My internal monologue now has an Irish accent.

Bloody Aerlingus said to arrive 3 hours early for flights to America! 3 hours! So I did. My flight’s at 14:00. I was checked in by 11:05, through security by 11:25, and now it’s 11:45 and I’ve had a smoothie and gotten comfortable at the foodhall. It does give me plenty of time to work on my last blog entry from Europe though.

I have so much to write about! It’s been a few days.

My hostel was especially wonderful for meeting people. I’ve stayed at a bunch of hostels, and one can always find good conversation with hostel-y folk, but somehow this hostel is better for meeting people to actually hang out with. I went out every night I was here with groups of other travelers. I am sooooo tired! But it was definitely worth it!

Temple Bar (the area I stayed in) is full of pubs and clubs and all the places a 20-year-old tourist would want to go. It’s a bit pricey and a bit touristy, but it’s very fun. There is live Irish music everywhere. Fantastic!

The weather in Dublin has been rainy and cool, which would normally be a bummer, but it’s such a nice break from the dreadful humidity we encountered in Eastern Europe.

So I’ve seen these “Hop On - Hop Off” bus tours in most big cities in Europe, and I figured they were probably pretty lame, as large groups of tourists on big busses tend to be. Tons of people kept recommending the Dublin one to me, so I finally broke down and bought a ticket. It was great! The ticket is good for 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday in this case). It’s basically just a bus service which runs very frequently and goes to all of the tourist spots in the city. Plus funny Irish bus drivers tell you all sorts of history stuff.

Wednesday morning I took the bus to St. Patrick’s green and cathedral. They were both quite pretty. The park had a wall honoring all of the great Irish writers. I did this thing with impressive cathedrals in Dublin where I would admire the architecture from the outside, then go in as far as the ticket desk and peak at the inside as much as I could without paying. Good times.

From St. Patrick’s I went to the Guinness Storehouse. It was so much fun! At first I wasn’t going to do it. In Amsterdam, everyone says the Heineken Experience isn’t worth the money at all. It’s apparently boring, and you really end up paying €15 for a “free” glass of mediocre (at best) beer. I heard much better things about Guinness though, so I figured I’d check it out. It didn’t get very technical, but I did learn a lot of history. The building itself is shaped like a giant pint glass and is very cool. The part about advertising was really interesting, and I learned that Guinness was responsible for lots of riverboat technology and the building of railroads in order to transport yumminess. I also learned how to pour a perfect pint. I got a certificate and everything.

After Guinness, I headed to the Kilmainham Gaol for a tour and a lot of Irish history. Then I took the bus the rest of the way around the city. I got to see the Heuston Rail Station, Dublin Zoo/Pheonix Park (which was very cool... big rugby, polo, and cricket fields and other prettiness), National Museum, Old Jameson Distillery (or at least the street you take to get there), Writers' Museum, Government Buildings, St. Stephen's Green, and lots of pretty sites along the Liffey and various big streets.

When I got back to Temple Bar, I walked to the George Street Arcade. My book said that this was a very cool covered market. It was cool I guess. They didn’t have anything I needed or wanted, but I looked around for a bit. There were old books and records and things, as well as expensive vintage clothes, food, and even a piercing place (which looked incredibly sketchy).

In the evening I went out with a bunch of people from the hostel for drinks, live music, and dancing. There are so many people here from Switzerland! I’d say the most tourists I’ve encountered in Temple Bar come from Switzerland or Australia. Those are closely followed by the US. Then Germany and Holland. I think the hostel purposely designated my corner of the room as the Dutch corner (I put Amsterdam/Boston as my city of residence, and had a Dutch phone number and stuff). First I had two Dutch guys from outside of Amsterdam in my corner. Then they left, and an older couple (like older than my parents) from near Groningen replaced them.

Wednesday morning, I went to St. Michan’s Church. The couple I sat next to on the airplane had recommended it. The church itself wasn’t very exciting, but I paid €2 and got a private tour of the crypts. Those were very cool. I got to shake hands with a lucky mummy. Like, a real mummy! That is supposedly lucky.

The church was very close to Four Courts, which is four courts of law I guess. It’s a very law-ey area. Lots of solicitors or barristers or whatever they call them, and people walking around in fantastic robes carrying lots of files. There’s a law library and even a pub called Legal Eagles.

My Dublin guidebook thing had said that there’s a big farmers market out pretty far east of the city center on Wednesdays, so I took the hop-on hop-off bus to O’Connell street lower, and started walking eastwards along the docks. It was very different from the rest of the city. Very businessy and modern-looking. It was really cool to see. And there were impressive bridges and statues and stuff. I walked by the Customs House and the famine monument. Of course, the farmers market didn’t exist, but the walk was worth it.

Then I took a tram back to Four Courts, and walked back towards Temple Bar. I had late lunch at Queen of Tarts, a café that Skyla recommended. Very yummy. Then I took a nap. Then I got up and did some shopping, and on my way back to the hostel I ran into some of my hostel friends, so we went out for cider and more live music.

I haven’t done much since then though. I woke up and checked out and stuff. I resisted taking a picture of the most photographed statue in Dublin until I was on my way to the airport bus. That’s Molly Malone by the way. Every hop on - hop off bus tour guide will tell you the same thing. Molly Malone sold fishes from a cart. That’s what she did by day. By night she did the oldest profession in the world. They say Molly Malone was celibate. She used to sell a bit here and sell a bit there. I guess that one works better spoken aloud than typed.

So… yeah. Expect one more blog post after my return to the states. :-)