Don't worry, I did not ask an Irish Person to say "Top of the morning to you" although they should for the tourists. This blog post comes from one of the first days I met Kevin and I asked him to say something really Irish and he asked me for an example and before I could say "Magically delicious" (which is also a little wrong to ask but I felt like it would be less insulting to ask that because I was betting that they did not have Lucky Charms in Ireland but anyway) he stopped me to say "Oh and Irish people do not say top of the morning to you'". And I was like, that didn't even cross my mind, although technically he still said it to tell me that Irish people don't say it.
On one of my days in Ireland I asked Kevin if I looked like a tourist. He said yes, that my skin tone gives me away. And I laughed because much of my friends and family would say I was light compared to them. Although I have a tan now, I still think I'm pretty light but in Ireland I'm dark. I even noticed it as we were walking around.
Anyway, I really liked Dublin. The city feels really young, is not too big but not too small. It really just has a calming/welcoming feeling. Kiah and I have already discussed returning next summer as we both would like to continue our travels abroad. What I forgot to say about Ireland previously is that they are like the UK and drive on the opposite side of the road. Having only seen this in Ireland I was totally tripping out and just kept constantly looking both ways so I wouldn't die. In Dublin, as you are crossing the streets, they have in white painting either look left or look right for people such as myself that are not used to looking to the other side of the street upon crossing. Thank God for those signs. Although, if you are like me and have been drinking, those signs mean nothing. On our first night out, I had to hold on to Kevin because I was not going to be able to cross those roads by myself and survive.
Oh yeah....it makes sense but no one ever mentions it...there is a river that runs smack in the middle of Dublin. Yes, I should have assumed there was a river as it is an older city, with a lot of history and they needed it for transport and etc. but NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THE RIVER. Not only is there a river, but they have canals that connect to the river. Yes, I know, it seems so obvious but it should have been mentioned in pictures or in a sentence such as "as you cross the river" or "as you cross one of the bridges" but nope, never been mentioned.
On our first day in Dublin we arrived by bus in the early evening and then went to a pub to get a drink. We walked through the really touristy part of Dublin and found something more off the beaten track to get a drink and watch Gaelic/Irish Futbol. When Kevin first told me about it, I was like "Yes, I want to watch that" because that is so cool and cultural and I had NO idea that such a thing existed. It is played between the different counties in Ireland. It played with 15 players on each team on a soccer type of field and the players have to score by either kicking it over the goal posts like in American football and they get one point or kicking it through the goal posts and they get 3 points. they can carry, bounce, throw, kick, pass or solo which is a drop of the ball and a toe-kick back up into their hands. It was kind of cool and really past paced. I really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. I mean, come on, I'm in Ireland at a pub watching an Irish game with Irish people, totally cool. We went to a couple of more pubs (and is it bad if I can't remember what we ate?) and spotted out some Starbucks to go to in the morning and went back to the hostel to sleep.
The next day, we did more the touristy things, walked the river, walked up and down the touristy areas, got my Starbucks (yes, yes, I did get my frappe), walked by St. Patrick's Cathedral, went to Stephen's Green, went to Trinity College (totally beautiful, I would love to work there) where there was this spinning golden statue and my Star Wars reference was lost and I was sad.
For those of you that don't know, I started collecting Harry Potter books from different countries in different languages as kind of my souvenirs from where I traveled to. I told Kevin I wanted a Harry Potter book in Irish and he didn't think they existed. I looked it up and they did. Although when I did further research in the morning of our second day, I found out that some of the corporations that do this are not in Ireland. One is in the United States! Buying one from the US would not satisfy me. So I decided to look at the covers and if they were different then to buy one cause it'll work. Anyway, we found paperbacks that had totally cool covers and none I had seen before. I got the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince one because on the cover were the Cliffs of Moher and that just fit the whole Irish theme and Irish book so I was pretty happy. As I pointed out a book, Kevin points out the Harry Potter books next to the book I originally pointed out that was in IRISH! Now I had a dilemma. Which book?! They both fit perfectly so what did I do? I got both of course! I was in love with both of them too much to put one back.
This probably will not help anyone but I'm going to throw in this little blurb because if you know me, you know this is totally my style and it'll also give you a better idea about my Irish friend. Earlier in the week, I had asked Kevin one of my favorite questions. Who would play you in the movie of your life? And I was surprised I hadn't asked him before. But anyway, at first we came up with Justin Timberlake, Neil Patrick Harris and people like that. No one we were completely satisfied with so the question still hung in the air. As we were walking around and waiting for the rain to subside we walked into a CD/Movie store. I don't remember what movie it was but he turns to me and says "Jude Law. Jude Law would play me." And as I had just seen the same movie title, I thought the same thing. I don't know if we ever came to a conclusion for me but I would like to think Tina Fey and I'm going to pretend that was our conclusion.
So as previously mentioned, I love Harp. It is one of my favorite beers and I didn't think it would be hard to find in Ireland since its an Irish beer. But of course, it was. I wanted to go to a pub and listen to an Irish band play Irish music so we went to the touristy area of Dublin known as Temple Bar (there is also a bar named Temple Bar which I will soon mention) to have our beers and listen to music. The first pub we went into was crowded. Not only for the music but because Ireland was going to be on the TV in the Olympic sport of boxing. But as I was looking for seats or a place to stand....low and behold there was Harp! So we had to stay of course and have a pint or 2. And to be quite honest, Kevin and I weren't overly loud or talkative or that energetic but I just had so much fun being there and people watching and just in a pub with Irish people enjoying Irish beer and music. After our pints, we went to THE Temple Bar. This is a bar that is so photographed and is like the representative place for the whole area and we were trying to find out why this one pub was so popular and everything kind of circled around it. The only thing we found out was that its big, (they also had Harp) expensive, and know for their Whiskey,...and that was it. I think people were in there like we were, "why are you famous Temple Bar? Let's go in and see." But it was still fun despite the costs.
I would have to say that my second day in Dublin might probably have been my favorite day abroad. Despite being the first day that I wanted to text people back home sooooo badly and starting to get homesick, it was just a good day with my Harry Potter books, the Irishness and just being with someone you like to be with. The day wasn't too tiring or too touristy, it was just a good day.
Thank you Kevin and thank you Ireland!
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