Faffing About Dublin

I want to first and foremost assure you all that I am still alive and well. I hadn't realized that this blog was more than an update of my random thoughts and whereabouts, but instead my lifeline to the world and, if not updated more frequently, it would be assumed that I was either (a) dead, (b) sick, (c) unbearably homesick, or (d) had drunk far too many pints and was asleep in the Liffey.  In reality, I just hadn't done anything noteworthy last week to write about and then was so busy faffing about this weekend that I hadn't been on the computer.

That's right, I have worked my first new phrase into my vernacular and plan to use it until everyone is pretty much sick of hearing it. I tried on a few others, but none seemed to fit. Craic...pronounced like crack...has too many uses ('what's the craic?' or 'that was good craic' or 'tonight will be loads of craic!' - interpret as you will...), deadly as an adjective is apparently a good thing, and my mother would not approve of 'Póg ma thoin.' 

But to the point...faffing about was brought to me all the way from Scotland in the form of 2 visitors for the weekend - my college roommate, Whitney, and her current roommate in Edinburgh, Julian. Whitters had only been to Dublin on a short stopover flight last year and this was Julian's first time, so we spent the weekend immersing them in the Dublin experience. If you don't believe me, this picture should be all the evidence you need:

I ended up having to work pretty far into the evening all last week, although I did escape for a few hours in between meetings to join some co-workers for a Pub Quiz!, so hadn't gotten to see much of the city yet. Well, except for Tuesday night when I went for a walk and, taking the advice of my sister Susie, didn't bring a map. I saw loads of the one area of town that it turns out you don't want to see...especially by yourself, at night, obviously sticking out like a sore thumb among the bums and the drunks sleeping on the benches. Oh Sooz...thanks for the advice :) 

But thankfully, I survived, and this weekend was the perfect time to do some official Dublin exploring (read: touristy shenanigans). We started our Saturday morning walking towards the City Centre, where we stopped into Trinity College. After snapping some photos and making a mental note to come back to see the Book of Kells, we kept going until we hit Odessa, an amazing restaurant my co-worker Aoife had recommended for bruncheon. 

SIDENOTE: That's another thing I have learned....lunch is short for luncheon and so every time you have brunch, it's really bruncheon. Phrase #2 that I love and you will soon be sick of hearing :)

After filling up on potatoes and a croissant (note, I ordered scrambled egg whites...received about a spoonful of them...apparently the "main" dish doesn't mean that is the "main" thing you will be eating...just how they justify charging 15 euro for potatoes and a slice of tomato that are probably worth less than 1euro!), we took off for the Dublin Castle and hit up the Chester Beatty Library. After that educational experience, we evened the score by walking down the most expensive shopping street in the country, Grafton Street, through St. Stephen's Green and over to....THE GUINESS EXPERIENCE. Yes, obnoxiously touristy, but I have to say this was one of the greatest tours ever, and no, not just b/c of the free beverage at the end (either Guinness or a soda....it was a tough choice...)

The storehouse is 7 stories high, and totally interactive. We were too late for the 5th floor where they teach you how to properly pour your own pint of Guinness (did you know you have to leave it standing for exactly 119.5 seconds before topping it off? you do now!), but still got to spend almost an hour in the top-level Gravity Bar with 360-degree views of Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains. We were lucky and caught it on a rare beautifully clear day and I fell in love with every last degree...even the street where we encountered "the locals."

Let's just say, they are pretty much the polar opposites of the crowd that I work with each day at the GOOG. We're walking along the street, convincing ourselves that we can smell the hops and are surely headed in the right direction for the Storehouse, when suddenly it becomes overrun with women way too young to be mothers, sidewalk hawkers, raw meat hanging from the ceiling of every shop, and a noticeable lack of teeth.  While fighting the urge to run my tongue over my own teeth and thank God (and the orthodonist) for every one of them, I am cut off by a woman pushing a stroller. She yells to her son to come along, and he responds by pushing the cart of a very elderly lady and telling her "you go back!" The formerly sweet looking old lady yells "no, YOU go back!" and tells the mother her son is "very bold" to which the mother laughs and fake-scolds her son for being so cheeky. Ever humble and repenant, he hawks a big one on the books for sale on the sidewalk and this prompts a blow hard enough to make me gasp. This apparently does the trick - the son laughs, they hold hands, and off they go inside to the chipper.

So while I don't think I will be picking up any childrearing hints from my Irish counterparts, I now feel that I could wander around the main parts of the city without getting lost. We ate dinner that night at Market Bar with some traditional (seafood pie) and not-so-traditional (nachos!) tapas. Of course, we grabbed some ha'pints of cider afterwards, too and then returned home just before midnight in order to rest up for our next day of adventures. I'll put that in a separate post b/c I think this one is already far too long - I never claimed brevity as one of my strong suits.... 

P.S. I am having some trouble getting my pictures uploaded to picasa. Once I do, I'll send out the links and update this blog post with them, too. Sorry for all the trouble! Stay tuned for part 2 - Howth Love :)

Pictures Update!

Randomly Faffing About:

The Dublin Experience: