Tallinn, a pilgrimage ! ...... ended in Dublin ! .

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One day, coming back from CZ Republik on the aircraft, I got a Time Magazine, the international version, reading on it, an article popped up; Tallinn, Estonia, a gorgeous city not discovered yet by the hordes of tourists ...". I made it my next choice for a trip. One of those quickies I take often into places in four-five days.
The time came in 2004. Got me a bunch of ID-90's; one from DUB to HEL and then another one for HEL-TLL, I flew into Dublin from EWR with CO, first class, of course ! .... got to DUB and took the bus to downtown. DUB it's right there, a suburb of the city.
Packing, the day before, I check'd the temps for the week in Ireland; seventy some degrees ... fine, threw in my shorts, some T-shirts and one hawaiian shirt, green, almost lemon, that looks like it works with batteries ..... glows ! . Not even a sweater or a light jacket ! .
So, I'm in the bus to downtown Dublin and will be back to the airport in about four hours for my connection to Helsinki with Finnair, then from HEL got me a connection to Tallinn, just across the Baltic Sea.
As the bus passes those brick, old buildings, I noticed how close this place is to the center of the city. Big avenues, streets full of ahops, bars, pubs .... giftshops. Got out in one of those avenues and start strolling thru the streets admiring the architecture and the shops. I'm kinda hangry, so I go into this restaurant for a "typical irish meal" ; fish and chips with a tall glass of Ginness ! .... and there's my crew from the flight ! .... we chat a little and go to my place to eat and hot the road. Got me only a few hours.
Food is ok, the beer, of course, amazing ! .
Got out and kept on checking out places. Took Abbey Street to St. Mary's Abbey ..... gorgeous. I am dressed in my "flight uniform", so, I'm ok, even though it feels a little friskie ! ..... but, the city and it's sights take all that away. Too busy to pay attention to the weather.
After going thru the whole city center walking, decided to go into a pub for a Guinness, they have those dancers like River Dance, a bunch of girls and some dudes danding while the patrons drink some good dark stouts. Found me the perfect place ! . Order a Guinness and got it right away. Everything's going excellent .... then, after two beers I start to check on my plans; my aircraft to Helsinki leaves at around 17:30 hrs. get to Helsinki at around 2030 hrs. and my flight into Tallinn leaves at around 2145 hrs. to get into TLL at around 2215 hrs. ok. But now the return didn't match with what I had in mind ! .... and as I went deeper into the details, the trip was not going to be whorthed. Literally I was going to be in Tallin from night that day and return in the evening the next day ! .... so, I decided to abort the plans to go to Tallinn and stayed in Dublin instead.
So, this took a big weight from my back, now, I slowed down to second gear and got me another Guinness.
Got me a youth hostel and went and took a shower and changed. Put on my white, knee level shorts with my green hawaiian shirt and went out. Got colder .... not only that. Everybody was stearing at me as I walked everywhere ! .... everybody stearing ! . Guess I was the only dude on a hawaiian green, electric shirt in the whole Ire !!! .
My whole afternoon was walking the whole city and then ended up, in the early evening, at a pub in St. Stephens Green area. Went back for my favorite beer of all and I sat and watched those pretty girls dancing that strange dance, with mini skirts without showing anything ! ... amazing !!!.
Pounded one, two, three beers .... admired the dances, and then those two dudes walked in and sat right next to me, we started to talk; one was english, protestant. The other, his best buddy, was a catholic irish dude ! .... they wanted me to go with them to Belfast, the next day, but mentioned it would not be a good idea. So, my plans for tomorrow were to go to Belfast on my own. Cheers !!! ... and another drink went down ! .....
Needless to say, I ended my evening there, having lots of fun, chatting with all kinds of people, and, of course, admiring the dances. Way late in the evening, or maybe morning, we went away, me to my hostel and crashed in my bed. I was out ! .
The next morning I didn't wake up for my trip to Belfast .... I got up at 1700 hrs. ! .... took the DASH, I think that's the metro's name there, and went to both extremes. On one side I eded up at a little town in a bay, full of little restaurants and cafes and pubs, I had something to eat and went back to see the rest of the city.
Visited the Dublin Castle and the Carlisle Bridge, and went over to temple Bar area to check on the pubs again ..... since my day went flying and had to go the next day, walking the whole city was the best idea. Bought some little souvenirs for my family and then went into this pub after diner. Got me one beer and then called quits. On my way to my hostel, saw this pub with a live music band playing and went in. As I walked in, the singer in the bad grabbed me and continued singing, with me, like a chick, in his arms .... then he gave me a kiss in a cheek ! . There are three cute girls on one of the sides, standing and we smiled at each other, like having fun. As soon as the singer released me, I runned to the side, where those three girls are standing and put my ass against the wall. Ordered a beer and stayed there to check the place and music.
One song ended and another continued and so on. The girl next to me, because the other two left, starts to talk and we are having fun with each other. In front of us there's this table and it's full .... they popped up a B-day cake and we are part of the party suddenly. We got a slice of the cake and as we shared it, the napkins come into notice; it's a toilet roll of paper inside this plastic dispenser and you just pull from the top .... then tear it off, as you need.
The night went away, I had to go and this girl, Shelley too .... we walked out together and saw her walk across the street to her hotel. She gave me her business card. From NY, and we parted. The next day my flight was going to take me back to the states ..... my base in IAH.

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