Dublin day 1
Dublin day one
Monday May 17, 2010
Yesterday morning being the stubborn individual I tend to be I awoke at 6am to catch the 8am bus back to Dublin. Which ultimately I sort of regretted. The first thing was getting on the bus in time which was just stressful on getting myself together and going and a mild fear considering some of my luck in recent history. I did catch the bus in perfect time and settled in for a comfortable, quiet and peaceful 4.5 hour ride to Dublin. I was however very mistaken on this due to the just wonderful man sitting behind me. He was for some reason or another going to Dublin to see an ex-girlfriend or lover or whatever it was. So instead of calmly calling her to tell her what was up and begging her politely to see him, he spent a good three hours on the phone yelling at her, calling her a whore, slut, prostitute and many other things that I prefer to forget. It’s the only time in my life that anyone in such a mood has bothered me so much. He kept throwing his phone for a while, putting the people on the other end on speakerphone so everyone could hear whatever they were going on about and making a miserable experience for everyone. The bus driver had to even threaten to call the police or Garda here in order to shut him up or rather knock him down a couple decibels. He did quiet down where the front of the bus couldn’t hear him but us in the back got to hear everything he was going on about and I think all af about 10 of us really wish to forget this particular bus ride.
Once arriving in Dublin I felt much safer and calmer and headed to my hostel along the river side and through the temple bar district. Where I got turned around due to a crappy map in my tour book but found it anyway. Where I was greeted by a very friendly young man at the front desk and dropped my luggage and went off to explore bits of the city.
My first stop was “Dublinia” a more or less living history museum on viking and medieval Dublin. With mass amounts of information on the life and times and great real life displays and mannequins. I really had a great time exploring I felt like a little kid because of the hands on of it all but it was great! Very informative very fun and well worth the entrance fee, oh and I learned vikings used moss as toilet paper (why this particular points sticks in my mind I’ve no idea).
After Dublinia I made my way to the book of Kells before it closed for the day. It was a heavy fee of 9euros for entrance and it was great to see the manuscripts with in depth histories and descriptions. I was not however happy with the people working pushing everyone through to get out right at 4:30 it really irritated me to have paid that much and to not get to thoroughly take in the whole display. I couldn’t really do anything about it so I moved along after seeing what I simply “had to” to be content.
On a note, Dublin may seem a huge big massive overwhelming large European city but this is not true in the least. It’s really quite small you can walk from one end to the other of the city center in about half an hour or less. So it’s really manageable for tourists and easy to walk. Buses and not needed in the least and Dublin even has a great bike rental service!
As many of you well know I am a book junky I read and read and read and I can thank my mom for all of this obscure obsessive behavior. Therefore I have many favorite writers and Oscar Wilde is one of them! So, Dublin is his birthplace and thus the city really embraces him and his genius. So I went to Marrion Square not far from Trinity College to find the statue commemorating him! Then right across the street is a plaque marking where he once lived! So I was a bit giddy getting to see all of this made a very happy end to my sight seeing.
While heading back to the hostel I bought some cheese and rice cakes and had a bit of a picnic and then wandered to Grafton street where some of the BEST street performers I have seen all trip. They were simply a drum group but so good and so passionate at their craft they gained about a crowd of 100 people watching and egging them on! It was amazing and I would have bought their DVD but it likely wouldn’t work at home due to this charming thing of making DVD’s different for each world zone.
After the musical interlude it was back to the hostel for a rest before going out to the evening where I met the very upset Ariane from Washington state. Who was stuck in Dublin due to this nasty little ash cloud so over a couple of hours I talked her into cheering up and walked her through getting a ferry and train to Oxford. I guess so many people are stranded yet again tensions and emotions run wild and it’s rather hard to cope with it all. I wish her the best and hope to keep in touch with her, she’s living in Germany with family for a while along with traveling here and there. It’s a bit hard for her to cope with it all and I can totally understand, I think I simply bottle everything negative I’m feeling and will soon probably have a break down much the same but I’m hoping to avoid such an episode by staying positive and hopeful.
Now I do like night life quite a bit and in Ireland it’s a lot of fun, though for a person winging it solo can be mildly stressful and sometime upsetting. Last night I went out about a quarter to 10pm to find some music and fun along Temple Bar, finally stopping at THE TEMPLE BAR for some as advertised entertainment. I also was able to get an Irish coffee which was enjoyable but very strong at the end! After a while I was talking to two men from New York, brothers one of which was on business and the other tagging along. We had a nice discussion for a couple hours on this and that and it was again a great meeting of fellow adventurers as I have had so many great experiences with! However after they left and right as I was hoping to leave then came the annoying drunk men. I simply wanted to finish listening to the live bands rendition of “let it be” when this very drunk man offered to take my picture for me on my camera which I was fine with. Many people have done this and I thought nothing of it until he started asking me to stay with him and not go home to America and kept grabbing me into him. I don’t feel he was a mean or pushy individual it was just awkward because he was so intoxicated and I just simply told him I had to go I was tired and lied about having a friend and boyfriend waiting for me at the hostel. I was then confronted by an Irish guy who was drunk as well, and went on and on how Americans love the Irish and kept kissing my hand. Eventually I weaved out of the crowd and went back to the hostel only about 4 doors away from the bar. Where I happily crawled into bed after talking to my fellow room mates, American boys studying in Austria. Also stuck due to the lovely ash cloud and missing finals.
This morning I am tired and will be going back to bed for an hour before hitting the sights of Guinness brewery and writers museum. I may even venture so far as to rent a bike for the day making it quicker and funner to see the sights.
I’ll soon update more.
Slainte’
Rebecca Robinson 
“Bring out your dead”
Christ Church Cathedral
My Irish coffee
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