Today's adventure was walking down to the Guinness Storehouse. That place puts Red Hook to shame! It's more than 7 floors of awesome. Not really a guide person, but videos and interactive stuff as you go. There's a huge waterfall/fountain, which of course I threw a penny in for my wish :) They teach you the correct way to pour a Guinness - which ironically is not how all of the pubs here pour it - they just pull the tap and go. At the top was the Gravity Bar, where we got our free Guinness and had an amazing view of the whole city. I couldn't drink my whole beer cause I'm just not a Guinness girl, but I got it about halfway down and that's good enough for me. I also got a picture, I think in the same exact spot where Liesl and Reuben took one on their trip, so as soon as I can post pics I'll show you :)
Tonight we're laying low and going to see a movie to save some funds. Laundry cost 10 euro just for one load! It's not a do it yourself place - guess they don't have those around here.
More to come!! :)
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Galway
If only I had known, I would have planned my Ireland portion of vaca in Galway. We rode a bus there (4 hours!) this morning to check it out. The ride there was gorgeous though. The kind of Ireland you see on postcards and in movies set back in the day. Fields that never end, covered in cows, horses and sheep. Rock walls everywhere and trees lining the meadows. I really liked the broken down stone houses. Cemetaries are nutty-looking. A big elaborate headstone, and the ground over the graves are covered in gravel and have a border around them.
We stopped in countless little towns along the way and they were adorable and looked like Strawbery Banke in a way. Galway had lots of shops and restaurants, and is right on the water on the west coast. Beer was SO much cheaper there and the people seemed nicer. Less trash, etc. too. It was just a much more peaceful place and being in my 30's now I think it's more my style :) I bought a claddagh ring today - common, I know, but I got MINE in IRELAND, so there. I also got trinity knot earrings. Good stuff.
The bus ride back was Hellish. Some people here are so inconsiderate and rude...and they think Americans are bad??? This woman in the back wouldn't stop yapping about the new apartment she just rented in Galway. I know her life story now. All of it. And I don't want to know it. Then there was a 5 year old and his dad. "Dad, what town is this?" Dad: "Athlone" Kid: "why?" Dad: "Because that's what they named it." Kid: "Why?" if you can imagine that with ten more "why's" and the dad not seeming to realize that it was a huge annoyance to the rest of us, who were trying to sleep, then you've imagined it right. Then there were the two little girls, I'd guess around 4 and 5, who were with their grandma. They were crying and screaming the WHOLE time. "Grandma, she BROKE my DOLL...uuugggggggggghhhh waaaaah gufffaaaaaw!!!!!" The gramdma didn't give one shit. For a while I didn't know they had an adult on the bus with them. They were also singing some song with lyrics that read "kiss my ass, kiss my butt, from the windooooooooooow to the waaaaaaaaaallll!" I wanted to throw them out the window. I've never seen kids behave so badly. I call them maggots.
Anyway, aside from that, we came back and I was itching for Italian food. We found a place called The Italian Connection around the corner, where they play lots of Pitbull and they have Polish women working there. A little strange, but good food and good wine. We feel a lot better and are going to hit the sack soon. OH I forgot to tell you about the obnoxious Americans who came into our 8 person dorm room last night at 1 am. Two guys and a girl busted in without a second thought about the 4 people already sleeping. They were loud as fuck, excuse my French, and weren't quiet for about an hour. They turned on several lights, ate chips out of loud crinkly bags, and what sounded like milk duds out of a box. They argued about contact lens solution and made out loudly in the middle of the room. Poor Rachel got an eyeful, but I was turned the other way to block the light. I hate the sound of extraneous mouth noises, especially from obnoxious people kissing next to me. They also put their rank sneakers and socks up on the mantle and I could smell them from 5 feet away. We tried to be as loud as possible this morning to get those assholes back. Thank god they were gone when we got back today. Ugh. THAT'S why people here hate Americans.
Tomorrow, the plan is to do laundry, take the Guinness tour, and go see a movie. We are pretty much all set with Dublin and are ready to move on to Brussels!
We stopped in countless little towns along the way and they were adorable and looked like Strawbery Banke in a way. Galway had lots of shops and restaurants, and is right on the water on the west coast. Beer was SO much cheaper there and the people seemed nicer. Less trash, etc. too. It was just a much more peaceful place and being in my 30's now I think it's more my style :) I bought a claddagh ring today - common, I know, but I got MINE in IRELAND, so there. I also got trinity knot earrings. Good stuff.
