched up within a day. They made people who wouldn’t be able to attend send back their tickets though, and those are the tickets we managed to get. So, that was really cool. The people we were talking with also taught us a lot about Irish history and government, especially compared to the US. Don’t laugh at me if you think this sounds boring…because it was not. Not a bit. We saw stuff that most Irish people don’t even get to see. And we learned a lot. It was cool. Very.

After our journey through parliament, we finally headed to our next planned stop of the day – Dublin Castle. It was the original city center, back in the day. Of course, it was a nice long walk to get there, and then we got lost, well – sort of. We couldn’t find the entrance. We eventually made it though, and were able to rest a bit before touring the castle. We even got to see the parts of the castle that are still standing and have been there since the 1200’s, as well as the river that used to be the moat for the city but now is completely underground.

Finally, we headed to Christ Church. We thought we would make it in time to tour, but we got there right at 5:00pm, which is when Evensong starts. So we went to that instead. Anna is Episcopalian, so it was totally normal for her, but new to me. But it was really interesting, and a great way to get to see the church as well. Except I wasn’t such a fan of the incense…I was a bit light-headed at the end. Also, today was the last day of gay pride week and culminated in a huge parade and festival (which was pretty awesome to see, to say the least)…and while they were saying the nice long prayer in the church, the artist playing at the festival definitely covered Kings of Leon “Sex on Fire”. That was weird. (Oh, at the bar last night I definitely met a huge Kings of Leon fan. It was great. EVERYONE listens to American music).

After Evensong, we strolled along the river a bit, then Anna had a crepe at a café. We finally made it back to the hotel to rest for a bit, but not before I stopped at a market to buy a Bulmer’s Cider. Bulmer’s is made in Ireland and is really popular, but I didn’t want to buy it at a restaurant or bar and not like it, since it’s so much more expensive there. I definitely liked it though. It’s just like drinking apple juice!

After a bit of rest we got ready and headed back out for the night – back to the temple bar area. We had Turkish kebobs for dinner, and I tried lamb for the first time. It was actually delicious. After walking through temple bar a bit, we ended up back at the actual Temple Bar, where we happened to run into Max’s football team from last night minus Max. The guys remembered us though, so we hung out with them for a bit. Highlight of the evening – they wanted to go somewhere less crowded but I still had like two-thirds of my pint left. They told me to just finish it…so I did, and they definitely did this great German cheer thing. It was absolutely hilarious, and apparently I earned a great deal of respect for being able to finish a Heineken like that (although I swear the beer here has lower alcohol content or is watered down or something.)

Anyway, we journeyed up the street, stopping to talk to people and check out hen parties and street artists. It was quite hilarious. When I have my hen party, I’m definitely making t-shirts, as everyone does here. But no one is wearing tu-tus because that’s just unfortunate looking. Also, I decided I want to be married in the National Gallery – it has the most perfect place. Haha. I guess I would actually have to agree to get married to do all of that though.

We ended up at a different pub down the street, but it wasn’t as much fun and the guys weren’t as much fun, so we left and went back to Temple Bar for a couple of Bulmer’s and some people watching, which was lots of fun. Although the curse of the creepers definitely continues. Good thing I’m used to it.

We called it a bit of an early night since we were exhausted from walking around so much today and have a lot we want to do tomorrow. It was quite a fun evening though. My computer is still on home time…it’s hard to believe it’s only 6:21 while I’m typing this, it’s 20 after midnight here.

My favorite new words: fortnight, queue, and cheers.

We are future expatriates in the making…why does anyone live in America when being abroad is so much fun?

Off to sleep for a bit before an excited day of sightseeing, shopping, and checking out the Guinness factory tomorrow!

Instead of comments about my tan…I bring you…the INTERNATIONAL CREEPER COUNT! Woo!! Okay…let’s see. Cedric the Parisian, creepy local who wants to hook up with foreign girls, roughly the entire German football team save a few, the guy who propositioned me while waiting outside the bathroom, add a couple randoms throughout the bar, guy with indistinguishable accent who randomly grabs me while we’re walking through the crowded bar and starts talking to me, the Italian guy who I started talking to who then proceeded to grope Anna’s leg and invite us to a party at some flat, and the guy I bumped into leaving…”Oh, I’m sorry.” “Not as sorry as I am, stay here with me..” Round it off to around 10 so far. Awesome.

Raise a glass of Bulmer’s! Cheers J