Rating:
Dublin, Ireland
May 07, 2000
Friday, May 5th
DAY OFF to go to Dublin!
Pros: alot of walking
and shopping, drinking, enjoyable trip
Cons:
none
Michelle and I got all packed up and headed into Piccadilly Stn.
We exchanged £40 each into Irish Punts - the coins are quite
big. The train left around 11:15am, we had to change over in Chester.
The half hour we were there, we walked for a bit (didn't get to
see much) and ducked into a Pound Store.
From Chester we went to Holyhead, in Wales - the signs are all in
both English and Welsh (with words that look like: glyndwr and machynlleth...
you figure it out!) That's where the ferry left from & headed
to Dublin (about a 1 1/2 ride on the Johnathan Swift)
Well, the ferry ports all seem to be the same in this country -
huge and very industrial. Nothing much to see at all. It took us
about 10 minutes driving to be completely clear of it all.
As we pulled into the Dublin Ferryport, there was a bit of a hazy
fog, which added to the whole feel of our trip.
We hadn't booked somewhere to stay ahead of time, we just knew that
there are tons of hostels, and considering it wasn't a long weekend,
we thought it would be okay just to 'drop in'... well, after getting
lost in the city centre for about an hour, we finally found the
Avalon House - and, yes, it was fully booked. So, we headed for
a place called Isaacs Hostel (yes, we called this time and they
had some free beds) It's a huge place, and Michelle and I both recommend
it. Despite it's size, there is a good vibe about it, and friendly.
Don't pass up the greasy Irish brekkie at the little restaurant!
We actually weren't that keen on going out on the piss, so we headed
out to the Temple Bar area (HUGE area) and went for dinner at a
crap Mexican restaurant called Acapulco - I'm no food critic, but
I sure was that night! I guess having been to Mexico didn't help,
either. Who ever has only lime margaritas?? what happened to strawberry??
hehe!
After a so-so meal, we headed back - the streets were very alive
and the night was quite warm as well (finally, good weather)
Saturday consisted of walking everywhere - we didn't have any set
itinerary (that works the best for me) and saw tons and tons of
shops. Just when we thought a street with shops was about to end,
all we'd have to do was turn left or right & BOOM, there was
another with hoards of people.
We stopped in a Body Shop to have a makeover (a girl thing) and
walked the streets feeling glamorous!
All the walking and fresh air was getting to us, so we stopped into
Yamamori Noodles - I pigged out on a huge order of sushi (grossing
out the people at the table next to us - haha!) yum!
We went back to the hostel, and played cards with a girl in Uni
in York (from Saskatchewan) and her friend from Hampshire, who,
might I add, might have been a genius in Uni, but could not, for
the life of him, handle cards! It was quite a laugh.
Around 11pm, we decided to duck into a nearby pub (live band doing
the usual loud Irish tunes) The elders were rosie-cheeked and dancing
around the dance floor... everyone else was standing at their tables,
clapping above their heads and singing along! The band finished
up shortly after we arrived, but they sang their national anthem,
which we found a bit odd.
We headed off to bed, to catch a bit of a conversation of 2 girls
in our room (from S.Africa and Spain) about how they were thinking
of prostitution for money - or paying a guy to marry them to get
to live in Spain...um, okay. Yes, you meet all types travelling.
So, all in all, we enjoyed ourselves, and a weekend is definitely
not long enough for Dublin. |