The bus ride back was Hellish. Some people here are so inconsiderate and rude...and they think Americans are bad??? This woman in the back wouldn't stop yapping about the new apartment she just rented in Galway. I know her life story now. All of it. And I don't want to know it. Then there was a 5 year old and his dad. "Dad, what town is this?" Dad: "Athlone" Kid: "why?" Dad: "Because that's what they named it." Kid: "Why?" if you can imagine that with ten more "why's" and the dad not seeming to realize that it was a huge annoyance to the rest of us, who were trying to sleep, then you've imagined it right. Then there were the two little girls, I'd guess around 4 and 5, who were with their grandma. They were crying and screaming the WHOLE time. "Grandma, she BROKE my DOLL...uuugggggggggghhhh waaaaah gufffaaaaaw!!!!!" The gramdma didn't give one shit. For a while I didn't know they had an adult on the bus with them. They were also singing some song with lyrics that read "kiss my ass, kiss my butt, from the windooooooooooow to the waaaaaaaaaallll!" I wanted to throw them out the window. I've never seen kids behave so badly. I call them maggots.
Anyway, aside from that, we came back and I was itching for Italian food. We found a place called The Italian Connection around the corner, where they play lots of Pitbull and they have Polish women working there. A little strange, but good food and good wine. We feel a lot better and are going to hit the sack soon. OH I forgot to tell you about the obnoxious Americans who came into our 8 person dorm room last night at 1 am. Two guys and a girl busted in without a second thought about the 4 people already sleeping. They were loud as fuck, excuse my French, and weren't quiet for about an hour. They turned on several lights, ate chips out of loud crinkly bags, and what sounded like milk duds out of a box. They argued about contact lens solution and made out loudly in the middle of the room. Poor Rachel got an eyeful, but I was turned the other way to block the light. I hate the sound of extraneous mouth noises, especially from obnoxious people kissing next to me. They also put their rank sneakers and socks up on the mantle and I could smell them from 5 feet away. We tried to be as loud as possible this morning to get those assholes back. Thank god they were gone when we got back today. Ugh. THAT'S why people here hate Americans.
Tomorrow, the plan is to do laundry, take the Guinness tour, and go see a movie. We are pretty much all set with Dublin and are ready to move on to Brussels!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Things we've noticed about Dublin.
Nobody here wears running shoes. What's that about? All the shoes here are uncomfortable flats, boots, funny looking fashion sneakers....anything but running shoes. The style seems to be leggings, skinny jeans, high-waisted pants and anything but sneakers.
We've seen 12 year olds walking the streets with too much make-up on while smoking butts. There are kids in bars at all times.
Bartenders will happily serve visibly inebriated people. People here do not know what a half and half is, and they pour Guinness like it's water - they don't give it time to settle before filling it all the way up.
They know we're tourists right away, but they want to talk to us anyway. They just make fun of us for having too many bags, etc.
When we eventually got up today we decided to go out and get our souvenirs and tried to take the Ghostbus Tour,but it wasn't running today. So we went to a different bar called The Celt where they had live Irish music, but it was so crowded you couldn't even move. We sat at a table with some random people, and a Scottish guy who was so drunk he was basically falling asleep at the table. He told me he was going to get a tattoo tonight, and then go buy a gun. I told him neither of those things were a good idea at the moment. He then told me he loved me and asked me to marry him. His aunt who was sitting next to him told him long distance relationships are hard. :) I laughed at him but told him maybe. We took of shortly after because it was just too much of a shit show for us. We went back to O'Shea's for more live music, and now are back at the hostel almost ready to hit the hay.
Tomorrow we are taking a trip out to Galway to see the other side of this island. We might rent bikes and ride around to check out some castles and beaches and take lots of pictures. Should be fun, so we'll get an early start. This week we'll also take the Guinness tour before we head to Brussels on Thursday. I tried to download pictures but they have these computers rigged to not allow us to do that :(
More to come!! I hope you are all doing okay after the nasty hurricane!
We've seen 12 year olds walking the streets with too much make-up on while smoking butts. There are kids in bars at all times.
Bartenders will happily serve visibly inebriated people. People here do not know what a half and half is, and they pour Guinness like it's water - they don't give it time to settle before filling it all the way up.
They know we're tourists right away, but they want to talk to us anyway. They just make fun of us for having too many bags, etc.
