The Luck of the Irish.

The next trip up after London…Dublin. I had to go through Nice in order to get to Dublin because there were no flights out of Montpellier. I stayed in a hostel in Nice Thursday night and flew out in the morning, getting to Ireland around midday. Coming into Dublin I had no idea what to expect, but arriving on the Friday before St. Patty’s Day weekend…I figured it would be entertaining! My friend Kara and I got a pretty good hotel smack dab in the middle of the city on O’Connell Street, and for the price of a hostel. The room was small but clean, but the location put us within walking distance of just about everything. As soon as we checked in I made a reservation for this “Wild Wicklow Tour” that I had read about on the internet…it is a six hour tour that takes you into the Irish countryside and gives you a little taste of life and the scenery outside of the city, more on this later. Then we headed straight to the Guinness Brewery. I did not know this but the Guinness Brewery is the number one tourist attraction in Ireland…it’s a shame because the beer is terrible. I don’t understand why people love it so much. I was able to see a lot of Dublin on the walk to the brewery and on the way back, stopping at Dublin Castle and Trinity college as well, which has one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen, hands down. For dinner we had Thai food, which was decent but very disappointing as I am used to much better quality back home. Dublin at night is very lively, although there is no doubt that the cause for all the people was because St. Patrick’s Day was right around the corner. Still, it is a fun place to be at night and there is literally a pub or two on every street in this city, I have no idea how they all stay in business year round…but then again the Irish do love their alcohol.
I cut in early Friday night because of the early morning tour we had to get to that started at 9am. About 20 of us, mainly kids in our 20’s pilled onto a pretty nice luxury coach and headed out around 930am from O’Connell Street. We made a detour and stopped by the U2 recording studio on our way out of Dublin…of course we didn’t get to go in but we saw the outside of it. It is on a semi-hidden street covered from all angles with amazing graffiti art, a very cool place I must say. We then proceeded into the Irish hills and countryside outside of Dublin. The scenery was more than I could have imagined…everywhere I looked there was green and rolling hills with lakes and creeks. The guide told us that in the summer all of the green is replaced by purple as the flowers bloom and cover the fields. We saw the places where Braveheart, Excaliber, and some movie called P.S. I Love You. All of the girls on the bus went crazy when they saw this area…I had no idea what was going on at this point, and still don’t. Next we stopped in a small town called Laregh for lunch. I had to keep with the mood of the day so I ordered the Irish Guinness beef stew and to my surprise it was pretty good. Nothing out of this world, but I enjoyed it. The next place we stopped was Glendaloch, meaning “two lakes”. This town is home to two glacier lakes that are located within a national park. It is a long walk to the lakes but the end justifies the means in this scenario. The lakes are beautiful and the walk there comes complete with an old medieval town and cemetery that literally looks straight out of the “Thriller” music video, no joke! By the time we got back to the bus to head home I was dead tired from what turned out to be an eight hour tour. I can always tell that I am tired when I am nodding off to sleep and I start drooling on myself…yes yes I know, this is NASTY…but it is the truth. I rarely hold back in these stories ladies and gentlemen.
That night Kara and I had a late dinner before we proceeded to amuse our taste buds with the many pubs that Dublin has to offer. Now I know that I said that I hated the Guinness beer from the brewery, but if you have ever had what is called a “mini Guinness” then you will understand what I am talking about when I say it tastes like chocolate…great drink! I will never again drink a Guinness beer but I will enjoy a few mini Guinness’ anytime….within reason of course. After stopping at about four pubs, we went back to the hotel and called it a night as I had a 715am flight the next morning back to Montpellier. And long story short, I tried to stay up all night to make it easier on myself….bad decision. I fell asleep in the final hour and slept through my alarm! Kara somehow woke me up at 6am and I made it to the airport 25 minutes before my plane departed, ahh the luck of the Irish! In the states, there is NO way I make it on that flight…but this is Europe people and I was flying Ryan Air too. You can show up half naked and they will let you on the flight.
As the tour guide mentioned to all of us, 80 percent of the people that come to Ireland end up returning for a second trip. I now understand why and I will surely be making a return voyage back in the future.