Ireland and Scotland Trip - Day 1 Getting to Dublin, Ireland
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| The Ha'Penny Bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland |
In order to save money my brother and I are sharing a hotel room (separate beds of course!). The plan is to go to Dublin, Ireland from San Francisco. We will spend two days in Dublin then rent a car and drive the hour to Ballybeg House where the wedding will be, drive back to the Dublin airport and fly to Scotland to finish the trip off. My family has said such great things about Scotland and the BF doesn't have a huge interest in cool weather or whisky so we figured this would be a good excuse to pop over to the UK. I have never been and quite frankly, I am tired of hearing about how great it is from my family!
We chose Aer Lingus to fly from SFO to Dublin. It does a non-stop flight that leaves in early evening and lands in the mid-morning. This means that we can have pretty much a whole day in Dublin right after we land.
The band, Chic with opening band The English Beat were coming to town to play the night before we leave. It turns out to be a great thing because I start getting stressed out and spastic preparing for the trip. This is because not only am I working on the costumes for Romeo and Juliet at the college I teach at but I also have started on the Mountain Play's Mamma Mia and a kid's show of Into the Woods. The latter opens they day after I leave for Ireland. Dancing to a huge band like Chic with all the hits and dance songs they have is not only a great stress reliever but also helps get a good night sleep before the trip.
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| A very good shepherd's pie somewhere over Canada |
On the plane I took a muscle relaxer, ate the in-flight meal and took a melatonin. The food options were chicken and shepherds pie. I had the latter and enjoyed it a great deal. I slept pretty much the rest of the flight. When we were above Greenland I woke up and looked outside. I saw something that looked like the Northern Lights but they were only grey, not the green, bright color I am used to seeing. I could not take a photo, unfortunately.
An hour before landing we got a breakfast burrito that was not too bad. I had a coffee but wish I could have had at least two more cups. We landed perfect, made our way through the passport customs and found the taxi queue outside. I am always surprised by seeing drivers on the "wrong side" of the car. I never get used to it. Even when I was the driver for two weeks the last time I was in Ireland, I never quite got used to it.
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| A tasty breakfast burrito with egg, ham and cheese. |
We are very lucky that we arrived in Ireland while they are having a warm snap. This is following a long and bitter cold winter. They even got snow in Dublin which they never get so they had to shut everything down for 4 days. Their systems are not made to drain snow and there are no snow plows to be found unless, as one Irish person joked to me, it was a snow plow hobbiest.
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| Our hotel is the beige building on the right. |
We are staying at the Morrisson hotel which is situated right across the River Liffey where the Ha'Penny Bridge is. My folks have stayed here before and love it. It is about two blocks from the famous Temple Bar region but since it is across the river from it, there is a little bit less of the noise from the people on the streets. We arrived at the hotel at about 1pm, two hours before check-in. Hotels usually let you store your bags in a back room in these situations and that is what we were able to do. We all got warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies as a welcome.
Once our bags were secure, we went outside and found a taxi queue to get a ride to the Guinness Brewery. The last time I was at the brewery it was a funky little place that I barely could remember visiting. Since then it has become a huge deal. There are 7 floors to visit. The tour costs about 17.50 Euros and lasts as long as you want it to. You can follow one of the guided tours which are offered in many languages but since I am an avid brewer myself and my family has already been on the tour, we opted to go on our own. We walked through the various stages of brewing as we spiraled up the building in what looked like a giant pint glass. There are fun displays along the way. Many are plays on the old advertisements that claim Guinness Makes you strong.
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| There was a room of bubbles |
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| Here I am in an advertisement |
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| Me and the ostrich |
With your tour ticket you get a free pint or sampler which you can redeem in one of the three bars. The most popular place by far to enjoy your pint is the Gravity Bar. This is located at the very top of the building and offers a 360 degree view of Dublin. It, being a beautiful day and a Saturday, was quite crowded but people are still friendly and polite. It has been said before and it is true, Guinness just tastes better in Dublin. I don't know if it is an issue of heat and travel or just staleness but a fresh Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, and even better, in the brewery itself, just can NOT be beat. It tastes fresh, toasty and creamy and you can be sure to get a perfect pour. On the tour, you can even go to the Academy where they teach you how to do the perfect pour yourself. I saw people walking around with a certificate proving they took the course.
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| Having a pint of Guinness at the Gravity Bar |
My brother said that he has been looking forward to that pint in that bar for weeks. I have to say that I agree with him when he said "NOW if feel like I am in Ireland". There are those little things that you do that make you really feel like you are immersed in the area and this is definitely one of those things. After the tour and pint we visited the massive shop. I got an obligatory magnet and Christmas ornament although the ornament I really wanted was sold out. I love the toucan in their advertising images so everything I got was toucan forward. Even the shirt. I could have stayed a little longer just looking at things but we were all so tired that we decided to go back to the hotel, get our rooms and have a little lay down before the evening.
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| This is on the sidewalk in front of the Stag's Head Bar |
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| The general view of the Temple Bar from the live web cam. |
We continued our walk through the Temple Bar area until we reached The Stag's Head bar. The Temple Bar region is the most popular area in Dublin. It is lined with bars and restaurants. People flock to the area to drink, chat, people watch and be seen. There are loads of tourists from all over the world but there is also plenty of local people and students. If you want to have a pint and listen to live Irish music this is the place to come. We chose The Stag's Head because it is a little bit out from the center of the Temple Bar and has fewer Americans in it. The bar is more of a local bar for professionals. The inside is all beautiful, deep, rich wood and the decor is carved wood and stag statues all bathed in the light that streams through the stained glass windows.
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| The stained glass in the Stag's Head |
I had a Bulmer's Hard Cider, my brother had a Guinness, Dad had a Smithwicks and Mom tried the new lager from Guinness called Hop House 13. We people watched while we had our drinks. There was a wedding group there who were all dressed to the nines. There were some people in suits despite it being a Saturday.
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| What you see when you walk into the Bank Bar |
After our pint we walked a couple more blocks to the Bank Bar and Restaurant. Since we had reservations we were led straight up the stairs to our table. Lucky thing because even at 6pm which is early for dinner in Europe, the place was full of patrons either eating or having a beer. I was not too thrilled with the menu choices but that could be because I was tired and grumpy. I chose the pork belly. Mom got the fish and chips which were light and crispy and wonderful. My brother got the gnocchi which were hard and plain. My dad got the duck leg. Everyone was basically happy. My pork belly came with an apple and curry mash and mashed potatoes. I could not come close to finishing it. I also had a cocktail with my dinner which was a strange combination of raspberries and almonds. I forget the liquor that was in it. It was alright.
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| Fish and chips at the Bank Bar |
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| Bork Belly at the Bank Bar |
We finished close to 7:30. There was so much more night left but we were falling asleep where we stood so we just went back to the hotel. I tried to start this blog at 8pm but kept falling asleep. When I would wake up I would see that I continued to type in my sleep but it was all gibberish. I was worried because I knew if I fell asleep at 8pm, I would wake up at 3am and be ready to get up. I did wake up at 3am but fell right back to sleep. I needed it.
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