When we eventually got up today we decided to go out and get our souvenirs and tried to take the Ghostbus Tour,but it wasn't running today. So we went to a different bar called The Celt where they had live Irish music, but it was so crowded you couldn't even move. We sat at a table with some random people, and a Scottish guy who was so drunk he was basically falling asleep at the table. He told me he was going to get a tattoo tonight, and then go buy a gun. I told him neither of those things were a good idea at the moment. He then told me he loved me and asked me to marry him. His aunt who was sitting next to him told him long distance relationships are hard. :) I laughed at him but told him maybe. We took of shortly after because it was just too much of a shit show for us. We went back to O'Shea's for more live music, and now are back at the hostel almost ready to hit the hay.
Tomorrow we are taking a trip out to Galway to see the other side of this island. We might rent bikes and ride around to check out some castles and beaches and take lots of pictures. Should be fun, so we'll get an early start. This week we'll also take the Guinness tour before we head to Brussels on Thursday. I tried to download pictures but they have these computers rigged to not allow us to do that :(
More to come!! I hope you are all doing okay after the nasty hurricane!
Day two in Dublin.
The plan for the day was simple - find a consignment shop to get some cool vintage stuff and get lunch at O'Shea's across the street. Turned out very different than that! We went to the pub across the street for lunch and to watch the rugby game, and ended up meeting another American, Rob, from Chicago and his buddy 'Inappropriate Kenny' from Scotland. Then another American, Josh also from Chicago, sat with us. They started buying us beer and that began a debaucherous night that kept going until midnight or so. Inappropriate Kenny was dropping f bombs left and right, and almost starting a bar fight every two minutes. Other than that he was a pretty cool/funny guy! We all made our way to Temple Bar where it was very, very crowded. By this time, another girl named Rachael from Australia joined us, as well as Rowan from New Zealand and Josh's friend Luke. I don't even want to think about how much money Rob spent on us, but at least it wasn't my money!
We decided to head back to the hostel but got lost somewhere along the way. We eventually found our way back,but getting lost in Dublin at 1 am is not a good idea. Just sayin'. Anyway, we don't feel too great this morning, but I guess that's what is supposed to happen when you're on vacation in Dublin :) We are going back to bed. Today's plan is up in the air after that.....
We decided to head back to the hostel but got lost somewhere along the way. We eventually found our way back,but getting lost in Dublin at 1 am is not a good idea. Just sayin'. Anyway, we don't feel too great this morning, but I guess that's what is supposed to happen when you're on vacation in Dublin :) We are going back to bed. Today's plan is up in the air after that.....
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Day one in Dublin
The first day in Dublin was loooooong, but very fun. I'll start from the beginning with our flight over. It was probably the best flight I've ever taken! We flew Aer Lingus - they had a great selection of movies and tv shows on the plane, and they gave us all our own pillows, blankets and headsets. Other airlines make you buy those things. The bathrooms were big enough that you didn't risk landing in the toilet if you move an inch to the left or right. The plan was to sleep the whole way since we'd be landing at 5:15 am and would have to get through the whole day till they let us check into the hostel. So I popped a dramamine...but then got sucked into the movies! I was so tired and drugged up, but had to watch Hanna - the movie about the teenaged assasin :)
We landed in Dublin and got some info from the desk. First off, the American dollar sucks right now, so exchanging our money was not a cool thing. Then the chick at the desk told us that beer is really expensive here! WTF?? Isn't Ireland known for drinking? How can it be when it's sooo expensive to drink? Cost me 4.80 euro for a Smithwicks, which is $6.90 for us. That's like drinking in NYC. grrrr. We found our hostel and stowed our luggage, but then had to go wander around like zombies for the next 7.5 hours before our room would be ready. We got a map and just walked around the city checking things out and taking pictures. I'm looking at this computer and it does look like I'll be able to add pictures later on. There are some pretty sections in Dublin, but I'm actually surprised about how much like NYC it is...minus the tall buildings. It's really dirty. Tons of trash just everywhere, and a lot of homeless people.
