There's A Lot to Read

I know it's been a long time since I last posted -- almost two weeks ago!  But that's for a good reason: I've been doing a lot lately.  I'm going to do this in three installments because it's a lot and I want to go to bed soon. Chapter 1: Dublin.

On February 28 my friends Sarah, Amy, Lindsey and I left Toulouse and flew to London, where we immediately connected on a flight to Dublin.  We got into Dublin fairly late, and thus checked into our hostel and called it a night.  Hostels are not at all what I expected them to be.  My only expectation of a hostel comes from the absolutely horrible horror movie "Hostel" (and its many sequels) and so my hopes were not high.  But it proved to be really nice -- clean, comfortable beds; breakfast provided; a lounge with a TV; free wi-fi; washers and dryers.  All for only 20 or so euros a night per person.  Not as cushy as a hotel, but for your money you really can't beat it.

Our first full day in Dublin began with a continental breakfast at the hostel, followed by a trip to both Saint Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral.  Both are really amazing examples of architecture (but truly nothing compared to Westminster Abbey and Saint Paul's Cathedral, which come  later).  Saint Patrick's has a beautiful garden and park adjacent to the cathedral, where I made friends with several Irish dogs.

The interior of Saint Patrick's Cathedral

After going to Saint Patrick's and Christ Church, we sauntered down to the old Jameson Whiskey Distillery (ironic, I know).  The distillery is no longer the main factory for Jameson, but it functions as both a museum and storehouse.  When we walked in an employee immediately asked if we wanted to sign up for one of the tours that was set to leave at the top of the hour.  We declined, and instead made our way to the in-house bar, where I enjoyed an Irish coffee with Jameson whiskey.  It was only 10 am, but the bar had been open for a few hours already...

Will this Guinness barley fit in my carry-on?

That afternoon we made our way to the Guinness factory.  The factory only offers self-guided tours, but it is very comprehensive and extremely interesting.  The tour guides you through the entire history of Guinness and the brewing process -- did you know that when Arthur Guinness first began renting the original Guinness brewery space at St. James's Gate in 1759, he signed a 9000 year lease?  Also, I'm writing this blog while wearing my "Support your local microbrew" t-shirt.  Anyway, in the middle of the tour you arrive at the Guinness Academy, a room with four or five pouring stations at which patrons learn how to correctly pour a pint of Guinness.  Once you've learned, you can pour your own pint and drink it!  I got a special certificate that confirms that I am a certified Guinness pourer.  It's the little things, folks.  After the factory we found a café and settled for a while before heading to dinner.  We eventually made our way to the Temple Bar area, a central location for many of the bars in Dublin.  I won't go too much into detail, but it suffices to say I made good friends with some Australian rugby players while singing a certain hit by Bad Company.

I'm happy with the pint I poured

The next morning we went and toured the campus of Trinity College, as well as its famous old library.  The campus has some really amazing history, like the story about the drunk students in the 1800s who started a gun fight with a professor in the middle of the night, which resulted in a dead professor and three jailed students.  Lastly, we headed to Phoenix Park, a massive park and garden on the edge of Dublin.  After the park we took the bus to the Dublin airport.  After skipping baggage check and going through security, we had a light dinner and proceeded to our gate to fly to London.  The flight began to board, and when I reached the ticket counter, the steward asked for my "stamp." "Stamp?" I asked, bewildered.  "Yes, your stamp, on your boarding pass," he said.  Well I had no idea what he meant by that.  Turns out that if you fly on Ryanair, it's necessary to have your boarding pass stamped... BEFORE going through security.  But we had missed that because we didn't check our bags, the usual place for getting the stamp.

"But this flight leaves in 20 minutes," I said.  Nevertheless, the steward would not let us on the plane unless we had stamp.  "I'll give you ten minutes, you need to go back and get the stamp."  We dropped all our belongings and began to run through the airport, back through security, to the baggage check desk, and back.  This was no easy run -- I'd guess, in all seriousness, that we probably ran almost 3/4 mile round trip.  I was panting and sweating like no other, while my female counterparts cried and gasped, claiming we weren't going to make it.  We got to the baggage check desk and breathlessly asked them to stamp the boarding pass.  They declined, saying our gate was already closed.  I told them that I was given ten minutes and it had only been seven, so give me the God damned stamp.  She did, and we ran back, making it just in time to run across the tarmac barefoot (the shoes had come off at security).  We were the last passengers on the plane, sweaty and breathless, but we made it, barely.  Next stop, London.

A view down the River Liffey, at the center of Dublin