Upon arriving in Dublin I checked in at my hostel which was quite garish looking called “Paddy’s palace.” I did not take pictures of it but imagine a huge grinning leprechaun complete with pipe on the side of a building. Some of you may be wondering what would possess me to stay at said hostel. Three words. Free airport shuttle. When I made the reservations online the only thing available was a 12 bed dorm, umm not looking for 11 new friends at this point so upon inquiry at the front desk I was able to secure a 4 bed dorm that for my first night was empty! Hooray! Push button showers? So not hooray.
After checking in it was time to do some serious shopping. I needed a suitcase as I knew there was no way my backpack was under 20 kilos (44 lbs) which was the weight restrictions set forth by Aer Lingus. Darn Dublin and your shopping! I enter the store to buy one suitcase and what do I leave with? More skinny jeans! When they are 11 euro I just can’t help myself, despite almost having an aneurysm trying to get them off in the dressing room.
Post shopping I left my bags at the hostel and toured Trinity College. I figured I had to see the Book of Kells as everyone else has done it so why shouldn’t I? The tour was really interesting, led by a graduate student who was quick with the Irish humor that I have come to quite enjoy. During the tour we saw a wedding party leaving the chapel and our tour guide informed us that only graduates can get married there and you only have 5 years post graduation to get married there. No pressure there! He said that the food in the food hall was so poor that when he was preparing to go to India last year he ate there for a month to prep his stomach. (:
The book of Kells was interesting and beautiful, but to me not so exciting as you can only see it open to one page. Apparently last year Trinity lent the book to Australia for an exhibition and it was returned damaged, thus it will never be lent out again. When I asked the tour guide what kind of damage it sustained he said that they spilled liquid on it and didn’t pack it properly for shipping. Yikes!
After touring Trinity I returned to the hostel, made a dinner of pasta and headed out for my final pub crawl. Now when I had been in Dublin on previous visits I went on two different pub crawls, a literary one and a musical one. They were full of interesting people and interesting things to be learned. NOTE: the “Backpackers” pub crawl does not fall in that category. We met at the entrance to Trinity College and after I paid I realized I was the oldest person in the group. By ten years. Wow. Some of you reading this may be thinking “Goodness did she really need to go on another pub crawl?” My thought was it was a good way to meet people, I didn’t realize the people going on it were going with the sole intention of getting as inebriated as possible.
Our guide was a young guy who took us to 5 bars, and one of them was really enjoyable. There was live music playing that was great, three guys with guitars singing traditional Irish tunes. I asked the proprietor what was playing the following evening, he replied it was (insert Irish male name here) and that he was fantastic. At least I figured out my plans for the following evening!
I asked the leader of our pub crawl what was the most memorable pub crawl he has ever done and boy did he have a whopper of a story. Apparently one evening he and 3 other guides were all running pub crawls. He had a bachelor party from Ireland, another guide had a bachelorette party from Scotland, and the third guide had people who were general public, like our group that evening. At the end of the evening they always end at a nightclub so the guides arranged to have everyone show up at the same time to get them all in at once. Well apparently the bachelor and bachelorette took a liking to each other and went to his hotel room! So sad.
When we ended the night at a dance club I quickly made my escape and returned to my hotel. It was up early the next day for my last day in Dublin as I had a lot of things on my itinerary. After a quick breakfast at the hotel it was off to my day. I began at the Georgian House museum which was just beautiful. It is a 5 story restored Georgian house with period furniture that was just lovely and truly gave you a glimpse into what life was like back then, from the servants lives to the owners of the home. The tour guide was really informative and full of interesting facts; for example when they used to have balls the people at the balls would parade around the room being very close to the windows so that the people on the street would see them and be envious! Wow.
Post Georgian house it was a quick jaunt through the National Gallery which housed an impressive collection of art. I particularly enjoyed the Irish 20th Century art. It truly portrayed the people of Ireland, and the scenery of which I have come to love. After the museum I rambled through Merrion Square park which was just lovely, complete with an Oscar Wilde statue. I then went on to St Stephens Green which I had heard about during the 1916 tour. It is a beautiful park, complete with a lake with ducks and swans. Hard to imagine rebels shooting where I was standing. On the weekends at St Stephens Green artists sell their art along one wall on the outside of the park, there were some really fantastic paintings. Not so sure I could get them home though.
After the park I went to the Jeanie Johnston which is also known as the “Famine Ship.” This ship is a replica of a ship that took thousands of people to Canada, Baltimore, and New York during the famine years. It was really informative and hard to imagine what those 3 months crossing the sea must have been like. The majority of the passengers were young women between the ages of 16-34. I could not imagine having nothing but the clothes on your back and setting out for a foreign country all alone.
What a full day that was! I then met my new friend Miriam for tea at a lovely place near Grafton Street. I originally met Miriam on the Aran Island of Inis Oirr and we made plans to meet up as she lives just outside of Dublin. We had lovely conversation and so many things in common. It was so nice to meet someone just once, and then have them come out of their way to spend a bit of time with you before you leave their country. Really now it is time for me once again to expound upon how nice most Irish people are. When I told Miriam the story of my Cork welcome she said Irish people are one of two things, nice to a fault or total buggers. (:
My last dinner in Ireland was…. You guessed it pasta at the hostel! Hey I am traveling on a budget! (: I then went out to the pub from the night before to listen to some music. Anton met me there along with an Englishman Dan who I had also met in Glendalough. We shared some great conversation and awaited the music with much hesitation. The musician ambled in, one man with a guitar and I was a bit suspicious as to how this would go. The bar was packed, in the corner next to the musician was a large group of older Irish women ready to sing along. He opened with an Irish rebel song that he practically yelled at the top of his lungs and the whole crown joined along. It was fantastic! After that he took requests and what did the women in the corner want? More rebel songs!
It was such a fantastic way to end my trip, to begin with going to an Orange parade and having no idea what it was about, and ending with Irish rebel songs. I have grown to have such a love for Ireland, and the people, everything that they stand for and their rebel rousing personalities. I was so sad to leave, I felt like I was leaving a place that I could call home. From the welcoming shopkeepers and waitresses to the rolling hills and mountains of Wicklow, this country was amazing and has left its mark on my soul.
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