There is a section of the city called Temple Bar -about a 3 block section - that is the place to go out if you're young and cool. So of course that was on our list for later. We looked like true American tourists with our backpacks and cameras hanging from our necks, but whatever. Nobody here was awake yet anyway. We eventually got tired of walking and ended up at a pub across from our hostel to chill till we could go in. Got into the hostel and took a much needed nap and a shower. We are in a dorm with 8 beds, and someone is always sleeping, so it's not a 'let's hang out and talk' kind of place. There are 3 empty beds in it though, so it's not overcrowded. I can't help but feel like I'm in some kind of orphanage though :)
We got up around 5:30 (12:30 your time) and went to the pub across the street for some fish and chips and live Irish music, it was really cool. Then we walked through the closed up shopping district to Temple Bar, and picked our poison there. We ordered at the bar and the bartenders didn't know what a half and half was. How can they not know that here? It is half Guinness and half Smithwicks. We had to explain it to them. Oh well, you don't have to tip bartenders here anyway. We ended up meeting this girl Pamela who was sitting next to us. She was from the west coast of Ireland and works at her boyfriend's hotel: http://www.zetland.com/ She was super cool and invited us to take a bus out there this week and stay there a night in the staff quarters for free! So we might just take her up on it since we wanted to see something outside of the city anyway.
We wandered home around 11:30 and crashed hard even though it was like going to bed at 7 pm. Breakfast this morning (free at the hostel) consisted of eggs, toast, hash browns, ham and beans. Good stuff. We might just drift into a food coma and go back to sleep! I think the plan today is to wander around another part of the city and then possibly take a free walking tour....and maybe the ghost bus tour tonight :)
I'll write more tomorrow!!
We landed in Dublin and got some info from the desk. First off, the American dollar sucks right now, so exchanging our money was not a cool thing. Then the chick at the desk told us that beer is really expensive here! WTF?? Isn't Ireland known for drinking? How can it be when it's sooo expensive to drink? Cost me 4.80 euro for a Smithwicks, which is $6.90 for us. That's like drinking in NYC. grrrr. We found our hostel and stowed our luggage, but then had to go wander around like zombies for the next 7.5 hours before our room would be ready. We got a map and just walked around the city checking things out and taking pictures. I'm looking at this computer and it does look like I'll be able to add pictures later on. There are some pretty sections in Dublin, but I'm actually surprised about how much like NYC it is...minus the tall buildings. It's really dirty. Tons of trash just everywhere, and a lot of homeless people.
There is a section of the city called Temple Bar -about a 3 block section - that is the place to go out if you're young and cool. So of course that was on our list for later. We looked like true American tourists with our backpacks and cameras hanging from our necks, but whatever. Nobody here was awake yet anyway. We eventually got tired of walking and ended up at a pub across from our hostel to chill till we could go in. Got into the hostel and took a much needed nap and a shower. We are in a dorm with 8 beds, and someone is always sleeping, so it's not a 'let's hang out and talk' kind of place. There are 3 empty beds in it though, so it's not overcrowded. I can't help but feel like I'm in some kind of orphanage though :)
We got up around 5:30 (12:30 your time) and went to the pub across the street for some fish and chips and live Irish music, it was really cool. Then we walked through the closed up shopping district to Temple Bar, and picked our poison there. We ordered at the bar and the bartenders didn't know what a half and half was. How can they not know that here? It is half Guinness and half Smithwicks. We had to explain it to them. Oh well, you don't have to tip bartenders here anyway. We ended up meeting this girl Pamela who was sitting next to us. She was from the west coast of Ireland and works at her boyfriend's hotel: http://www.zetland.com/ She was super cool and invited us to take a bus out there this week and stay there a night in the staff quarters for free! So we might just take her up on it since we wanted to see something outside of the city anyway.
We wandered home around 11:30 and crashed hard even though it was like going to bed at 7 pm. Breakfast this morning (free at the hostel) consisted of eggs, toast, hash browns, ham and beans. Good stuff. We might just drift into a food coma and go back to sleep! I think the plan today is to wander around another part of the city and then possibly take a free walking tour....and maybe the ghost bus tour tonight :)
I'll write more tomorrow!!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Finally leaving the country for the first time!
Hey everyone! I'm 30 years old and taking a trip outside of the country for the first time. Well, I did go to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls when I was 7 or so, but I don't think that counts. For some reason I have a passport from when I was 5, but didn't use it. I got my current passport 8 years ago, but once again never used it (and my photo is TERRIBLE) until now!
I'm going to Dublin tonight, and then on Sept. 1st I'm going to Brussels. I feel a bit unprepared, but maybe that will make the trip that much more interesting. I will try to write as much as I can during my trip, so try to keep up if you dare!
I'm going to Dublin tonight, and then on Sept. 1st I'm going to Brussels. I feel a bit unprepared, but maybe that will make the trip that much more interesting. I will try to write as much as I can during my trip, so try to keep up if you dare!
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